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THE VALUE OF THEORY COURSEWORK IN ENHANCING STUDENTS' CONCEPTUAL COMPLEXITY

PAULA F. SILVER (Associate Professor of Educational Administration, University of Illinois. Formerly Associate Director of U.C.E.A. and Associate Professor, University of Tulsa, Professor Silver has recently joined the Editorial Board of The Journal)
ROBERT HESS (Assistant Professor of Research and Evaluation at the University of Tulsa, received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Washington University in 1977. Prior to this he was an evaluation specialist at CEMREL, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked on various curriculum development and evaluation projects for six years. He is currently Associate Director for the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation at the University of Tulsa)

Journal of Educational Administration

ISSN: 0957-8234

Article publication date: 1 January 1981

126

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of an exploratory, small sample, one institution study designed to assess the value of process‐oriented theory coursework in enhancing students’ conceptual complexity. The study is based on conceptual systems theory which acknowledges that there are considerable differences among individuals in their abilities to process information in their social environments. The authors conclude tentatively from the study that process‐oriented theory coursework does affect students' conceptual complexity. For example, those who formally studied organization theory generally make more differentiations among constructs than do other students; similarly, they scored higher on a general measure of integrative complexity.

Citation

SILVER, P.F. and HESS, R. (1981), "THE VALUE OF THEORY COURSEWORK IN ENHANCING STUDENTS' CONCEPTUAL COMPLEXITY", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009835

Publisher

:

MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1981, MCB UP Limited

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