This thesis: examines the relationship between the mode of production, social formation, technology and education in general ways; examines the structure and delivery of education that was developed in industrial society and proposes structural changes to the three educational message systems of curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation; and, discusses the contributions that curriculum integration, experiential learning and computer technology can make to these restructured message systems. If these changes are to be implemented in the educational offerings of post-industrial societies then there is a need for sound evaluation of the contributions that they can make to the education of young people. Results are presented of a five- year longitudinal case study of a school-based curriculum research and development project, the Freyberg Integrated Studies Project, in New Zealand. Within the Project, teachers, school administrators and educational researchers, working together, developed and field tested an integrated approach to secondary education new to that country. The project developed programmes which incorporated three curriculum design elements: educational out-of- class activities, student use of the computer as an information processing and analysis tool, and integrated approaches to teaching and learning. Results indicate that students in the integrated studies programme had more positive attitudes towards the three curriculum design elements of the project than their peers in the more traditional subject-centred programme. In addition, the integrated studies students were significantly less academically alienated and performed significantly better in the New Zealand External School Certificate examinations. Qualitative data show that these students expressed comments which indicated that they were significantly more optimistic, enjoyed school more and conveyed feelings of empowerment compared with their peers in the traditional school programme. The increasing impact of the project on students' attitudes mirrored increasing teacher expertise in using the three design elements. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the impact of the project on the students, teachers and the school/community, and discusses the implications for practice and further research in light of the developmental nature of innovation adoption and implementation processes.