FUNCTION-RELATED METHODS OF TASK ANALYSIS FOR CURRICULUM MAKING IN WRITINGS OF W. W. CHARTERS, SR

This dissertation considers the concept of function in the writings of educator Werrett Wallace Charters, Sr. The goal of the present study is to illuminate and elaborate upon an inquiry method implicit in the analytic techniques found in Charters' selected writings.;The introduction provides an overview of prevailing social and education issues during Charters' time. Chapter One profiles W. W. Charters, Sr. in selected professional roles. Chapter Two introduces a classification of Charters' ideas and develops them within four categories--topic, theme, thesis, and trend. Chapter Three selects one of Charters' key theses--function--and describes its philosophical features and techniques. Chapter Four discusses practical features and techniques of the concept of function. These two chapters together offer eight self-contained techniques of analysis which form the basis of a function-related inquiry method. Chapter Five delineates Charters' contributions to American education with respect to his own inquiries and to the stimulus for further investigation that his research and ideas provided. An Epilogue elucidates the continued applicability of Charters' ideas.;W. W. Charters, Sr. used function as a useful methodology for illustrating the components of curriculum-based themes. Function remained an enduring thesis throughout his career and, therefore, is used to examine the major themes of his lifework. Eight function-related techniques are identified which Charters used for assessing human performance in order to derive the basic building blocks for constructing curriculums. Beginning with these eight means and inferring further from the remainder of Charters' work, this study describes an inquiry methodology which is applicable not only to education but to any performance assessment situation.