Education & Pedagogy

The report of Task Force I deals with the needs for higher education in Connecticut arising out of current and projected socioeconomic conditions. The orientation of the Task Force was that some form of post-secondary education should be available to all students to the extent that they might benefit from such education, and that economic and geographic factors should not inhibit a student's entry into an institution of higher education. The recommendations reflect this orientation. Section I of the report discusses the problems facing higher education, particularly student unrest and the causes of student frustration. Section II deals with the socioeconomic factors that determine how current needs are being served and what new demands may develop during the next decade. The factors considered are: (1) population, including numbers, density, age, ethnic and racial characteristics, education and personal income; (2) economy, including projected manpower needs; and (3) accessibility to the state's institutions of higher education. Section III deals with enrollment trends in the different types of institutions of higher education, and Section IV discusses the 22 recommendations. The last section reviews the causes of student unrest and suggests appropriate responses. (AF)

The role of education in developing man-environment relationships is portrayed in this essay by the Office of Education (OE). Environmental/Ecological Education (EEE) is defined as the way to increase an individual's awareness, appreciation, understanding, motivation for action, and skills necessary to maintain his world and enjoy life. Further, for American education to be successful in this regard, it must formulate a strategy that is addressed to the individual in his own environment. Within this context, an EEE continuum is described, elaborating a range of teaching-learning activities at various levels of education. Included are: (1) formal and nonformal programs of environmental education, (2) training programs for educational personnel, manpower development, and professional education, and (3) assessment activities to determine priorities and assist in planning environmental education programs. In developing an educational response to the problem, OE advocates state plans for EEE, together with action-oriented curricula developed by individual school systems, coordination of community environmental action programs, and creation of state councils for environmental education. The regional and national roles of OE in supporting local programs are also presented. To show how OE plans to promote the EEE effort, activities planned by the Office during 1970 are outlined. (BL)

This report is a compilation of data obtained from the California Conservation and Environmental Education Survey. The purpose of the survey was (1) to find out whether the legislative mandate, calling for instruction in the protection and conservation of resources and including the necessity for the protection and environment, is being carried out and (2) to find out what services are needed in order to aid the schools in carrying out more thoroughly this mandate and in improving their environmental education programs. To obtain information a questionnaire was sent to all school districts and county offices of education in California. The environmental education program of each county is summarized, through the following topics: reply rate, publications, teacher training, on-site environmental study areas, resident outdoor education school programs, special funds or grants, and evaluations. Additional reports include those from community organizations (Sierra Club and National Audubon Society) and specific agencies (U.S. Office of Education, State Department of Education, County Offices of Education, and U.S. and State Departments of Forestry, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation, Water Resources, Fisheries and Wildlife, Soil Conservation, and the Environmental Protection Agency). Comments on proposed legislation and suggested areas for program improvement conclude the report. (BL)

The author has attempted to assess attitude change of elementary teachers toward career education, industrial arts, and vocational education due to participation in implementation of new instructional units in the Mesa (Arizona) Public Schools. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select experimental and control groups of 100 subjects each. Pretesting of all participating teachers was done before the Comprehensive Career Education Model units were implemented and posttesting was done at the end of the 1972-73 school year. To measure connotative meanings of the three concepts, thirteen semantic differential bipolar scales were developed using factorial composition, relevance, and semantic stability. From the thirteen scalar scores three factor scores and a total concept score were obtained by simple addition and rated for evaluative potency and activity directional reactions. Positive changes in the potency, activity, and total concept scores for industrial arts accompanied participation in the units. There is evidence that all three concepts were viewed more positively by teachers involved in career education activities, that career education and industrial arts were viewed more positively by male than female teachers, and that industrial arts were viewed more positively by intermediated than primary teachers. (MS)

Equality of opportunity, a very important component of the career education rationale, mandates that career education must apply uniformly to all. Many startling changes must be made in our educational, social, and economic systems; and career education is the central instrument for the voluntary renewal of education. The counselor's role in this reform movement is that of catalyst, harmonizer, and orchestrator. Minorities (poor, non-white, and to a certain extent, women) have lacked the luxury of choice afforded others; hence they must be made knowledgeable about various alternatives, including the kinds of financial assistance available. A recent poll of 900 inner-city students from three large cities indicated that virtually every student put college finance information in first and second place in rank ordering of informational needs. Kinship between what happens in the schools and what happens elsewhere is the heart of career education--and this practical application of knowledge should be the concern and responsibility of all teachers. Education should be saturated with the career theme. The counselor needs to put together the resources for career education. Career education is the profession's response to end the systematic injustices that threaten our society. (SC)

The major purpose of the study was to ascertain and compare the effects of two different methods of presenting information about career education to elementary education students. One method utilized self-instruction with study-guide, two film slide/audio tapes, and two video tapes. The second method utilized group instrution in the regular classroom with the use of the same materials as the first method. Instead of writing in answers to the study guide, the students interacted in small groups to the discussion questions. The data compiled from the 62 students taking art in te study showed the two methods equally effective in influencing student attitudes toward career education, and that both methods were effective in maintaining a favorable attitude after five weeks of student teaching. Instruction by either method resulted in the students regarding career education more favorably than their supervising teachers who received no instruction. The students can be expected to prefer the group instruction method, but both can be used in the same time frame within a teacher education curriculum. (Author/AG)

This paper discusses the philosophy, objectives, and evaluation criteria of a competency-based teacher education program in early childhood education. The program was established in the belief that a good teacher education program should develop a new view of what the schools are for, a new sense of personal worth and personal control in the teacher, and a new vision of a more humane society. The course work in this early childhood teacher education program is defined by the following features: students direct their own learning; courses are practicum-centered, performance-based, and developmental; and the classroom supports the development of teachers who are open to change in themselves and others. Built into the teacher education model is a support system for teachers in the community consisting of graduate fellows in the program who teach part time in their home schools. Program evaluation consists of regular feedback from staff and students, comparative evaluation of the new teacher education courses as compared with more traditional courses and use of an Open Classroom Observation Inventory designed to document the degree of openness in a teacher's classroom. (CS)

The report of the 5th Annual Conference of the National Indian Education Association (November 1973, Wisconsin) focuses on education on Indian terms. The summary includes conference highlights, such as the Wisconsin Indian Educator of the Year Award, student concerns, and Title IV, Indian Education Act. Representative excerpts of conference speakers and workshops cover legal issues in education, financial aid for higher education, students as an integral part of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), the NIEA Library Project, Project MEDIA to develop a data base of Native materials, and the NIEA Education Professions Development Act Assistance Project. NIEA executive staff members, directors, and conference committee members are also listed. Addresses were given by such persons as the NIEA Director, the President of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, the Milwaukee Mayor, the Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor, the Deputy Superintendent of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, candidates for the position of Deputy Commission for Indian education (U.S. Office of Education), the President of the National Congress of American Indians, and representatives of various tribes and groups. (KM)

The author has reviewed and discussed the separatism existing among vocational, technical, and academic education and between secondary and post-secondary educational institutions. Results are reported of two national surveys to determine the perceptions of key State officials on the status of articulation of secondary and post-secondary occupational education programs in each State. Findings clearly indicated, "Separatism still exists with the nature and degree of difficulty in articulation directly related to the relationships of the agencies involved." It was revealed that State organizational structure had a significant impact on the articulation of secondary and post-secondary occupational education; where structures foster separate jurisdictions, special efforts to form lines of communication and interworking relationships were necessary for successful articulation. Several national efforts and State activities (North Carolina, Oregon, Florida, Utah, and New York) in secondary and post-secondary articulation have been included as ways to attack the problem. The author has presented the position that mistrust among educators must be eliminated and greater articulation between educational levels and subject matter areas must be established if a true educational continuum is to be realized. (EA)

The implications of building a career-oriented curriculum in the public schools are many: (1) inservice teacher training is needed; (2) the philosophy of teacher education must be compatible with that of education for careers; (3) careful coordination is required between the public school curriculum and the specialized occupational curriculum of the junior college; and (4) graduation requirements and accreditation need to be scrutinized. If career education is to be maximally effective, it must start at the beginning of a child's education, be continuous through his education, and provide opportunity for continuing education to update skills. The levels of career education are viewed as being a pyramid, with students making decisions about careers and needed training based upon broad exploratory experiences and counseling obtained through the program. As students narrow their choices about career selections, individual career experiences become more sophisticated and intensified. The concept on which the Mississippi career education program is based embraces four levels or stages: career awareness (grades 1-6), career exploration (grades 7-10), career preparation (grades 11-12), and continuing career preparation. The Mississippi Career Education Model K-12 is illustrated. (Author/SC)

The book is designed to help elementary school teachers and administrators understand precepts underlying career education and to give concrete guides for including career education concepts in the daily classroom experience. The first chapter provides background information on career education, its basic premise, promises, and problems; the second relates elementary school objectives to career education, comparing routes to academic learning through career awareness to the traditional approach, and outlines a career awareness experience for kindergarten and each of the first six grades. Chapter Three relates career development to human development; Chapter Four offers methodology for linking school, community, and labor market in dozens of concrete examples. Parental attitudes and involvement are discussed in the fifth chapter, as well as the home and family component of the educational program. Approaches to preservice and in-service teacher training are surveyed and commented on in Chapter Six, and formats are offered for planning and evaluating inservice programs. The final chapter addresses teacher concerns about career education and suggests strategies for extending endorsements of the concept. Each chapter is followed by suggestions for further reading. (AJ)

In view of the facts that career education has entered the threshold of the educational system and that relatively little has been done beyond some preliminary planning at the graduate teacher education level, a workshop was conducted addressing the problem of student, planning, and implementation needs of career education and their implications for graduate teacher education personnel. The graduate level was chosen because, though it is a small facet of the educational system, it is an important and influential leadership area within the system. The report on the national workshop: provides a record of participant recommendations and suggestions regarding career education personnel development, relates the career education concepts, needs, and problems for leadership personnel in graduate teacher education, and provides a reference resource to leadership education personnel at all levels. Workshop discussion centered on papers presented by Louise Keller, Terrel Bell, and Grant Venn. Abstracts of the papers are included in the report together with criticisms, questions, and summaries. Materials relating to the workshop's organization and the full text of the papers are appended in the final three-fifths of the document. (Author/AG)

This collection of essays on futurism is intended to open avenues for exploration, raise pertinent issues, and direct attention to new considerations. In "The Future: Implications for the Preparation of Educational Personnel," Dean C. Corrigan focuses on conditions that seem pertinent to development in future education and comments about two areas of change: the explosion of human interaction and the explosion of knowledge, accompanied by dramatic technological developments. In "Education Needed To Meet the Psychological Requirements for Living in the Future," Glen Heathers examines major features of changing society that are shaping the future, identifies the psychological demands these changes place on the individual, and lists types of changes in education needed to meet these demands. In "Whither Goest the Curriculum?" Louis J. Rubin makes recommendations for the curricula of the future after reviewing the ongoing disputes among theorists regarding the current difficulties of education. In "A Curriculum for Personalized Education," Robert G. Scanlon defines personalized education as a blend of the critical elements of individualized education, humanized education, and career education. In "Computer Technology: Key to the Future?" Harold E. Mitzel, stimulated by the slow-paced adaptation of computers to education tasks, discusses some of the incentives and constraints that operate on computer application to instruction. (PD)

The publication attempts to provide a guide for administrators, counselors, business teachers, and teacher educators which will be helping in working together to build a flexible, relevant curriculum for today's youth. It attempts to encourage a balance among courses in business education and courses which provide the college preparatory or the terminal student with a marketable skill. The need is emphasized for a rational, cooperative task force approach among departments and various educational levels to improve the total educational program. The book is divided into four parts; the first contains articles dealing with social change and educational innovation; the second develops the task force approach at every level from elementary through postsecondary and articulates between levels for business role concept. Part three comprises two-thirds of the book, presenting courses guidelines for five business career objectives, personal use skills, basic business and economic education, and cooperative and distributive programs. The final section discusses the business teacher as a professional. No attempt has been made to prescribe a given program; the focus suggests that effective teaching goes beyond curriculum. (AJ)

This report was prepared at the request of the Higher Education Facilities Commission in order to provide background, a progress report, and recommendations for further action to those interested in the Massachusetts programs of continuing education and community service funded under Title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Among the materials examined were the Act itself and the regulations governing its administration; documents concerning the development of the program from the files for Fiscal Years 1966, 1967 and 1968; proposal summaries for those years; and other relevant background papers. Included in other reports studied are three by the U.S. Office of Education: (1) Federally Supported Community Service and Continuing Education Programs - A Five State Survey - (August 1967); (2) Inventory of Federally Supported Extension and Continuing Education Programs (March 1967); (3) In-Service Training of State and Local Officials and Employees (October 1967). A fourth report was prepared for the Massachusetts Higher Education Facilities Commission Projects in Massachusetts under Title I of the Federal Higher Education Act of 1965 by the organization for Social and Technological Innovation (November 1967). The document includes eight appendices and a list of tables. (se)