String Programs Research Articles

The Development of A Model for Evaluating Elementary String Programs

The Development of A Model for Evaluating Elementary String Programs

Certifying Polynomial Time and Linear/Polynomial Space for Imperative Programs

In earlier work of Kristiansen and Niggl the polynomial-time computable functions were characterized by stack programs of $\mu$-measure $0$, and the linear-space computable functions by loop programs of $\mu$-measure $0$. Until recently, an open problem was how to extend these characterizations to programs with user-friendly basic instructions, such as assignment statements, and with mixed data structures. It is shown how to strengthen the above characterizations to imperative programs built from arbitrary basic instructions by sequencing and by if-then-else and for-do statements. These programs operate on variables, each of which may represent any data structure such as stacks, registers, trees, or graphs. The paper presents a new method of certifying polynomial size boundedness of such imperative programs under the assumption that the basic instructions used are polynomially size bounded, too. The certificate for a program ${\tt P}$ with variables among ${\tt X}_{1}, \ldots, {\tt X}_{n}$ will be an $(n+1)\times (n+1)$ matrix $M({\tt P})$ over the finite set $\{ 0, 1, \infty\}$. It is shown that certified string programs (i.e., stack programs, but with any polynomial-time computable basic instructions) exactly compute the functions in {\sc fptime}. Accordingly, certified general loop programs (using any linear-space computable basic instructions) exactly compute the functions in {\sc flinspace}. Furthermore, it is shown that certified power string programs (i.e., string programs, but built from polynomial-space computable basic instructions and extended by power loop statements) exactly compute the polynomial-space computable functions in {\sc fpspace}. In addition, examples of certified natural (implementations of) algorithms, such as insertion-sort or binary addition and multiplication, are given.

A Review of Literature Pertaining to Factors that Contribute to the Process of Starting a Curricular String Program

While anecdotal information on how to improve a string program is available via the testimonials of string teachers who lead recognized programs, how those same string programs actually started has not been systematically researched. At some point in every school orchestra program's history, a local school board, for some reason, appointed the first string teacher. This review of literature explores factors that lead a school district from having no string program and no string teacher to having the first string teacher under contract through a study of advocacy, new string program development and model building. Findings reveal that the process is complex and political.

Status of Orchestra Programs in the Public Schools

The purpose of this study was to monitor the status of string instruction in string programs throughout the United States. Subjects for this study were string teachers from string school programs throughout the United States. From a total of 8,556 public, private, and parochial schools at the elementary, middle school/junior high school, and high school levels, a sample of 2, 139 schools were randomly selected for study participation. A survey was administered to string teachers at these randomly selected sites. From data analyses it was found that: the number of string teachers has declined while string student enrollment has increased, almost one-fourth of the schools in 1999–2000 and over 43% of the schools in 2000–2001 were not able to find qualified teachers for their string programs. While many programs unsuccessfully attempt to find teachers, the need for string teachers increases.

How Not to Repeat the Mistakes of Our Past: A history of string programs in Public Schools

How Not to Repeat the Mistakes of Our Past: A history of string programs in Public Schools

String Programs in Low Socioeconomic Level School Districts

This study examined string programs in low socioeconomic level school districts where more than twenty-five percent of the children fell below the U.S. Census poverty level. The preliminary findings revealed a 28 percent decrease in the number of such districts that offered strings during the five-year period from 1994 (100) to 1999 (72). Questionnaires were sent to the remaining 72 districts that still had viable string programs with a response rate of 83.3 percent (60). The findings indicated that 90 percent of the districts offered orchestra at the high school level, 85 percent offered strings at the middle school level, and 70 percent offered beginning string classes at the elementary school level. It was also found that as school district size increased, strings were offered primarily in either performing arts or academically gifted schools. Findings related to string program funding indicated that one-third to one-half of the districts with less than 10,000 students or more than 30,000 students used outside funding sources to pay the teachers’ salaries and provide instruments. Among the outside funding sources identified were 1) private foundation grants, 2) corporate grants, 3) state arts grants, 4) federal government Title I funds, and 5) magnet school desegregation funds.

Teachers, Learners and Programs in String Education: A Review of Research

Developing an effective string education system is the goal of educators and researchers alike. In order to do this educators need to be made aware of how students learn, what student attitudes affect learning and retention, and how effective programs address the many issues facing string educators. The purposes of this paper are to describe research related to the aptitude, attitude and achievement of individuals in string teaching/learning situations, to present research that describes interference to string learning such as injury, and to describe effective string programs both past and present. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section presents research related to string teaching while the second section focuses on string learners from preschool through adult. The third section describes both current and historical string programs.

Grade Starts & Scheduling Practices: Recommended vs Actual: Opportunities in Beginning String Programs

Grade Starts & Scheduling Practices: Recommended vs Actual: Opportunities in Beginning String Programs

A Snapshot of New String Programs around the Country

The factors and elements that go into creating a string program are discussed in the article “How to Develop Community-Wide Support for String Study” by Robert Culver, which begins on page 48. Many of these elements are visible in the following stories of school and private string programs and youth orchestras created within the last few years.

Research Linking Music and Intelligence: Helpful or Harmful to the String Teaching Profession?

Music education has been enjoying a great deal of publicity concerning research that shows a correlation between music study and improved spatial-temporal reasoning or improved test scores. This so-called neuromusicology research—a term coined by New York Times critic Alex Ross—has been especially welcomed by the string teaching community and is often used to advocate for new string programs, as well as for additional funding for existing programs. 1

How to Develop Community-Wide Support for String Study

School and community-based string programs and the value placed on them have increased steadily since Will Earhart started a school orchestra in Richmond, Indiana in 1889. 1 During the last several years the developments have been particularly dramatic with a rapid escalation of numbers of students and numbers of programs that have been established. Stringed instrument sales have increased 12 percent per year for each of the last seven years. 2 Recent studies and anecdotal information exist that substantiate a trend of growth. 3

The Status of Orchestra Programs in the Public Schools

The objective of this study was to gather descriptive information about orchestra programs that can be used as baseline data when considering the needs of school string programs. Of the 1,345 surveys sent to schools offering orchestra instruction, 652 were completed. Orchestra teachers were asked to describe themselves, their schools, and their orchestra's curriculum, students, and music. Findings indicate a continued enrollment increase in school orchestras in the 1990s, although the number of orchestra teachers has remained relatively stable. Also, larger schools are more likely to offer orchestra instruction. The majority of orchestra students and their teachers are white. More than two-thirds of students who begin to play stringed instruments in the schools continue playing them until graduation. Twenty percent of orchestra students are in the upper 10% of their graduating class, even though they make up less than 5% of the student population.

The National Standards for Arts Education: Implications for School String Programs

The National Standards for Arts Education: Implications for School String Programs

Clocked adversaries for hashing

A “clocked adversary” is a program that can time its operations and base its behavior on the results of those timings. While it is well known that hashing performs poorly in the worst case, recent results have proven that, for reference-string programs, the probability of falling into a bad case can be driven arbitrarily low. We show that this is not true for clocked adversaries. This emphasizes the limits on the appiicability of theorems on the behavior of hashing schemes on reference string programs, and raises a novel set of problems dealing with optimality of and vulnerability to clocked adversaries.

Hispanic Student Participation in School String Programs

Hispanic Student Participation in School String Programs

Successful Impossible String Programs

Successful Impossible String Programs

A Comparative Study: European and American String Programs in the Public Schools

A Comparative Study: European and American String Programs in the Public Schools

String Programs: Growth in Brazil

String Programs: Growth in Brazil