dailu nebraskan
friday, december 15, 1978 lincoln, nebraska vol. 102 no. 61
Study shows classroom size
is not significant to learning
By Cindy Coglianesc
In three documented reports by univer
sity professors, the si.e of college class
rooms has no significance on learning
among college students.
A report on the comparison of cognitive
and attitudinal outcomes on teaching
methods conducted by faculty members of
Virginia Polytechnical Institute and
Virginia State University stated that while
there appears to be no difference in the
grades of students in classrooms of
different sizes, there is a better student at
titudinal outcome among those in smaller
classrooms.
Larry Weber and Thomas Hunt said in
their report that there are advantages in
both large and small group methods of
teaching. Their findings included that large
group activity mixed with small group in
teraction would be a possible alternative to
the traditional form of teaching in small
classes.
Their investigation has also revealed that
student dissatisfaction came from the time
scheduling of the classes. Many of the
classes were scheduled during evening
hours which interfered with other
activities.
Teaching dissatisfaction
In another report, Shirley Moore, as
sociate professor of psychology at Eastern
Illinois University, said experiments with
large group situations in her department
have proved that students were not dissatis
fied with the large grduf settings but with
the way those large groups were taught.
She also stated in her report that she
felt comforted that a student would receive
the same grade in a large group setting as in
a class of regular size.
Victor Baumann, a professor at Arizona
State University, found in his research that
he could work well with larger enrollments
when students were permitted to assume
responsibility for their own learning. He
said less supervision, and less lecturing per
mitted more time for him to work directly
with students.
In the report by Weber and Hunt, stu
dents were divided into two groups, one
group was a traditional setting of 38 stu
dents who met three times a week for fifty
minutes.
Experimental group
The second group, the experimental
group, had 90 students, met twice weekly
for fifty minutes and also met in small
groups of about 15 at various times of the
week.
Weber and Hunt found that there were
no significant differences between the two
groups.
Weber and Hunt found that 81 percent
of the first group of students favored their
method of instruction while 91 percent of
the students in the experimental group
favored their instruction. The significant
figure showed in the time schedule facet
with 100 percent of the students in the
first group approving the time schedule
under which they operated. Only 55 per
cent of the students under the
experimental classroom approved of their
time schedule.
Booth found in her report that while
students did not mind the large classroom
setting, they did pay particular attention
to the way the class was taught.
She said various visual aids and methods
of lecturing were used to make her large
classes interesting and that the size had no
effect on learning.
Bauman, in his report, agreed with the
other professors that the method of
instruction was more important to students
in knowledge retention than the size of a
classroom. The report stated that much of
the learning can be conducted outside the
classroom through other sources, such as
supplemental readings.
He also said students who were asked
to evaluate the small and large classroom
settings were favorable to both.
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Photo by Ted Kirk
Big Eight referee Stopz Thaplae offered to shoot opposing coaches for HOP coach
Tom Isboring but a newly intituted gun control law estopped the contract. For
moe, see the Daily Stopaskan joke issue, page 1 1 .
Prokop berates passive, prestige-seeking regents
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Photo by Mark Billingsley
Regent Robert Prokop
inside friday
The last word: The Daily Stopaskan
gets crude, rude and obnox
ious Page 1 1
Yes, administrators, there is. . .: Otr
ficials recall a time when they
"believed" page 20
Boomer Jayhawks? No. not a school
merger but basketball favor
ites Page 22
By L. Kent Wolgamott
Editor's note: This is the final article in
a series of profiles on the eight members of
the NU Board of Regents.
There are two types of regents, accord
ing to Robert Prokop of Wilbur: prestige
regents and working regents.
He said prestige regents are those
members who do not question programs
and proposals presented to them, but
accept them at face value.
"As a student, I would want a passive
regent. Passive regents are easier to influ
ence, and pressure.
"As (regent) Bob Simmons said: 'It
is easier to have the board under their
control,' " Prokop said.
Businessmen and newspapers also bene
fit from prestige regents who take their
opinions and not question them, he added.
Working regents. Prokop said, "attempt
to find whatever answers are available,
by looking over all the material about the
subject, wanting the facts and asking ques
tions." Prokop said he was reluctant to classify
himself as a working regent. But he said, "I
do the work."
"My philosophy is inherent in my scien
tific background. I look for the truth and
search it out to find the final proper
answer," said the NU College of Medicine
graduate.
But, ho said, sometimes the final answer
is not clear and some intermediate solution
must be found.
Prokop, who was elected to the ST
board of Regents in 1970 and was re
elected in 1976, said regents have four
responsibilities.
"The primary responsibility is to repre
sent the people of the district form which
you were elected.
"The second role you have is to set
policy for the University of Nebraska." He
said setting policy requires the regents to
be well informed and to gather enough
information to make "reliable decisions
for the people you represent."
He said the third function of the regents
is "making sure the policies are admini
stered properly."
"Some say this is a gray area." But, he
said the regents must consider their "re
sponsibility for any state funds spent and
see they are wisely and accountably used."
Finally, Prokop said the regents have a
"Strong accountability to the state, the
Unicameral and to the people who pay
axes to support a properly functioning
product."
The regents have been primarily deal
ing with university business and not with
educational quality produced at the uni
versity, he said.
But, he said, he hopes that role will
change to obtaining productivity in
education, which he said is the most im
portant part of the university.
Prokop said it was difficult to estimate
the time he spends working as a regent, but
he said he once spent 60 to 70 hours work
ing on a rural health study and 150 to 200
hours researching stadium expansion,
which he said he opposes for economic
reasons.
He said he answers all letters he receives,
which range from 10 to 150 a week.
But Prokop said much of his time is
spent on clerical work which could be
done by others if regents were provided
with administrative assistants.
The 4 -year -old regent lists his home as
Wilbur and is in that southeast Nebraska
community on weekends and during his
free time, he said.
During the week, he said, he is on
business in the Papillion area and in the
University of Nebraska Medical Center
library in Omaha "a great deal."
He said he uses the library in research
for his medical-legal practice in forensic
pathology.
"It would be doubly difficult for me to
stay in the state if we didn't have the
regional pathology library in Omaha,"
Prokop said.
Prokop, who received his bachelors,
masters and a doctorate degree from the
university and graduated from the
University of Nebraska College of Medi
cine, said he has a practice in outstate
Nebraska in which he takes the place of
local physicians when they leave their
home area. He also is on retainer across the
United States in his forensic practice.
Prokop had criticism for ASUN and the
Daily Nebraskan.
He said the purpose of student govern
ment is to represent the students, but the
past record at UNL made him wonder if
ASUN was truly representative of students.
He pointed out the low voter turnout
in ASUN elections, which he said was an
obvious reason to question ASUN's repre
sentativeness. He said the leadership qual
ity of ASUN is "not one I would consider
exemplary" compared with leadership in
the past.
lie said the student government has
gotten involved in certain UNL business
affairs and auxilary enterprises which
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