Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Publication Date

5-2-1974

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationships between two-year college geography and non-geography majors in their use of selected topics in three introductory geography courses. One-hundred and forty-five instructors participated in the study from two-year colleges in a five state area: California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. The hypothesis of the study was that significant differences would occur in the time spent on geographical topics in introductory physical, cultural and world regional geography courses by two-year college geography and non-geography majors. The instrumentation used in the study was a questionnaire divided into three parts. Part one concentrated on the general background of two-year college geography instructors. Part two surveyed the general education of the instructors. Part three listed twenty-eight geographical topics for the instructors to answer on the basis of how many class periods per semester they used each of those topics. The one-hundred and forty-five returns made-up 56.42% of the total number of questionnaires mailed. Eleven of the returns were unanswered, which left a total of one-hundred and thirty-four returns for analysis. The percentage of response for use was 52.14% and included the one-hundred and thirty-four instructors whose replies would be used. Seventy-nine respondents were geography majors while fifty-five were non-geography majors. The geography majors taught two-hundred and two courses, of which fifty-six were introductory physical geography, thirty-three were introductory cultural geography and twenty-seven were world regional geography courses. The eighty-six remaining courses were not applicable to the study, due to the course titles not directly relating to the three courses involved. Non-geography majors taught seventy-five courses, of which thirty-three taught introductory physical geography, fourteen taught introductory cultural geography and eleven taught introductory world regional geography courses. Seventeen course titles were not applicable to the study. The chi-square test was applied to the data supplied by the one-hundred and thirty-four respondents. The results showed, with few exceptions, that there were no significant differences noted in the way introductory physical, cultural and world regional geography courses were taught by geography and non-geography majors in the two-year colleges.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Secondary Education

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

Robert John Doxtator

Second Committee Member

George C. Stoumbis

Third Committee Member

Bonner Milton Crawford

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