The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a process model through which culturally-relevant learning materials could be developed. "Culture-based learning materials" are defined to be materials which take into account the child's cultural/linguistic/experiential background and his natural interests. An illustration of the use of the model, for the purpose of demonstrating how to devise culture-based learning experiences via the model, is provided. Teachers of elementary school children in three school districts in northeastern New Mexico were invited to participate in the illustration. Their duty was to collect data via the instrument designed in the second part of the model. The data collected indicate that the majority of children attending these schools are "bilingual" in Spanish and English. Certain literature on teaching Mexican-American children is therefore summarized. For illustrative purposes mathematics was chosen to represent the school's curricula. Hence a synthesis of certain literature on teaching mathematics to "bilingual" children is also provided. Illustrative culture-based mathematics learning experiences for use by teachers in northeastern New Mexico are presented and discussed.

Because international students are an increasingly significant aspect in American colleges and universities and on the North Texas State University campus in particular, this study was undertaken to explore the intercultural clash which Thai students at North Texas State University experience. Twenty-two Thai students were interviewed in depth using the oral history method. Ten faculty and administrators who work with international students were interviewed concerning their observations of Thai students. The information gleaned from these thirty-two interviews and from an examination of the basic socio-cultural differences between Thailand and the United States resulted in the isolation of the following basic difficulties. 1. Thais do not have command of written and oral English. 2. Americans do not have an appreciation of foreigners and lack tolerance in everyday exchanges with them. 3. Thais avoid becoming involved in American society. 4. Thais are not efficiently prepared for the American classroom. 5. American instructors do not appear prepared to handle the problems of Thai students. The study also developed a number of suggested solutions: 1. Raise the consciousness of Americans concerning Thai students; 2. Provide more effective ways of improving oral and listening skills in the English proficiency of Thai students beginning with American-directed …

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is the description of the social map that is presented to the viewers of public television. Using content analysis methodology, the study describes how different genders, racial groups, and age groups are being portrayed on PBS programming. The sample consisted of one week of PBS 1984 fall programming broadcast on KERA-TV, the PBS station in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas. Research questions addressing proportions of groups, types of roles, length of scenes, occupational variation, conversational behaviors, conflict management modes, and cultural norms were answered. All coding was accomplished by the principal investigator. Upon completion of the coding sub-totals for the variables under study by program types and a grand total for the entire sample were then tabulated. After this extensive content analysis, the report concludes that females are still extremely underrepresented in PBS programming, accounting for only 32.7% of the total participants. Blacks and Hispanics are also underrepresented except in children's programming. Occupational variation for white males is evident for all types of PBS programming. Occupational variation for white females is evident in children's programming and informational/documentary programming. Minorities with delineated occupations are extremely limited in all types of programming except for children's programming. …

The problem addressed in this study is how selected universities in the South and Southwest recognize and attempt to deal with alcohol use and other drug use among students. The purpose of the study was to determine current practices and policies concerning student alcohol and drug use among the 20 selected universities. The data were obtained by means of a descriptive survey questionnaire which was mailed to 20 selected universities under the jurisdiction of the Southern Regional Accrediting Board. The instrument was designed to identify practices and programs concerning student alcohol and drug use. A copy of each institution's alcohol and drug policy was requested. The content and procedures of the programs implemented by the responding institutions were reviewed, in order to evaluate the extent and degree to which they provide for the recognition, education, intervention, and treatment for students with alcohol- or drug-use problems. Results are presented in tabular form. Of the 20 major state-supported universities which were mailed questionnaires, 75% returned usable instruments. All responding institutions felt they have an alcohol or drug problem of some magnitude, and all either have, or believe they have, some kind of policy to deal with substance use by students. All of …

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of computer science teacher certification in the United States. Methods used included a survey of chief teacher certification officers in all fifty states to determine the status of each state concerning the certification of high school computer science teachers and a survey of forty selected leaders in the field of computer science education to determine the current and future status of computer science education and to identify the courses most appropriate for computer science teacher training programs. Status reports on all fifty states were presented. Summaries for the states that offer certification in computer science as a field by itself and as a part of another subject field were provided. Five state-approved computer science certification programs were reviewed.

Recall of expository prose after one of two learning techniques was determined. Pearson correlation did not discover a significant difference between the recall writings of the examinees who studied by discussion and those who studied by underlining. The significance of the difference between two proportions found that the group which underlined recalled significantly better than the group which discussed what they had read. This highly significant difference was almost identical when all synonyms from the Turbo Lightning computer program were considered correct recall and analyzed by the significance of the difference between two proportions.

Higher education has always occupied an important place in this nation's concerns. This study was undertaken in an attempt to determine how the Founding Fathers, especially the nation's first six presidents, regarded the subject of higher education. The study was limited to these six men because they were charged with inaugurating the new government and because these six men were all participants in the drafting and ratifying of the Constitution. Findings for this study came from the personal and private papers of the first six presidents, government documents, and the press. A comparison of the findings indicates that these men shared many beliefs while disagreeing on some aspects of higher education.

The State of Texas requires the completion of all six semester hours of government for graduation from a public college, but does not provide detailed guidelines regarding content, and related objectives, for these courses. Thus instructors have considerable discretion in the setting of course objectives. The problem of this dissertation, therefore, is the determination of course objectives actually set and the general orientation within political education that the objectives may reflect.

This study examines the effect of class discussion as a pre-writing activity on actual writing performance. The experiment was conducted with all the Level 3 and Level 4 students enrolled in the Intensive English Language Institute of North Texas State University in the Spring, 1986 semester. Cochrans C test was performed to test significant differences between groups at the beginning of this test. Multivariate analysis of variance tests were used to determine the treatment effect between and within groups, and a matched t-test was also utilized to analyze the difference within tests. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship between the discussion activity score and the actual writing score. Analysis of covariance tests were used to determine which variance of discussion activities had greater effect on the actual writing score.

The problem of this study was the development of a comprehensive health education program in higher education for the preparation of public school health educators. The purposes were fivefold: (1) to conduct a survey of the historical nature and significance of the concept of health education in higher education within the United States; (2) to conduct a survey of the major health needs in the United. States; (3) to survey the degree of attention given to curriculum areas in current bachelor degree programs of health education in the United States; (4) to develop the criteria for a comprehensive program of health education in higher education; and (5) to develop a comprehensive program of health education in higher education. After all of the research had been completed, the data gathered were analyzed; and the development of the criteria for, and the comprehensive program of health education in higher education was developed. The proposed comprehensive health education program presented in this study developed the concept that the thrust of health education should be directed toward the development of a positive mental and emotional health concept within the individual. Within the program each course relates to the concept of positive mental and emotional …

This study examined the contribution of several variables to the prediction of perceived freedom in leisure (PFL) and life satisfaction in older adults. Demographic, health and socioeconomic variables were compared with participation in recreation programs, church involvement and PFL. Church involvement was viewed as a leisure activity rather than a measure of religiosity. The survey instrument incorporated all these variables and was pretested and revised before use in the study. The sample consisted of 198 persons 60 years of age and older who were members of two Southern Baptist churches. Subjects were randomly selected, but persons considered by church staff members to be incapable of completing the survey were eliminated. Surveys were hand delivered and picked up by volunteer workers, and a 38 percent return rate was obtained. Alpha reliability for the church involvement, PFL and life satisfaction scales in the instrument were .87, .94, and .77, respectively. Frequency counts and percentages or means and standard deviations were calculated for the demographic variables. Subjects were categorized by level of involvement in church and community recreation programs. Persons involved in community but not church recreation programs were underrepresented in the sample. A selective sampling procedure was utilized to obtain more respondents …

The small businessman in an undeveloped country often finds himself isolated from formal, institutional credit sources, either through ignorance or by his non-acceptability as a credit risk. Both his lack of credit and lack of education can limit his participation in national development, and in fact, such development might even work against him as it makes his competitors' easier access to these resources even more important. It was concluded that the educational level achieved by the small businessman in Santos Guardiola is roughly the sixth grade, that the lack of business and financial content in their formal education does not prevent their learning about business and finance, and that a large majority of them use credit in their business. It was further concluded that the loan officers with the four lending institutions have adequate education and training to administer the loans made, that business credit needs are generally satisfied without resort to an informal credit market, and that while the deposits and business loans are expanding for all four institutions the credit union has been able to expand most rapidly by attracting the small saver and the small borrower. In addition, it was concluded that development banks are primarily interested …

The present investigation involved the development of a psychobiologic profile of individuals who experience exercise-related mood-enhancement and those who do not. The sample (N=301) consisted of students participating in 10-week exercise classes at North Texas State University. All subjects completed pre-test inventories assessing various psychological (i.e., trait anxiety and depression, attitude toward physical activity, self-estimation of physical ability and attraction to physical activity, expectancies of health benefits from exercise, and self-motivation) and biological (i.e., aerobic capacity and body fat percentage) variables. Trait anxiety and depression were also assessed before and after the 10-week exercise program and state anxiety and depression were assessed on an acute basis on two separate occasions during the program. Multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis were employed to determine which variables maximally discriminated between individuals who experienced mood-elevations following exercise and those who did not enjoy such rewards. The hypothesis that these two groups of individuals differ significantly from each other was not upheld by the results; thus, an overall psychobiologic profile could not be developed. However, the data did reveal that individuals who held a more positive attitude toward physical activity for the purpose of health and fitness reduced their state anxiety and …

One of the most important skills of a pianist is the ability to read at sight. Because there are so many areas of piano study to address, sight-reading is overlooked either out of frustration or simple neglect. However, if acquisition of this skill is neglected, it will be difficult for a pianist to ever attain his full potential. For a pianist, sight-reading is one area that strengthens all others. The purposes of this study were to secure data concerning teaching sight-reading to undergraduate piano majors, to identify methods and techniques in current use in the instruction of sight-reading, to determine the extent of keyboard and computer-assisted learning technology usage within sight-reading instruction, to identify more effective methods and techniques being used to teach sight-reading, and to search for ways to enhance sight-reading instruction, including the utilization of recent computer technology applications in education and learning. The method used was survey research with a questionnaire sent to 168 randomly selected NASM colleges and universities. Response rate was 49.4 percent. The questionnaire, designed by the researcher, sought to ascertain the status of sight-reading instruction in these colleges and universities and to endeavor to determine the extent, if any, keyboard and computer-assisted learning …

This research examined several independent variables and their prediction of perceived freedom in leisure (PFL). Four instruments were utilized to collect data from research subjects regarding the independent variables of shyness, extroversion, gender and activity preference style and the dependent variable, PFL. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients were calculated for each scale employed in the research. Reliabilities for the scales within this research were as follows: Stanford Shyness Survey (.78), Adult Short Form of the Leisure Diagnostic Battery (.92), three scales from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Extroversion (.85), Neuroticism (.79), and LIE (.75), and the Activity Preference Style Scales - Active (.45), Group (.53), and Risk (.67). Due to the low alpha reliabilities of two of the Activity Preference Style Scales, Active and Group, factor analysis was performed in an attempt to construct new sub-scales with higher alpha reliabilities. This resulted in some of the new sub-scales, as well as the original Active and Group scales being used in the data analysis. The sample was comprised of 325 undergraduate students enrolled in a required history or English class. The age of the sample ranged from 17 to 50 with a mean age of 20.4. Questionnaires were given out during class …

The present study compared the academic stress levels of 450 college sophomore students at a public university and a public two-year college. This investigation also explored the levels of academic stress by institutional type, age, gender, and ethnicity. Data were obtained from having the subjects complete the Academic Stress Scale, a questionnaire which lists thirty five stress items found in the college classroom. Analysis of variance and t-tests were used to analyze the data. There were 225 subjects each in the community college group and the university group. The university group had a statistically significant higher mean stress score than the community college group. 294 traditional age (23 and younger) and 156 nontraditional age (24 and over) subjects stress levels were compared. It was found that the traditional age college student group experienced a statistically significant higher academic stress level in both academic settings. Group means were compared between the stress scores of 245 female and 205 male subjects. At both the community college and university levels, the female group had a statistically significant higher level of academic stress. The academic stress levels were also compared according to ethnicity. The minority group consisted of 104 subjects and 346 subjects comprised …

The problem of this study is that of comparing certain physical fitness and anthropometric measures for early adolescent Mexican-American and Anglo-American males. The purposes of the study are to determine if Mexican-American and Anglo-American males differ in physical fitness or anthropometric measures; to determine if the relationships between age and physical fitness, age and arthropometric measures, and anthropometric measures and physical fitness items are significantly different for Mexican-American and Anglo-American males; to compare the rate of maturation for pre-adolescent Mexican-American and Anglo-American males in physical fitness items and anthropometric measures.

The problem of this study is that of developing a program of study of Mexican literature at the graduate level at North Texas State University. The study of literature and culture is approached by probing into the influences on the thinking of the Mexican and by using an in-depth study, rather than an "anthology" approach to teaching. The findings of the study indicate a need for an upper level course in Mexican literature at North Texas State University. Therefore, the following recommendations seem appropriate: (1) that North Texas State University initiate a course in Mexican literature which may be utilized by both students in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and students in the Bilingual/Bicultural Education program; (2) that the course be made available to both graduate and upper-level students; (3) that oral communication be emphasized in the course and that student participation in the target language be maximized.

The problem of this study was to test and compare the impact of two alternative educational treatments on the rate of success among high-risk students enrolled in the United States History telecourse at Richland College, DCCCD during the Spring Semester of 1980. The purposes of the study were to determine whether 1. The rate of success, that is, the proportion of students completing the course with a grade of "C" or higher, would increase among high-risk students in either experimental group; 2. The rate of success would increase among high-risk students with poor reading skills in either experimental group; 3. The rate of success would increase among high-risk students with poor academic motivation for telecourses in either experimental group; 4. The rate of success would increase among high-risk students when related to the demographic variables used as predictors and collected for the students who were in either experimental group; 5. There would be a difference in the effects of experimental treatment I and experimental treatment II in helping students with poor reading skills to complete the course with a grade of "C" or higher; 6. There would be a difference in the effects of experimental treatment I and experimental treatment …

The problem with which this study is concerned is the investigation of certain selected elements of technological change upon certain selected elements of psychosocial change and the relationship of such changes upon modern man's ability to adjust to these changes. The necessity for psychosocial change and, consequently, adjustment, has risen dramatically in the past few decades as a result of rapid technological and scientific advances for which modern man has been ill-prepared.

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to identify and determine the degree of satisfaction experienced by selected groups of international students at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas. The second purpose was to analyze and interpret the data collected in relation to selected demographic variables. The following hypotheses were devised to guide the interpretation of the data findings. 1. There will be a significant difference in the degree of satisfaction with university administration among the three selected groups of N.T.S.U. international students. 2. There will be a significant difference in the degree of satisfaction with university faculty among the three selected groups of N.T.S.U. international students. 3. There will be a significant difference in the degree of satisfaction with fellow students among the three selected groups of N.T.S.U. international students.

This study concerned the impact lifestyles of the elderly have on purchases from different product categories. The main purpose was to determine, evaluate, and analyze the effects of lifestyles on elderly shoppers' choice of retail outlets.

The problem with which this study is concerned is to determine and identify the factors associated with the choices Arab graduate students make when selecting their graduate school and major area of study at institutions of higher education in the United States. In addition, comparisons are made between the responses of Arab graduate students (1) who attend American private schools with those who attend American public schools and (2) those who are self-supported with those who are outside supported.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a mathematical model and theory of teaching. The mathematical model consists of a set of abstract axioms. The fundamental elements or terms of the axioms are undefined. These primitive or undefined terms obtain their definitions only implicitly through the axioms.