An analysis of the use of the directed study method in teaching Industrial Cooperative Training students in the high schools of Virginia

Abstract

The object of this study was to determine the extent to which coordinators of Industrial Cooperative Training programs in Virginia high schools used the directed study method in directly related instruction, to compare its use with other teaching methods used, and to determine the coordinators‘ evaluation of its effectiveness as related to other methods.

A list of 30 programs providing a representative sampling of the I.C.T. programs in the state system considered above average on the basis of past performance was secured from state supervisory personnel. Questionnaires prepared by the researcher were mailed to the coordinators of the selected programs, and to seven other state departments of education to determine the procedure found most effective in their directly related instruction. The questionnaires provided data for the study.

The other state departments reported use of the directed study method for directly related instruction. In Virginia, where each coordinator was found responsible for his own program, all but five of the coordinators questioned considered the directed study method most effective in directly related instruction. The researcher concluded that the evaluative judgment of the individual coordinators resulted in agreement that the most effective instructional procedure in directly related instruction was the directed study method. The researcher also concluded that additional research in Industrial Cooperative Training is needed in comparing the effectiveness of the directed study method with that of other methods in actual use in the classroom, and in other fields necessary for complete understanding and utilization of directed study.