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Relationships between personalization of social studies instruction and attitudes, participation, and written responses of elementary students
Abstract
The purpose for conducting this study was to examine the relationships between incorporation of student nonschool experiences and activities into social studies instruction and student attitudes toward social studies, participation in class discussions, and written responses regarding recall of textbook content. Data were gathered from eighty students in three fifth grade social studies classes in Illinois and Michigan. Treatment consisted of personalized application level questions being incorporated into class discussions during a unit of social studies. The questions were developed from information contained in the Nonschool Activity Student Profile which had been completed by each student. These questions were used instead of the questions included in the teacher's manuals of the social studies textbook series and related the student's nonschool experience with textbook content. The students received one unit of social studies instruction taught by regular methods and one unit taught with personalization techniques. All students completed attitudinal surveys at the beginning and end of the study, were tested at the end of each unit, and were vidoetaped during instructional periods. Findings of the study indicated that integrating nonschool experiences of students into social studies instruction resulted in a significant increase of positive student attitudes toward social studies. Significant increases were also noted in the number of students participating in class discussions and the number of application level questions, according to Bloom's taxonomy, that were being asked during class discussions. Written responses were measured by the number of separate ideas accurately expressed and the length of responses in a summative essay question at the end of each unit; significant increases were measured after personalization was employed. The Nonschool Activity Student Profile appeared to function as a viable instrument for providing a wide variety of information about the nonschool interests, interactions, and activities of students and was readily accessible and versatile enough to adapt to several different areas.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|Elementary education|Social studies education
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Bettye J, "Relationships between personalization of social studies instruction and attitudes, participation, and written responses of elementary students" (1988). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8818667.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8818667