A report on the development of an instructional unit entitled Newfoundland railways

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional unit on the history of Newfoundland railways for use as supplementary material in the Grade Nine Canadian history course. -- A slide-tape format was chosen as the medium of presentation of the material to the intended learners. -- Various development stages were involved in the completion of the slide-tape presentation. At various stages of development content and media experts, teachers and students were consulted informally and formally for the purpose of evaluating the content and technical qualities of the slide-tape presentation. -- A nonequivalent control design was used in piloting the slide-tape presentation. Two Grade Nine history classes and on Grade Nine history teacher took part in the study. Statistical analyses of the pretest/posttest results of both classes showed that learning had taken place in the class which had viewed the slide-tape presentation. A resource materials form was also used to evaluate the content and the technical qualities as well as the suitability of the instructional unit. Grade Nine history teachers who used this form highly recommended the slide-tape presentation, Newfoundland Railways, for use in the Grade Nine Canadian history course.