Curriculum changes in grades 9 and 10 Illinois industrial education, 1978-1988

Includes bibliographical references (pages [157]-165)Illinois industrial education has been changing curriculum focus from a traditional "industrial arts" to non-traditional "technology." Many factors contributed to this transition, particularly the Illinois Plan for Industrial Education introduced in 1983. Although educators were aware of this curriculum movement, little actual data existed on the degree of changes in course offerings and course delivery. This thesis studied the 1978-1988 curriculum changes in Illinois industrial education for grades 9 and 10 between the groups of traditional and non-traditional courses. The hypotheses focused on the differences in the offerings and delivery. The entire population of grades 9 and 10 Illinois industrial education teachers, 1266, were surveyed with 405 providing usable surveys. Besides data needed to test the hypotheses, additional related information was gathered from the respondents concerning demographics, groups with curriculum input, curriculum review intervals, participation in and evaluation of teaching-related activities. The study also gathered teacher opinions of how influential factors affected industrial education from 1983 to 1988 and how changes during this period affected industrial education's abilities to meet student needs. Responding teachers marked any of 35 industrial courses their schools offered for the years 1978, 1983, and 1988. For grouping purposes, 24 of these courses were identified as traditional and 11 as non-traditional. Course offerings were ranked for each year. Total rank changes from 1978-1988 suggested that the offerings for the group of non-traditional courses rose significantly more than did those for traditional courses. On the survey, teachers of non-traditional courses rated changes in seven areas of course delivery from 1983 to 1988; traditional instructors did the same for their courses. Change ratings between the groups were compared for each delivery area. The comparisons indicated non- traditional courses had changed significantly more in the delivery areas of textbooks, content, lab activities, computer-aided instruction, and instructional technology than had traditional courses. No significant difference could be found between the groups of courses in the areas of computerized lab equipment or lab facilities.M.S. (Master of Science