Research in Instructional Effectiveness

Edited by E. Kent St. Pierre, Michael P. Riordan, Diane A. Riordan

197 pages, copyright 1990

SORRY, ALL SOLD OUT

The papers in this volume are organized into three broad areas. The volume is designed for teachers striving to improve their classroom approach.

• The Characteristics of Excellence: The first article in this section describes the characteristics of excellence in faculty. The second article advises the instructor to observe student behaviors in gauging the level of student learning. The third article examines the correlation of faculty personality and attitudinal characteristics with faculty effectiveness in the classroom.
• Effective Classroom Methods: This section includes articles on the impact of the media of delivery on learning, the effectiveness of computer-based education, and the impact of teacher questions on learning. All the researchers in this section employed the meta-analytic approach. Meta-analysis allows the researcher to achieve greater generalization of results by combining observations across many small samples.
• Responding to a Changing Environment: A primary aim of college education is to foster students' ability to think critically, reason, and use judgment effectively in decision making. The third section presents a review of studies that investigate the effect of instructional methods, courses, programs and general college experience on changes in college students' critical thinking.