Date of Award

Spring 1996

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Education

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

First Advisor

Sharon Nodie Oja

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine if there is a correlation between Hunt's (1971) Paragraph Completion Method (PCM) and Buczynski's (1992) Ways of Knowing Inventory (WOKI) and to examine the relationship between intellectual development and collaboration. The sample for the research included student interns in a five-year Master of Education program who were interning to gain their teaching certification. Also in the sample were cooperating teachers and university supervisors. Each of 74 women participants completed the PCM and the WOKI; the results were tabulated, a Pearson r correlation and significance levels were calculated, and a multiple regression was conducted to determine which WOKI subscales, if any, were predictors for the CL score. Results of the statistical analyses showed a weak negative correlation between the CL and the received knowledge subscale on the WOKI, and a moderate negative correlation between the CL and the procedural knowledge subscale on the WOKI. Results showed intercorrelations between the subscales on the WOKI which are different from the original WOKI study. The multiple regression showed that procedural knowledge was a weak inverse predictor of the CL score.

To examine the relationship between intellectual development and collaboration, seven student intern-cooperating teacher pairs were selected for interviews. Each of them were interviewed twice, once in November, 1995 and once in January, 1996. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed for evidence of collaboration and confirmation or contradiction of the scores on the intellectual development measures. The interview results confirmed the scores of the participants on the PCM and WOKI. The collaborative pairs were strongly constructed knowers and had high conceptual level scores corresponding with Stage C. The non-collaborative pairs had more diverse scores on the WOKI, indicating that they shifted from one epistemological position to another. Two of the eight people in this group had CL scores corresponding to Stage A and Stage B, the other six scored in Stage C.

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