A Social Studies Needs Assessment Instrument: A Factor Analysis.

Autor/in	Arnoff, Melvin
Titel	A Social Studies Needs Assessment Instrument: A Factor Analysis.
Quelle	(1978), (22 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Beigaben	Tabellen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Tagungsbericht; Curriculum Evaluation; Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Elementary Education; Elementary School Curriculum; Elementary School Teachers; Factor Analysis; Factor Structure; Needs Assessment; Research Reports; Social Studies; Surveys; Teacher Attitudes; Test Construction + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Curriculum; Evaluation; Curriculumevaluation; Lehrplan; Rahmenplan; Evaluierung; Educational need; Bildungsbedarf; Educational objective; Bildungsziel; Erziehungsziel; Elementarunterricht; Elementary school; Teacher; Teachers; Grundschule; Volksschule; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Faktorenanalyse; Faktorenstruktur; Bedarfsermittlung; Research report; Forschungsbericht; Gemeinschaftskunde; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Lehrerverhalten; Testaufbau
Abstract	A 30-item survey regarding needs in social studies instruction was administered to 151 elementary school teachers. Five statements were developed for each of six factors found in the professional literature: citizenship; issues; social sciences; skills; world; and traditional social studies. The teachers responded to each item twice: once, rating the objective as they perceived its importance in the present social studies program; and once, as they thought it should be. The two sets of data--"as-is" and "should-be"--were separately factor analyzed to determine the principle components and compare them to the original instrument design. Four strong "as-is" factors were selected to account for 42% of the total variance: (1) social studies for thinking, active, democratic world citizens; (2) social studies skills and attitudes; (3) traditional social studies; and (4) social sciences and history. Four strong factors found from the "should be" analysis accounted for 34% of that variance: the world; traditional social studies; social sciences and history; and issues, problems, and critical thinking. Suggestions for further research involve the investigation of greater numbers of factors; cluster analysis; and surveying of college social studies teachers. Descriptions of each survey item are appended. (Author/GDC)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2004/1/01