States

A Study of the Contributions of Mary Lizzie McCord to Drama Education at Southern Methodist University (open access)

A Study of the Contributions of Mary Lizzie McCord to Drama Education at Southern Methodist University

Although in 1915 there was no drama education in Methodist colleges and universities in Texas, today all Methodist schools of higher education in Texas have at least course offerings in drama. Southern Methodist University was one of the first Methodist schools to offer such courses which began with the hiring of Mary McCord to teach public speaking in September, 1915. The problem of this study is to explain the contributions of Mary McCord to the development of drama education at Southern Methodist University. It is recommended that the development of the department after Miss McCord retired be examined, that the students taught by Miss McCord who chose theatre as their life's work be interviewed about the effect of her training on their careers, and that a thorough study of the McCord Theatre Collection be undertaken.
Date: August 1976
Creator: Spalding, Sharon Brown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Institutionalized versus non-institutionalized mildly retarded populations: determination and comparison, based on Rotter's personal control theory, and a test of interpersonal distance (open access)

Institutionalized versus non-institutionalized mildly retarded populations: determination and comparison, based on Rotter's personal control theory, and a test of interpersonal distance

The problem with which this study was concerned was that of evaluating and comparing of locus of control scores and interpersonal distance among the institutionalized and non-institutionalized mildly retarded populations. The hypothetical assumptions specifically stated that the institutionalized retardates will be more externally oriented, will show a greater interpersonal distance towards stimuli with no specific expectancies. In view of the findings of the study, the following recommendations are offered: 1. Determination and evaluation of locus of control in retardates may be a useful technique in assessing their personality and understanding their psychological needs. Several investigators have been attempted with neurotics and subjects with character disorders, but none is reported with retarded populations. Such information may contribute to planning and programming for this particular group. 2. Determination of the retardates' interpersonal space may be an important approach in assessing their personality structure. Such studies have been conducted with the emotionally disturbed children, schizophrenics and normal subjects; however, none has been conducted with retardates. 3. The instruments used for this study have been designed for and standardized on samples of normal populations. To achieve more accurate results, these instruments should be designed for and standardized on a sample consisting of retarded subjects. …
Date: May 1976
Creator: Moazami, Manoutchehr
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessing and Influencing the Attitude and Knowledge of Selected Post-Secondary Students Concerning Body Language (open access)

Assessing and Influencing the Attitude and Knowledge of Selected Post-Secondary Students Concerning Body Language

This investigation, which was conducted on the post-secondary level and included vocational and academic students, was undertaken to develop an instrument to assess the attitude and knowledge of students concerning body language and to develop a module of instruction in body language to favorably influence their attitude and knowledge concerning body language. Hypotheses were formulated related to the differences in mean effective and cognitive scores of the experimental group who were taught body language and the control group. Additional hypotheses were formulated related to mean differences in the scores of students differing in age, sex, business experience, and prior exposure to body language. The findings of this study included first, the testing of the instrument; second, the testing of the validity of the research design and third, the testing of the hypotheses. The following conclusions are based on the findings of the study: the instrument seems to be acceptable for assessing the attitude and knowledge of post—secondary students concerning body language, the module of instruction in body language seems to be acceptable as a basis for influencing the attitude and knowledge of post—secondary students concerning body language, the mid-management and speech students were comparable in attitude and knowledge concerning body …
Date: August 1976
Creator: Lester, E. W. Bud
System: The UNT Digital Library
Investigation into the Nature of b-d Confusion Among Selected Samples of Elementary Children (open access)

Investigation into the Nature of b-d Confusion Among Selected Samples of Elementary Children

The problem explored by this study is the nature of b-d confusion as it is exhibited by remedial and nonremedial readers at various elementary ages in the areas of letter identification, spelling, and reading. The purposes of Phase I of the study were to examine the progressive phase-out of b-d errors committed by samples of remedial and nonremedial readers and to explore certain factors that could be related to the problem. The object of Phase II was to describe subjects with extreme b-d reversal problems. Extreme b-d reversers were found to have been average or below on first-grade-readiness scores and significantly below grade-level placement in reading achievement. School marks were also generally low. As a whole, the extremes were predominantly right-handed and no sex bias was detected. When the extremes were compared to subjects above average in b-d responses, the extremes made significantly more errors on other letters, were able to read significantly fewer words, and required significantly more assistance in spelling. These groups significantly differed on position of b-d reversals in reading, but not in spelling, nor on the proportion of real words actually produced when reversals were made in reading. Reversal of b and d was not associated …
Date: May 1976
Creator: Merwin, Marjorie Ann
System: The UNT Digital Library
Symbolic Language Transfer in the Autistic Child (open access)

Symbolic Language Transfer in the Autistic Child

The problem of this study is to see if there is more symbolic language transfer by autistic children in an untrained matching situation if there has been previous training on similar matching situations. The purposes of the study are twofold. The first is to see if subjects will make a motor sign response untrained to an object if the word for the object has been trained to the motor sign response and to see if they will make a motor sign response untrained to a word for an object if they have been trained to make the response to the object named. The second is to see, if transfer occurs, whether the order presentations of object and word are a factor.
Date: August 1976
Creator: Busbee, Mary Cheryl
System: The UNT Digital Library