Connecting visual and analytic reasoning to improve students' spatial visualization abilities: A constructivist approach

Current reform initiatives recommend that school geometry teaching and learning include the study of three-dimensional geometric objects and provide students with opportunities to use spatial abilities in mathematical tasks. Two ways of using Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP), a dynamic and interactive computer program, in conjunction with manipulatives enable students to investigate and explore geometric concepts, especially when used in a constructivist setting. Research on spatial abilities has focused on visual reasoning to improve visualization skills. This dissertation investigated the hypothesis that connecting visual and analytic reasoning may better improve students' spatial visualization abilities as compared to instruction that makes little or no use of the connection of the two. Data were collected using the Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests (PSVT) administered as a pretest and posttest to a control and two experimental groups. Sixty-four 10th grade students in three geometry classrooms participated in the study during 6 weeks. Research questions were answered using statistical procedures. An analysis of covariance was used for a quantitative analysis, whereas a description of students' visual-analytic processing strategies was presented using qualitative methods. The quantitative results indicated that there were significant differences in gender, but not in the group factor. However, when analyzing a sub sample of 33 participants with pretest scores below the 50th percentile, males in one of the experimental groups significantly benefited from the treatment. A review of previous research also indicated that students with low visualization skills benefited more than those with higher visualization skills. The qualitative results showed that girls were more sophisticated in their visual-analytic processing strategies to solve three-dimensional tasks. It is recommended that the teaching and learning of spatial visualization start in the middle school, prior to students' more rigorous mathematics exposure in high school. A duration longer than 6 weeks for treatments in similar future research studies is also recommended.

Use of the DACUM process in the identification and verification of competencies for the medical administrative assistant

Medicine has changed in recent years. Medicare will all of its rules and regulations, worker's compensation laws, managed care and the trend toward more and larger group practices all contributed to the creation of an extremely structured regulatory environment which in turn demanded highly trained medical administrative assistants.^ The researcher noted three primary problems in the identification of competencies for the medical administrative assistant position: A lack of curricula, diverse roles, and a complex environment which has undergone radical change in recent years and will continue to evolve. Therefore, the purposes of the study were to use the DACUM process to develop a relevant list of competencies required by the medical administrative assistant practicing in physicians' offices in South Florida; determine the rank order of importance of each competency using a scale of one to five; cross-validate the DACUM group scores with a second population who did not participate in the DACUM process; and establish a basis for a curriculum framework for an occupational program.^ The DACUM process of curriculum development was selected because it seemed best suited to the need to develop a list of competencies for an occupation for which no programs existed. A panel of expert medical office administrative staff was selected to attend a 2-day workshop to describe their jobs in great detail. The panel, led by a trained facilitator, listed major duties and the respective tasks of their job. Brainstorming techniques were used to develop a consensus.^ Based upon the DACUM workshop, a survey was developed listing the 8 major duties and 71 tasks identified by the panel. The survey was mailed to the DACUM group and a second, larger population who did not participate in the DACUM. The survey results from the two groups were then compared. The non-DACUM group validated all but 3 of the 71 tasks listed by the DACUM panel. Because the three tasks were rated by the second group as at least "somewhat important" and rated "very important" by the DACUM group, the researcher recommended the inclusion of all 71 tasks in program development for this occupation. ^