TWENTY-TWO SELECTED OHIO VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE TEACHERS AND 262 JUNIOR AND SENIOR VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN A STUDY TO MEASURE THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF NEWLY DEVELOPED INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS DESIGNED TO ENHANCE STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF PROFIT-MAXIMIZING PRINCIPLES IN FARM MANAGEMENT. FARM MANAGEMENT WAS TAUGHT IN THE TRADITIONAL MANNER IN THE CONTROL GROUP OF SIX SCHOOLS. THE NEWLY DEVELOPED INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS WERE USED IN AN UNINTERRUPTED SEQUENCE OF APPROXIMATELY 6 WEEKS IN THE SEVEN SCHOOLS SERVING AS A PILOT-BLOCK GROUP, ANDTHE SAME MATERIAL INTEGRATED WITH OTHER SUBJECT MATTER WAS USED IN NINE SCHOOLS DESIGNATED AS THE PILOT-INTEGRATED GROUP. THE PILOT-BLOCK GROUP OF STUDENTS OBTAINED THE HIGHEST SCORES ON THE POSTTEST WHICH MEASURED THE UNDERSTANDING OF PROFIT-MAXIMIZING PRINCIPLES, FOLLOWED BY THE PILOT-INTEGRATED AND CONTROL GROUPS. OF 13 VARIABLES STUDIED, ONLY FOUR WERE SIGNIFICANTLY ASSOCIATED WITH AN UNDERSTANDING OF PROFIT-MAXIMIZING PRINCIPLES--STUDENT YEAR IN VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE, STUDENT YEARS OF FARM EXPERIENCE, STUDENT I.Q., AND NUMBER OF TEACHERS IN THE VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT. THE PILOT TEACHERS WERE STRONGLY IN FAVOR OF USING THE DEVELOPED INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS AND FOUND THEM CHALLENGING, TIME CONSUMING, AND REQUIRING EXTRA PREPARATION, BUT THE EXTRA EFFORTS REQUIRED TENDED TO RESULT IN GREATER STUDENT INTEREST AND ACHIEVEMENT. IT WAS RECOMMENDED THAT THE INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS BE REVISED, BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY, AND USED WITH A LARGER STUDENT SAMPLE SELECTED AT RANDOM THROUGHOUT THE STATE. THE APPENDIXES CONTAIN A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND POSTTEST SCORES FOR ALL PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS. THIS IS A DIGEST OF A PH.D. DISSERTATION. THE COMPLETE STUDY IS AVAILABLE AS VT 004 154. (WB)