Teaching Selected Clothing Concepts Through Independent Study in Beginning Clothing Construction

Many educators today are faced with the dilemma of improving instruction in a growing program with minimum personnel and facilities� Home economics teachers are especially aware of this problem, since the nature of their field of study is continually being modified and expanded. This study came about as a result of the demands on one South Dakota home economics teacher to expand her program and continue to improve her instructional methods in an attempt to meet the needs of her students in a qualitative manner. Homemaking is required in the eighth grade at Madison Junior High, Madison, South Dakota. This presents the teacher with a classroom organization which is heterogeneous. Within a limited class period, the teacher is confronted with the task of instructing the low, average, and high ability student. Thus, the problem of how to meet the needs of students with different levels of ability within each class is especially important at the junior high level where many of the courses taken by the students are required. The writer was concerned with providing instructional materials applicable to different levels of ability within a diversified or heterogeneous group. Special emphasis was placed on individual achievement through self-directed independent study with the aid of multimedia instructional materials. The present study's major objective is to provide independent study instructional media-that will help ·each student in a heterogeneous group to achieve selected concepts in beginning clothing construction.