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IMPACT OF A UNIT ON THE HANDICAPPED IN LANGUAGE ARTS CLASS ON NINTH-GRADE STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE HANDICAPPED (BEHAVIOR)
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of a unit of study about the handicapped in a ninth-grade language arts class on the attitudes and behavior of nonhandicapped students toward the handicapped. Subjects for the study were ninth-grade students (n = 329) from two junior high schools in a midwestern city. The students from one school formed the experimental group and those from the second school served as a control group. Attitudes were measured using the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale, Form O. Students were also administered a scale developed by the researcher based on the unit of study to measure knowledge about the handicapped. Behavioral measures consisted of response of the students to an invitation to volunteer to help with the Special Olympics program and to view a film on the handicapped. The unit of study consisted of reading fiction and non-fiction books about the handicapped and viewing films of persons with handicaps at work and at leisure. The unit of study was taught by the regular classroom teachers. Statistical analysis of the results indicated that overall the attitude scores of the students in the experimental school were not significantly different from those of the control group. However, the pattern of differences of the groups varied. At the time of the pretest the mean attitude scores of the two groups were essentially the same. The scores of the control group then dropped and remained depressed through the second posttest whereas those of the experimental school were more positive on the first posttest but were lower on the second posttest. Gender and contact differences in attitudes were significant, with females and students having prior contact with the handicapped scoring higher than males and students reporting no previous contact. Analysis of the behavioral data revealed that significantly more students from the experimental school than from the control school responded favorably to the invitations to volunteer.
Subject Area
Special education
Recommended Citation
PADILLA, SHARRON K, "IMPACT OF A UNIT ON THE HANDICAPPED IN LANGUAGE ARTS CLASS ON NINTH-GRADE STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE HANDICAPPED (BEHAVIOR)" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8602117.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8602117