DOCUBENT RESUME 130 176 414 SC 012 074 AUTHOR Hanley, Janet E.; And Others TITLE euriosiiy/Competence/Community. An Evaluation of Man: A Course'of Study, Vol. 1. INSTITUTION Education Development Center, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. SPONS AGENCY National Science Foundation, liashingtcn C.C. PqB DATE 70 NOTE . .387p.; For related documents, see SC C12 075, ED 045 461 and ED 065 458 EDRS PRICE ME0-1/PC16 Plus Postage. DESCRIPIORS Anthropology; *Behavioral Science Research; Cultural 'Awareness; *Curriculum Evaluatidn; Eata Analysis; Educational Objectives; *Educational Researcfi; Elementary Education; Human D'evelopment; itBumanistic Eduction; *Sccial Studles Units; Student Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Education . IDENTIFIERS Man A Cdu.rse cf Study ABSTRACT TI:is volume evaluates learning gains, learning problems, and pedagogical climate related to the elementary school soclial studies curriculum, 7-Man: A Course of Study" (NACOS). MACOS, a behavioral/anthropological curr.iculkui, is intended to help elementary school children understand differences and similarities between man . and other animals by.investigating questions such as what .makes man human? how does a group 'survive?.what does dependency meab7 and what . makes a good parent? The document is presented in.three sections. Seotion I introduces the report and presents-an overview cf NACOS' development and objectiiei. In addition, an outline is presented of data in volumes I and 14 of the 'report. Section II presents trarfscripts and interpretations of interviews with students who have particlpated in a courSe basee on the MACOS curricaldm. The basic objective of the interviews waS tc encourage students to 'express in their Own words how they used MACOS ideas and materials. S.ection-III. offers quantitative analysis of results cf.tests of stu4ents in MACOS and non-MACOS Social studies- courset. Emphasis is placed on factors delineating the environment ir which NACOS was taught, clildrenls interpretations of course emphases, and patterns of student. - responses. (DB) 4 Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best,that can be made from the original document. ********************4*4*********************************************** De PAITMONT OP 'MALTA, ODUCATION A visurms NATIONALINSTITUTEOP IDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS.RECEIVED FROM THE PERON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN. AMIE. IT POINTS Of VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE- SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE of EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY CUltros5liy CptiPETENCE COPCMUNI TY iW EV4LLTION bF PM: A couisE (F STUM -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTEDSY oZow.S M4IF Volume I TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES. At INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." JANET P. HANLEY DEAN K. WHITLA Harvar4 University Educa4on Development Center EUNICE W. MOO ARLENE S: WALTER' Wucation Development Center (NI SOCIAL STLDIES CURRIMLUM PROGRAM EDUCATIONDEVELOPME* CEWERS1rc. CAMBRIDGE. "ASSACHUSETTS02138 t- 4 It %lb Copyright 1970Education Development Center, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts es 4IP To the.children and teachers whoselnsights. "N. and opinions about NMACOS comprise this repolt. ACRNOW136 In addition to the authors, interviewers and researchera.foithis project. have included: Steven Amparikader Virginia Boyd Marilyn Clayton: Mark Dodsen Todd Endo Jerry Fletcher Patricia Hammond Barbara4Raban Deborah Kahn Philip Moriarty 'James Remeika . tit Jerry Fletcheils contributionto this'.report tequires special acknowl- edgement.' In preparing histhesis for the Ed. D. degreeat the. Craduateechool of Education, HarvardUniversity, he darrted out research on games !.11 MAN: A COURSE OF STUDY.An abbreviated version of his thesis findingsconstitute part of Section IV. We are grateful to the National Science Foundation whith preVidedthe financial supportforthis 'evaluation. tt P, Contents v, I. MAN: A COURSE OF STUDY Introduction andOverview "Knowing is a process, not a product." 1 The Evaluation Program 10 Overview 21 II. Student Interviews Introduction 1 MACOS in the Suburbs 2 Folipw-up Interviews 194 Case Study of a SuburUanClassroom 105 Interviews in the Center City 133 5C Case Study 152 III.Suantitative Anal, ses t.f L Gains wad Lea earninStyles Testing in the Man and Other AnimalsUnit 1 . Analyses of the Man and OtherAnimals Unit Test Results 16 Analyses of Netsilik Unit TestResults 27 Chueklist Results 56 w Man and Other Auimals UnitChecklist Results 57 Checklist FindinGiL Two_Classes withTeachers Not Attending Workshops 85 Netsilik Unit .Checaist Results 89 F. Comparison of 1968 and 1969 NetsilikChecklists 1O8 Learning Styles 111 ii IV. Issues..of Media, Methods and Materials Films:'The Human Dimension 1 The-lssue of Relevane 3' The Problem of Ethnocentrism 12 'Conceptual Grasp and Generalization 21 Na;tural Selection: An Example of Conceptual Difficulty -25 Do Children Ask Questit,ns and Share Ideas Productively? 32 Classrom Ube of Reading Materials 39 Reading Materials and the Center City 43 Reinforcement and Selectivity: Factors in Learning 49 'An Experiment in the Use of Film Loops 53 Other Issues of Media 57 Interviews with Teachers and Students in Control Classes' 60 The Hunting Games:An Analysis Of Learning by Simulation 71 V. In the Classroom: Observation Findings Purpose and Methods 1 Field Work, 17 1968 4 Field Work, 1968-1969 9 A Look at Teaching Orientations 31 Notes 4o .( "*Te,acherEducatioa'rier' . Background' Goals of Teacher Education r , Case Otudies of Workshopsand Leadership 6 Evaluation of Workshoi; Leaders 26 Conclusion 33 7'. VII. Intcrviews with Teachers In tha Suburb 1 In the Cent4er City 10 Teacher Guide Comments 19 Response tn.the Workshop 21 Summary 6 Appendice Description of Sample Sample Instruments Observation Forms Intervidk Questions Sample Interviews 0 ci .14 N EL-T TON PAN: A =SE OF SUN . !MAMMON AT OVER/led 4 9 ft* "Knowing is a process not a product. It thd small work room of an'elementarychool two fifth grade boys are holdingan animated conVersation. A young graduate studentoccasionally . asks them aquention, buther intervention into the conversation is rare. They seem to hav 'rx, great deal to say. At the moment, Paul is speaking about a new way pf loolving at behavior: I never reali'ted.... I always-thought it was mnn's brain which separated him from animals. Now you realize thai it can be the environment that makes one man differeat from andther. I' never really 16okcd upon it like this. EEC, you know, it br.ings it out.tdke in math, why one and ond equals two, In the new math,:that brings it out. A discussion follows about why the course they arc describing leads to 'net/ thp-nking ribout man and hIs behavior. Paul ngain specks out with his opinion: It isn't co rigid. It's like this: you don't have to stick.with it..1,7e.'vo. gotten into half-hour long dis- cuusions on the ontire opposite subject, yet just sprouting lIttle by littlerand.it's really interesting and the teacher gets really wrapped up and she keeps ',ming along and we learn alot more than what ue would have stcrt,t,d out with and-it isn't rigid. It's like scilething you cen lean into and turn any way and not, you know: "You have to concentrate on it." 'His friend David has au enplanation ready: I think it's pnrtly because there's all the materials the filmi, the booklet.p and, 5)ou know, I could keep on going. 3t ma3c:1s it more intre.:ting and easier to do -111.7.1d "Hare iss the book. Rend." And you have to cive exait to ILos H. f;he's a great teacher. Ohe vade it so thnt in EEC studies, youlook forwgrd, it isn't one big black thing which you don't understand.. Alf erome Brun'er, Toward a .Theory of Inntruc ich p. 72. I-2 These co nts do not sound.like typical school-boy reactions tostudies. What kind of 5012001 work has elicited such response? These are youngsters in the process of making theirown assessments of EV: A COURSE OF sTury. They arc participants in the interview phase ofan evaluation designed to assess this new couse in the social sciences.They andtheir schoolmates in many parts of the country provide evidence for judgingthe power and limitations of this curriculum innovntion. To provide a basi- for comparing achievementsof the course against its goals, a brief review of the MOOS gnstaltfoll.ows. What are the assumptions underlying the'course, its view ofman'and learning, andits structural and conce!Itual components?Any such review must begin with the thinking of Jerome Bruner. The force of Bruner's ideas hasbeen paramoua throughout thedevelopment of MAU:A COURSE OF STUDY. In 1 Toward a Theory of Irstructinl ha exTresses the theoretical stare md currikulumguidelines evolving from thin stance thatform the "working paper" for,this course. Eost fundanentally, Bruner believes that the distincuishirg chlr ctcristic of humanbeines is thut they learn. With this, as the basic assumption, he has dr!finedthe important corirponens of what he calls the will to lecrn dnd has deliner'.ted the factors that lead tosatisfaetiontinieducatedlec:nir Curiosity is the first major instigator of the willto learn. (Watch children work with building blocks: their desire to see how higha pile they can build before it will come:,tumblingdown-illustrates the intrin'Sic motivation of c;uriosity about objets and ideas.) pompetence in learning is the second attribute.(I* get interested . in what we are good_at is theway Bruner puts it.) 1-HarvardUniversity Press, Ctmbridge, 1966. 11 17,3 Identification is the thi 1,.6omponent. Specifically this takes the form of competence models..POr the child such people controla