A survey of general ecology courses and the preparation and testing of programmed instruction on contemporary environmental problems

Abstract

This dissertation summarizes two related research projects concerning ecology education. The first is a questionnaire survey of the topics treated and methods used in the teaching of ecology in 240 different United States colleges and universities. The questionnaire asked questions concerning subject matter content, instructional staff and teaching techniques employed in the laboratory and lecture components of Introductory Ecology courses. The second part of the research involves writing and testing a programmed book treating areas of ecology which many instructors of ecology indicated by their questionnaire responses were insufficiently dealt with in traditional ecology textbooks. These topics, which were receiving inadequate coverage, were then related to the underlying ecological facts and theories.