CRITICAL INCIDENT TREATMENT, SELECTED ATTITUDES, AND ANXIETY LEVELS OF STUDENT TEACHERS

THOMAS FRANCIS MORLEY, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if an experimental group differed from a control group in reducing anxiety levels and sustaining democratic and trustful attitudes of pre-service teachers. The study sample was comprised of volunteers from a pool of education students seeking licensure to teach in secondary schools and scheduled for student teaching at the time of the study. Volunteers were placed into experimental and control groups by random selection and the total sample size was thirty-two. Subjects' attitudes and anxiety levels were secured through utilization of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory and the Educational Inventory - Part V. A Control-Group Time-Series Design was employed to collect data, and the statistical procedure to determine group differences was the t-Test. The composition of the treatment differed from that of the control by its addition of three learning experiences. A video-tape depicting descriptive teacher-student classroom exchanges was presented first to the experimental participants. Opportunity to comment, question or discuss the material presented in the video-tape was provided. The video-tape was followed by two classroom encounters placing the experimental participants with high school students in a teaching-learning situation. The participants' primary objective to teach a lesson was supplemented by a charge to address any misbehavior hindering instruction. The high school students were directed to disrupt the instruction at their pleasure but to keep their behavior within the bounds of believability. No mean change differences in attitudes were found to exist when treatment and control effects were measured subsequent to the administration of the treatment but prior to student teaching. The one group difference was greater dispersion of scores about the mean experienced by the treatment group. Following student teaching, attitudinal differences were disclosed between experimental and control groups. The experimental group indicated more democratic and trustful attitudes than the control group despite the finding that each experienced a shift toward more autocratic and distrustful tendencies after student teaching. No group differences were found to exist in pre-service teachers' anxiety levels at the conclusion of the treatment and following student teaching. It was found that the study participants as a whole experienced a reduction in anxiety as the semester progressed.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Teacher education

COinS