Effect of an Educational Land Planning Strategy on Students' Cognitive and Affective Development.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine what effect the study of educational land planning strategies in the text Planning For Change had on students' knowledge and attitudes toward land use issues, their ability to analyse land use problems and their ability to think critically. Data were collected from 38 tenth-, eleventh- and twelfth-grade students (20 females and 18 males). The students elected a course titled "Urban Ecology" that was specifically designed to meet the objectives of the study. Three instruments were used to collect the data: (1)L and Use Orientation Survey containing three subsections--knowledge, application and attitude. (2)Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test. (3)Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test. The Land Use Orientation Survey was designed by the author to measure changes in the students' knowledge base; their ability to apply facts and concepts to concrete problems and their solutions; and their attitude toward land use issues. The total score on the L and Use Orientation Survey was used as a measurement of the individual's overall orientation toward urban land use issues. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test was used to measure critical thinking skills. Both of the preceding instruments were administered as pre- and post-tests to determine the changes that occurred in these cognitive and affective areas. The Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test was administered to determine intelligence quotients (I.Q.). Additional data on variables such as sex, grade level, and grade point average were also obtained. This information was used to determine changes in the cognitive and affective variables. Five null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance to determine whether or not there was significant change in the cognitive and affective development of the students who used Planning For Change. The prediction that there was no significant change in the pre- and post-test scores of the knowledge and attitude portion of the Land Use Orientation Survey, the total Land Use Orientation Survey scores and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal scores was not supported by matched t-Test analysis. The prediction of no significant change in the application portion of the Land Use Orientation Survey was supported by statistical analysis. The significant gain in the knowledge and attitude portion of the Land Use Orientation Survey, but no significant gain in application skills, suggest that the text, Planning For Change, focused on the techniques of l and planning and design more than the process of synthesizing new strategies of planning. The results showed that the course, "Urban Ecology," and the text, Planning For Change, met the needs of a broad range of students as far as their intelligence quotient, sex, previous grade point average or grade level in school was concerned because these variables were not significantly related to student achievement. Regression analysis indicated that the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test and the students' I.Q., as measured by the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test, were the best predictors of student development by accounting for 21% and 8.4% respectively. This course has merit as an offering for students of all ability levels in a senior high school.