Word recognition, factual recall, and inferential comprehension skills of 30 fifth-year students who had been in an open education classroom for four years were compared with similar skills of fifth-year pupils who had been in a traditional classroom for four years. Pupils had been placed in an open or traditional classroom by parental choice, but…

This paper provides an example of how elementary school curriculum leaders can be mindful of student intelligences and can utilize the strengths of their student populations. It presents the findings from a national study that examined how 17 schools using a curriculum based on Multiple Intelligences Theory improved the self-concept and positive…

Reports a study that examined the use of phonics instruction in fundamentalist Christian schools. Interviews with Christian educators and professionals at conferences indicated that support for phonics (because it is felt to be more traditional and to work) and distrust of the whole language approach is common among Christian educators. (SM)

The purpose of this study is to determine whether locus of control scores for students in "open" programs changed significantly over a one-year period and whether there was any change different from change experienced by students in a "traditional" program. The lack of significant group main effects indicated that students in the open programs did…

Considerable research has focused on comparative studies of open and traditional classrooms which have used standardized test scores as well as measurements of self-perception, creativity, adjustment to school, classroom structure, and teacher control. This paper briefly reviews some of these research findings and discusses the implications of…

This investigation determined quantitatively the effects of open and traditional classroom techniques on teacher and student interaction and social environment. (RC)

This study was a 2-year comparison of the effects of open classroom versus traditional instruction on children's self-concept, attitudes toward school and achievement of basic skills. The 250 participants were students in grades 1-6 of two elementary schools -- one utilizing an open classroom approach and the other a traditional approach. The…

This study was designed to test four groups of pupils entering the second grade in the York County School Board area--two groups in open schools and two in traditional schools--chosen because of the similarity in the schools' size and location and in the socioeconomic status of the pupils. The students were tested once each year for three years…

The effectiveness of six years of nongraded and graded elementary schooling was studied in seventh-grade students at four intelligence levels. All pupils profited equally cognitively. Pupils with lower IQ's benefitted affectively from nongraded schooling, while higher-IQ pupils profited from graded schooling. All pupils experienced affective…

Results of study indicate that there is no significant difference in attitudes of six to eight year olds attending innovative or traditional school; however, nine to eleven year olds attending innovative school had "significantly more positive attitudes toward school" than those attending traditional school. (Author/RW)

This paper discusses present forms of traditional Islamic (Quranic) education in Morocco in the light of modernization. Also considered is the potential impact of such traditional pedagogy on various cognitive abilities, whose growth is sometimes said to have been stunted by such experiences. (Author/SJL)

This paper reports a study of curriculum and teaching methods in 10 Old Order Mennonite one-room schools in Pennsylvania. It provides a review of the historical background and cultural characteristics of the Old Order Mennonites. The one-room schools examined in the study are similar in structure and instruction to U.S. public one-room schools of…

This book brings together in a convenient form a large amount of recent research on open classrooms. Pointing out that open education is more a philosophy than a set method, the book begins with an attempt to sketch the dimensions of the term. The chapter on recent evaluative research is especially helpful. A large number of studies are grouped by…

Nine elementary schools enrolling 852 sixth grade students participated in a study that examined the relationship between the organizational climate of elementary schools (whether the school was "open" or "closed") and the reading achievement of students. Each school's organizational climate was determined by administering the Organizational…

In this paper, data collected from two midwestern schools, one open and one traditional, were compared to determine differences in pedagogical techniques, routines of teachers' work, teacher participation in decision-making and school policy, and frequency of staff communication. School profiles (neighborhood composition, student characteristics,…