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A two-week resident camp offering the
primary objective of predetermined attitude
change for early adolescents.
Coons, E.M.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of New
Mexico, 1973.
Purpose:
Determine the effect of a two-week resident
camp experience with pre-determined attitudinal
change objectives on the self-concept and
attitudes toward school and the learning
process of adolescents.
Sample:
95 girls and boys aged 10-13
Method/Instruments:
Method: Camp Program: one "typical"
camp program and an experimental. The first
phase of the experimental program was highly
adult controlled and authoritarian in nature.
The second phase of the experimental program
was structured in a manner similar to cooperative
learning: each camper learned a specific
outdoor living skill from the staff and
was required to teach that skill to a small
group of peers. The remainder of the program
was structured to allow for democratic functioning
of the camper group, with campers making
decisions about rules, menus, procedures,
program etc., with an emphasis on personal
responsibility.
Design: pre-test/post-test control group
design. 49 boys and girls in the experimental
group, 46 boys and girls in the control
group.
Instruments: Four measurement instruments
were developed by the researcher and were
found to be reliable and valid.
- Self-Rating Scale - used to measure
self-perceptions of physical body, social-ethical
self-perceptions, psychosexual self-perceptions,
attitude toward the value of learning,
and attitude toward the teacher in the
learning process (completed by campers
on the 2nd and 11th
days of camp).
- Staff-Rating Scale - used to measure
student self-perceptions of physical body,
student social-ethical self-perceptions,
student psychosexual self-perceptions,
student attitude toward the value of learning,
and student attitude toward the teacher
in the learning process (completed by
the resident teacher-counselors on the
2nd and 11th days
of camp).
- Guidance-Staff Rating Scale - - used
to measure student self-perceptions of
physical body, student social-ethical
self-perceptions, student psychosexual
self-perceptions, student attitude toward
the value of learning, and student attitude
toward the teacher in the learning process
(completed by the guidance staff members-counselors
on the 11th day of camp).
- Sociometric Nomination "Guess Who"
Technique - used to measure changing group
structure and individual assessment within
the group (campers completed this twice
during each camp session).
Data Analysis:
- Chi Square Test for Two Independent
Samples was used to analyze data from
the Self-Ratings Scales and Staff-Rating
Scales.
- Median Test procedure was used to analyze
data from the Guidance-Staff Rating Scale.
- Sociometric Nomination ratings were
based on the listing of the number of
students selected four or more times by
their peers.
Results:
- Significantly greater positive attitude
changes for the experimental group.
- Significantly greater positive attitude
changes for the experimental group as
perceived by teacher-counselors.
- Significantly greater positive attitude
changes for the experimental group as
perceived by the guidance staff.
- The children regarded each other as
being more positive and less negative
after the experimental session than after
the control group camp session. The control
group indicated an increase in negative
perceptions of peers.
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