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THE PURPOSES OF THE STUDY WERE TO COMPARE (1) CONVENTIONAL LECTURE, PROGRAM-DISCUSSION, AND PROGRAM-PROBLEM METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, (2) STUDENT PERFORMANCE WITH AND WITHOUT CONFIDENCE IN PROGRAMED INSTRUCTION, AND (3) ACHIEVEMENT ON THE BASIS OF TEST SCORES ON THE FIRST ONE-THIRD OF THE CONVENTIONAL COURSE. TWO EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED IN INTRODUCTORY COLLEGE BACTERIOLOGY WITH A TOTAL OF 235 STUDENTS DURING 2 TERMS. IN EACH TERM, STUDENTS WERE DIVIDED INTO THREE TREATMENT GROUPS ACCORDING TO METHOD OF INSTRUCTION--(1) CONVENTIONAL, (2) PROGRAM ONLY (FIRST TERM), AND PROGRAM-PROBLEMS (SECOND TERM), AND (3) PROGRAM-DISCUSSION. FINDINGS WERE BASED ON RESULTS OF THREE TESTS GIVEN TO EACH GROUP. ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE REVEALED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE AMONG TREATMENT GROUPS. THERE WAS GREATER VARIABILITY OF SCORES WITHIN PROGRAM GROUPS THAN WITHIN CONVENTIONAL GROUPS. HIGH ACHIEVEMENT STUDENTS LEARNED BY PROGRAMED INSTRUCTION AS WELL AS STUDENTS OF LOW ACHIEVEMENT. IN THE SECOND TERM, STUDENTS WHO EXPRESSED NO CONFIDENCE IN THE PROGRAM METHOD DID SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER ON TESTS THAN THOSE WHO HAD CONFIDENCE. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES EXISTED DURING THE FIRST TERM BETWEEN THE CONFIDENCE AND NO CONFIDENCE GROUPS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT PROGRAMED MATERIALS WERE AS EFFECTIVE AS CONVENTIONAL LECTURES IN TEACHING AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES TO COLLEGE STUDENTS. (JM)

VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENTS CONSIDERED TO BE REPRESENTATIVE OF DEPARTMENTS HAVING ADULT PROGRAMS IN MARYLAND, DELAWARE, WEST VIRGINIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AND VIRGINIA WERE USED FOR THIS EXPERIMENT. PHASE ONE, IN 1961-62, WAS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO USE THE PROGRAMED OR THE LECTURE-DISCUSSION METHOD IN FARM CREDIT CLASSES. IN PHASE TWO (1962-63), BOTH METHODS WERE USED TO TEACH ALTERNATE CLASSES IN EIGHT SCHOOLS. A RANDOM SAMPLE WAS DRAWN FROM EACH SCHOOL FOR TEST COMPARISONS WITH EIGHT STUDENTS EACH FROM AGRICULTURE 9-10, AGRICULTURE 11-12, AND ADULT CLASSES. DATA WERE COLLECTED AND ANALYZED ON THE REMAINING STUDENTS IN EACH CLASSROOM. SOME CONCLUSIONS WERE -- (1) THE LECTURE-DISCUSSION METHOD OF TEACHING RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER GAINS IN KNOWLEDGE IN PHASE ONE. SOME LECTURE-DISCUSSION TEACHERS USED TWICE AS MUCH CLASS TIME AS DID THE PROGRAMED-INSTRUCTION TEACHER, (2) WHEN THE AMOUNT OF TIME WAS CONTROLLED DURING PHASE TWO OF THE STUDY, THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MEAN SCORES FOR EACH METHOD, (3) TEACHERS FELT THAT PROGRAMED INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE INTEGRATED WITH OTHER METHODS OF TEACHING, AND SOME BELIEVE THAT GOOD STUDENTS LEARNED MORE THAN POOR STUDENTS FROM THIS METHOD. (PS)

A REDUCTION OF THE FOREIGN FARM WORK FORCE IN CALIFORNIA AND SUBSEQUENT INCREASE OF THE DOMESTIC WORK FORCE CREATED A NEED FOR TRAINING FARM FOREMEN. DEVELOPMENT OF A COURSE GUIDE AND A WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS PRECEDED THE 24 COURSES CONDUCTED TO TRAIN 420 FOREMEN WHO SUPERVISED 20,000 WORKERS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY WERE TO DETERMINE IF SUPERVISORY SKILL AND PRODUCTIVITY WERE INCREASED, WORKER TURNOVER WAS DECREASED, ACCIDENTS WERE REDUCED, EMPLOYERS APPROVED CONTINUATION OF COURSES, AND IMPROVEMENTS WERE NEEDED. PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH 25 RANDOMLY SELECTED FOREMEN WHO HAD ATTENDED SUPERVISORY COURSES IN 5 RANDOMLY SELECTED SCHOOLS AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT FOREMEN HAD INCREASED THEIR SUPERVISORY SKILL AS A RESULT OF THE COURSE, WORKER TURNOVER DECREASED, PRODUCTIVITY INCREASED, SAFETY MAY HAVE IMPROVED, AND THAT THE COURSES SHOULD BE CONTINUED. THE REPORT OUTLINES SEVERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE STATE SUPERVISORS, TEACHER EDUCATORS, AND LOCAL TEACHERS TO FOLLOW IN IMPROVING THE PROGRAM. THE APPENDIX INCLUDES INTERVIEW SCHEDULES FOR FOREMEN AND EMPLOYERS. (JM)

Address to Ag. Div. General Session on "Innovations.

A broad overview of agricultural education touches on several aspects. (AG)