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Described in this document is a three year project to determine the feasability and effectiveness of philosophy as a high school subject. Experimental problems are: 1) can philosophy be taught as a regular subject; 2) if so, how; 3) what are the problems; and 4) what objectives, methods, materials, and evaluation processes are valid and useful for high school philosophy? The project selected 14 college instructors, some with high school experience, to teach a one semester course in philosophy in 10 cooperating Chicago area high schools -- two inner city and eight affluent suburban schools. Nearly 2,000 students enrolled in one of the courses during the project, fewer students than requested the course. Feedback from project staff, students, other teachers, administrators, and formal evaluation teams assisted coordination and formative evaluation. Other reported aspects of the project and its evaluation include: school and community setting, course and unit patterns, teaching materials, teachers, classrooms, evaluations, and recommendations. The latter two sections are based on what was concluded to be demonstrated feasibility and effectiveness of the high school philosophy courses. (DJB)

To investigate the effects of stuttering therapy involving the avoidance reduction - anxiety reduction approach, a study was conducted with 16 adult stutters who received group and individual therapy for two evenings a week for nine months. Evaluations were made nine months prior to therapy, at the beginning and end of therapy, and nine months after the close of the treatment. Results indicated that the more severe stutterers showed improvement during therapy but regressed slightly during the followup period, while those subjects with a less severe handicap maintained their improvement during the followup period. Since the progress of the subjects was not statistically significant, it was concluded that modifications of the therapy program were necessary for more effective and lasting results. The various testing devices revealed certain changes in areas of personality and attitudes, but showed no change in speech associated anxiety. (RD)

A. R. Luria, in his conception of the verbal control of behavior, regards four fundamental and distinctive functional attributes of the human speech system as making up a signaling system that humans alone possess: (1) the nominative role of language, (2) the generalizing or semantic role, (3) the communicative role, and (4) the role of regulating, directing, or controlling sequential behavior. Prior to the time a child learns to speak, his signaling system is nonverbal and is generated by the physical attributes of the surrounding environment. Luria contends that as the individual matures, the two signaling systems, verbal and nonverbal, work more closely together. He states that the verbal system, both in its communicative and regulative aspects, makes possible novel and flexible behavior without the tedious conditioning necessary for animal learning. Luria views speech as being formed through a series of transformations (substages) rather than through quantitative increases in such things as vocabulary and grammatical rules. In order to test Luria's theory, an experiment involving discrimination was administered to 32 children between the ages of 41 and 78 months. The results generally supported the hypotheses. (WD)

This dissertation examines the thesis that it is the human language system which largely makes possible the human capacity for modifiability of responses called "intelligent" and "adaptive" modes of interaction with the environment. Chapter titles are (1) A Process View of Human Behavior, (2) Aspects of the Multi-Dimensional Nature of Cognitive Processes in the Very Young Child, (3) Linguistic Theory as a Model of Language Perception and Learning, (4) The Structure of Linguistically Initiated Behavioral Acts, (5) The Relationship of the Comprehension of Sentences to Their Complexity, (6) An Experimental Study of Linguistic and Other Psychological Factors in the R-EGULATION OF Behavior in Very Young Children, and (7) Discussion of Results. The author concludes that perceptual or attentional processes which involve expressions of orienting activity should be studied in regard to ontogenetic development and its relationship to the verbal system of preschool children. (MS)

TO IDENTIFY COMMON PROBLEMS, HELPFUL ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES, AND EFFECTIVE ORIENTATION PROCESSES ENCOUNTERED BY NEW TEACHERS, QUESTIONNAIRES WERE SENT TO 5,628 FACULTY MEMBERS IN 429 COMMUNITY COLLEGES. FROM THE 2,783 USABLE RETURNS, NINE MAJOR PROBLEMS WERE IDENTIFIED--(1) LACK OF TIME FOR SCHOLARLY STUDY, (2) ADAPTATION OF INSTRUCTION TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, (3) DEALING WITH STUDENTS WHO REQUIRE SPECIAL ATTENTION TO OVERCOME DEFICIENCIES, (4) OBTAINING ADEQUATE SECRETARIAL HELP, (5) UNDERSTANDING INSTITUTIONAL TEACHER LOAD POLICIES, (6) CHALLENGING SUPERIOR STUDENTS, (7) OBTAINING NEEDED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, (8) GRADING OR MARKING STUDENTS' WORK, AND (9) UNDERSTANDING COLLEGE POLICIES FOR CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT. THREE FACTORS ESSENTIAL FOR INSTRUCTOR GROWTH WERE IDENTIFIED AS SECURITY IN ONE'S PROFESSIONAL POSITION, CONCERN FOR INSTRUCTORS AS PEOPLE, AND FREEDOM FOR THE INSTRUCTOR TO WORK OUT SOLUTIONS TO HIS OWN PROBLEMS. ORIENTATION PROGRAMS SHOULD (1) BE RELATED TO PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED IN THE SPECIFIC INSTITUTION, (2) INCLUDE BOTH FORMAL AND INFORMAL PROCESSES, AND (3) BE DIRECTED AT HELPING THE NEW FACULTY MEMBER TOWARD A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF HIS ROLE IN THE COLLEGE. (WO)