THE STATUS OF ECONOMICS IN THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY CURRICULUM OF OHIO PUBLIC SCHOOLS (REFORM, SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE METHODS).

摘要

Prefaced by discussions of (a) the history of economics in public school curriculum, (b) national and state organizations influential to the status of economics in Ohio school curriculum, and (c) collateral research depicting the status of the distinct secondary economics course as declining from a high point in 1939 to levels in the 1970s below those of the late 19th century, this dissertation quantitatively describes the integration of economics in the elementary and secondary curriculum of Ohio public schools. The description of integration rests against the irony that the decline in the distinct course occurred during the thirty-odd year period ending in 1980 in which actions taken by organizations to place economics in curriculum were so extensive that, collectively, they were referred to as a "movement".;The analysis of benchmark integration data, presented tabularly, treats of the following: (a) the inclusion of each of 67 economic concepts in elementary and secondary, and secondary social studies, home economics, and business education curriculum; (b) the "dominant theme of integration;" (c) teacher background in economics; (d) the statistical association between inclusion and preservice, inservice, and formal economics; and (e) the frequency of integration of conceptual aggregates.;Among the more significant findings are (a) the very low level of concept integration; (b) the marked difference of the "dominant theme of integration" among the above teaching groups: social studies teachers integrate under a social theme, and home economics and business education teachers under a personal one; (c) the dearth of economic backgrounds; and (d) the almost total absence of the integration of economic interrelationships.;Recommendations for research and action, especially preservice instruction, are included along with questions posed to pursue whether these data denote a failed educational reform movement.;Data collection involved the use of a 187 item survey instrument mailed in 1980 to 1,000 teachers simple-random-sampled from a defined population of 45,603. The survey results were statistically determined to have strong external and internal validity by establishing sample representativeness, and no significant difference between the 75.9% respondent set and the 100% return from the simple-random-sampled non-respondent set.