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Maintenance of Weight Loss
No full text29 leaves. Advisor: Margaret E. LloydThe problem. Behavioral weight control programs have been successful in creating short-term weight losses for obese clients. When the client-therapist relationship is ended, clients quickly regain weight lost during training. Teaching clients those skills necessary for continued or maintained weight loss is imperative. These skills need to be identified and taught to all people with the problem of obesity.
Procedure. A total of 28 clients were divided into four classes. Each class was presented with an instructional program based upon current behavioral weight control strategies. In addition, all clients were instructed in techniques necessary for the maintenance of weight losses occurring during treatment. One class did not practice these techniques and three did during treatment. Compliance to the therapists' instructions was rewarded with the return of a monetary rebate from therapy fees during training. Clients were contacted and weighed at random intervals during the three months following the end of training.
Findings. There were no differences between those clients who did not practice the maintenance skills (diet group) and those that did (maintenanoe group) at the end of training. At the end of the follow-up period slight differences
were observed between each group in the mean number of pounds lost.
Conclusions. No statement can be made identifying the significance of practicing maintenance skills during treatment on follow-up performance. Intragroup differences, individual differences, and small group size do not allow conclusive statements to be made.
Recommendations. Investigations should continue which attempt to clarify solutions to the problem of clients gaining back weight lost during training. Two crucial variables to consider are the steps an individual must follow to lose or maintain weight and secondly how is society going to be changed such that these steps are followed and made unnecessary for later generations. Both are enormous tasks and should be dealt with in all due haste
Theoretical Bases And Procedures For Instituting A Model For Faculty Development In Higher Education
Get PDF277 leaves. Advisor: Dr. Paul JoslinThe problem. The problem dealt with in this study is the concern for faculty development in a time of diminishing student enrollments, reduced faculty mobility, increasing pressure for accountability, and economic inflation.
Faculty vitality and teaching effectiveness were found to be concerns within such an environment. The purpose of the study was to develop a model which would enable maximum development of existing personnel within an institution. The study actually served two functions; produced the model and served as a historical foundation for a three-year faculty development program at Drake University.
Procedures. It was shown that independent higher education institutions such as Drake University, without excessive outside regulations, provided a unique situation
in which to pursue a program of needed change, faculty development, and evaluation. Following a thorough needs assessment through standardized instruments, literature
search, visitation of parallel programs and information exchange with other institutions, goals were identified by the Faculty Development Office staff and the Faculty Advisory Committee. Alternatives for goals achievement were obtained from the faculty through proposed projects and Faculty
Development Office sponsored seminars. Last, a nonthreatening, qualitative, and quantitative evaluation was conducted on each project funded, to assess its effectiveness
in meeting these goals. All evaluation instruments were designed for the specific needs of each project.
Findings. The developed model consisted of three parts: a modified example of a Task Analysis and Timeline for a 3-Year Program, which outlined the duties of the coordinator, researcher, and Faculty Advisory Committee (PAC) in assessing, implementing, and evaluating faculty development programs; a representative Outline for Instituting a
Faculty Development Program From a Needs Assessment, which showed the importance of a comprehensive needs assessment for goals establishment, the advantages of faculty proposed projects for goals achievement, and the means for evaluating the effectiveness of such short-term projects and long range
climate changes, a Paradigm for Chanqe and Evaluation in Faculty Development Within an Institution, which showed the separate, but parallel purpose to the Faculty Development
Office (FDO), connected to the faculty by a projects screen. Involvement through faculty initiated projects, good communications,
and a dedicated FAC help assure program acceptance and anxiety reduction. Well informed, organized, sensitive leadership were found to play integral roles in program success.
Conclusions. An historical baseline has been developed as part of the three year program at Drake University. The strength of the developed model appears to lie in its
applicability to many institutions dealing with maximizing the effectiveness of existing professional personnel. The synthesized instruments provide effective guidelines for:
1) faculty proposed projects; 2) assessment of the merit of projects proposed for funding: 3) a proposals log for bookkeeping and quantification of FAC dispositions toward
projects 1 and 4) Likert-type evaluation instruments for assessing the effectiveness of funded projects in meeting program needs and goals. However, further validity and
reliability tests should be undertaken for necessary confidence.
Recommendations. Administrative priority helps to assure success. The advisory committee should have their normal work load lightened to assure adequate time for meetings and adequate, active participation. External evaluation should be undertaken periodically to assess progress. Establishment of a faculty development board should be explored with distinctive duties of assessment, implementation, and evaluation to help reduce bias and overload. For Drake University specifically, the following recommendations were proposed: 1) reasons for student dropout
should be explored, 2) greater administrative and faculty importance should be placed on successfully utilizing standardized instruments at the college and departmental
level for assessing climate changes: 3) an incentive system related to periodic review of faculty accomplishments should be explored, 4) the area serviced by Drake University should be assessed for specific needs; and 5) faculty
development should become a permanent office, separated from the line bureaucracy
An Attitude Assessment of First, Fourth and Seventh Grade Students Concerning the Relationship of Science Content to Art Content
Get PDF101 leaves. Advisor: Dr. John Hicks.The problem and purpose. Schools tend to implement a departmentalized system of education, but much literature, research and increasing numbers of educational models indicate the desirability of stressinq interdisciplinary educational practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether or not children of various ages, backgrounds and
intelligence see a relationship between certain
elementary science and art concepts.
The procedure. The researcher selected science and art attitudes as areas of study for this paper. The response of students toward similar concepts in art and science could then be helpful in setting up curricula in these areas. Science and art were selected because these subjects are often viewed as being at opposite ends of the curriculum. Science is viewed as highly intellectual, rational, masculine and eventually for a select group of students. Art is viewed as non-intellectual, emotional, feminine, and for those who want an easy course. Science is viewed as serious work, art is viewed as play.
The questionnaire devised by the researcher dealt with those concepts and activities that are similar in art and science. The procedures used were to measure the responses and attitudes of a randomly selected group of children and teachers toward similarities of art and science concepts.
Findings. The most significant finding was that the younger the child, the more of a relationship this child saw between subjects and the world around him. The more the child progressed through the educational system, as it stands today, the less the child related his learning experiences to practical life situations.
Conclusion. Children in earlier grades see more of a positive relationship between art and science than children do in later grade levels. Cultural backgrounds seemed to effect the relationship a child perceives between subjects, but this finding was not significant.
Recommendations. A young child does perceive a positive relationship between different areas of study and this perception should be encouraged and expanded rather than slighted. Increasing efforts should be made to implement interdisciplinary approaches in teaching by local schools and state agencies
A Study of Three Competitive Swimming Front Racing Starts
Get PDF39 leaves. Advisor: Charles HeilmanThe problem. The purpose of this study was to compare three competitive swimming front starts: the conventional arm swing start, the grab start, and the grab (butterfly) start.
Procedure. Thirteen experienced competitive
swimmers (six female and seven male) did each of the three starts a total of six times. The middle four times for each start were used as data to determine the means for each of the three starts for each subject. All starts were filmed and timed to measure these three factors:
1. The time elapsed from the starting signal to the time the subject's feet left the starting block.
2. The distance the subject traveled in the air.
3. The time from the starting signal to a distance
of fifteen feet from the starting block.
Findings. An analysis of variance proved to be statistically significant in one of the measured factors: The time elapsed from the starting signal to the time the subjects' feet left the blocks. For this factor, there was an advantage for the two grab starts over the conventional start. The study did not show any significant differences
in the other two factors; however, some differences were noted with individual subjects
An Analysis of an Interdisciplinary Experience in Art, Music, and Social Science with Fifth Grade Classes in Traditional School
Get PDF71 leaves. Advisor: Dr. John M. HicksThe problem. Literature in various fields increasingly is stressing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to education but such programs are not in evidence. This study is an analysis of an interdisciplinary experience
in art, music and social science with fifth grade classes in a traditional school.
Procedure. Three classes of fifth grade children at Barlow Granger Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa were the population samples of this study. The author was the art teacher who initiated an interdisciplinary study with the music and social science teachers about Africa for student
participation. An African program was given by the children for their parents at the end of the unit of study. A followup study was done the following year with two fifth grade classes, which composed a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group was tested and data was
gathered.
Findings. The results of the study showed that high motivation stimulates children and has far reaching effects. The interdisciplinary experience brought about behavioral changes that tended to be permanent in the students. Small group interaction promoted peer approval.
Conclusions. Art does have a positive effect on the learning process of students through motivation and stimulation.
It aids the human element, helps develop selfconfidence, promotes the feeling of success and provides access to positive behavioral changes. Innovative teaching methods can be implemented in traditional schools. It takes
more teacher energy, cooperation, assistance and administrative backing.
Recommendations. The writer recommends from this
study that further research be done in man's thinking process with teaching methods designed to educate that process. Interdisciplinary teaching has substantial advantages and should be considered by more schools
An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Federal Education Legislation And Identifiable Economic, Political Or Social Crises In The United States
Get PDF172 leaves. Advisor: Dr. Charles D. RowleyThe problem. The problem was to determine whether the Congress of the United States, throughout its history, had enacted major federal education legislation as a response
to a major economic, political or social crisis.
Procedures. Data were gathered on major federal
education legislation and major economic, political and social crises occurring in the United States from 1776 to 1976. From these data, lists were constructed of major
federal education legislation and of each type of major crisis. The lists of all major economic, political and social crises were combined and compared with the list of
major federal education legislation. The purpose of this comparison was to determine if major federal education legislation was enacted when some form of crisis was occurring
in the United States. The data gathered from this comparison were used to test the hypothesis. Additional analyses were conducted to determine if major federal education
legislation was enacted when a particular type of crisis had occurred. This was accomplished by comparing each list of crises with the list of major federal education legislation.
Two other analyses were completed by using the composite list of crises and the list of major federal education legislation. The analyses were to determine if when major federal education legislation was enacted some type of
crisis was occurring in the United States, and if there was a relationship between crises and federal education legislation occurring simultaneously in history.
Findings. There were twenty-seven dates in the
United States from 1776 to 1976 when major federal education legislation was enacted. These twenty-seven dates encompassed
forty-two education acts. Sixty-one major crises occurred in the United States from 1776 to 1976. Eighteen of these were economic crises, eighteen were political and
twenty-five were social. The investigation reveals: thirty-four percent of the time when a major economic, political or social crisis occurred, major federal education legislation
was enacted. Additional analyses of data reveal: eleven percent of the time a major economic crisis occurred, major federal education legislation was enacted; fifty percent of the time a major political crisis occurred, major federal education legislation was enacted; forty percent of the time a major social crisis occurred, major federal education
legislation was enacted. Also, eighty-one percent of the time when major federal education legislation was enacted, a major crisis of some type was occurring; thirty-seven
percent of the time major federal education legislation was enacted the legislation had a relationship with a crisis occurring at the same time. Conversely, eleven percent of all crises that occurred had a relationship with
major federal education legislation enacted at the same time. Two-thirds of all major federal education legislation occurred from 1956 to 1976.
Conclusions. The federal government does not use major economic, political or social crises as a basis for enacting major federal education legislation. Three additional
conclusions were drawn from the study. When a crisis exists at the same time major federal education legislation is enacted, the crisis is most likely to be concerned with war or national defense. There is no apparent established procedure for identifying needed federal education legislation; the federal government has become increasingly involved
in education.
Recommendations. An investigation should be made to determine background causes for major federal education legislation. Current attitudes and intentions of the federal
government in education need to be determined. It is imperative that educators and their organizations, as well as the Congress, develop methodology for identifying needed
education legislation and procedures for implementation. The public should be aware of all costs, benefits and limitations of proposed major federal education legislatio
The Voice of the Middle West
Get PDF195 leaves. Advisor: Hilary MastersThe Voice of the Middle West is a novel about a deaf man named Claude Hunter Jr. Hunter's life is traced from infancy to age 30, 1933-1963. The setting is a small southern Iowa town called Calliope and moves occasionally to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Claude is raised by foster parents, Peter and Rachel Benjamin. Peter is the minister of Calliope Christian Church.
The novel also deals with radio station WHY, a Des Moines station which goes on the air in 1933. Of particular interest is a broadcaster Clay Brooks, a native of Calliope.
The Voice of the Middle West is a novel which has been a long time in the writing. It began with a love for radio. Much of my own life is in the novel for I was a foster child and I grew up in two small Iowa towns. My experience working at the State Fair and as a Christian Church minister is also important.
But the key factor is the awareness of deafness which my wife brought to me. Because she is an interpreter, we have many deaf friends and it was crucially important that my lead character be real, that he be meaningful and human. This above all else was my goal in writing.
Of nearly equal importance to me was the creation of a significant and real "place." Iowa is a great mystical mother; I want her to be portrayed accurately, her people to be real.
Of those writers who influenced my thinking in preparing this novel, I feel most indebted to William Faulkner, T. S. Eliot, Harper Lee and William Styron.
It is Eliot's Wasteland which sets my philosophical mood. The deaf person in our age is still trapped in Eliot's Wasteland. He is trapped because our generation has not learned, as Eliot suggests, to give, sympathize, and control ourselves in regard to this handicap.
Faulkner taught me love of place. I've travelled all over his mythical county, talked to the models of his characters, and studied how he matched the word to the place.
He taught me how to love my place in writing, and I want to keep practicing this art.
Harper Lee taught me how to explore children's minds and how to be poetic without overdoing it. I'm eager to do more work with this word craft, too.
Styron was both a positive and negative influence upon me. I loved Lie Down in Darkness because I thought he performed an extension of Faulkner and Eliot. In some ways, this book was an attempt to do likewise. But I was offended by his negative attitude toward modern religion, and I wanted to present a more positive picture.
In summary, it is most difficult to sit in judgment of one's own work. Sometimes I feel like Ann Bradstreet who referred to her book of poems as "my rambling brat in print." The book is mine, and I am proud of it, but the best lesson I learned from it is that I must now write another. I simply must, and I shall. I discovered that I could write while teaching and taking classes, and now I propose to do just that, again and again
The Effects of Manipulating One Requirement of a Conjunctive Schedule on Responding in the Pigeon
Get PDF36 leaves. Advisor: Larry A AlferinkThe problem. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of systematically increasing the ratio requirement of a conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedule on responding during the fixed interval.
Procedure. Three experimentally-naive homing pigeons initially trained to peck a red response key on a fixed-interval schedule (FI 180 sec) served as subjects. The inter-reinforcer response range was determined for each subject on the fixed-interval schedule. The ratio values used on the subsequent conjunctive schedules were selected from each subject's baseline response distribution.
Findings. The frequency distributions of responses
within each fixed interval did not systematically vary in shape as the fixed-ratio requirement was added to the fixed-interval schedule. These results were consistent across all three subjects. Subjects responded in a fixed-interval scallop
on all schedules. The overall rate of responding was maintained across conditions.
Conclusions. These results suggest that maintenance of responding on a conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedule is dependent upon the selection of the ratio values from
each subject's range of inter-reinforcer responses on the fixed-interval schedule. Systematic selection of the ratio requirement on this schedule appears to influence the pattern
of responding observed per reinforcer.
Recommendations. Maintenance of the overall response rate and fixed-interval patterning appear to depend on the manner in which the added response requirement is introduced to the subject. In order to gain an understanding of schedule-controlled behavior, researchers should carefully examine the method of response requirement selection when utilizing schedules with interval and ratio requirements
An Analysis Of Student Performance On Unit Test Items Not Addressed By Study Questions As A Function Of The Prior Availability Of Study Questions Over The Unit
Get PDF18, [2] leaves. Advisor: Dr. Margaret LloydThe problem. In what way does the availability of study questions affect student test performance and general comprehension of unit material?
Procedure. Students enrolled in an abnormal psychology class were either given study questions or not given study questions to help them prepare for each of their weekly tests.
The two dependent variables were (1) performance on test items which had been addressed by the study guide (percent of students passing the test on the first attempt) and (2) performance on probe items over material which had not been addressed by the study guide. Correct answers to probe
items did not improve a student's grade.
Findings. When study questions were provided,
students consistently did better on the unit tests and worse on probe items than they did when study questions were not provided. These relationships were consistent at each of three criteria levels for passing the unit test
(50%, 70%, and 90%).
Recommendations. Study questions could more effectively be used if they cover a large portion of the unit material. Construction of study questions could also require the synthesis of unit material rather than a discrete response from the student