STUDENT ATTITUDE, READING, MATH SCORES AND PERFORMANCE IN INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether a relationship existed between student attitude, reading and math scores and the overall performance level of students in a junior high school industrial arts program.;The population for this study consisted of seventy-four male eighth grade students from one suburban junior high school located on Long Island, N.Y., during the school year 1978-1979. These students were assigned to four equivalent classes in an industrial arts program that consisted of six areas: woodworking, metalworking, electricity, printing, ceramics, and mechanical drawing.;Three instruments were used to obtain the data necessary to conduct this investigation. The reading and math subtest scores from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) provided the measure of the students reading and math scores. The student attitude was determined by the School Inventory (SI) and the student performance level was obtained by the composite score of the six selected performance projects, one from each of the six areas in industrial arts.;The ITBS and the SI instruments were administered during the months of November, 1978, and March, 1979, respectively. The Performance Project instruments, one in each of the six areas of the industrial arts program, were given at the conclusion of the classes' experience in each of the particular areas. The data from the ITBS, the SI, and the Performance Projects for each of the six areas in industrial arts was collected and recorded.;The results of this study were derived from testing four major hypotheses. Each major hypothesis was concerned with the relationship between attitude, reading and math scores and overall performance level in a junior high school industrial arts program. Minor hypotheses relating to each of the six areas of industrial arts were generated from three of the major hypotheses. Thus a total of 22 relationships were examined. The hypotheses were tested by means of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and the Multiple Correlation Coefficient. All four hypotheses were tested for significance at the .05 level of confidence.;Positive significant relationships were found for all major and minor hypotheses investigated in this study. The conclusions of the study were as follows: (1) A significant positive relationship (beyond the .05 level) existed between student attitude toward school and student overall performance level in industrial arts. (2) A significant positive relationship (beyond the .001 level) existed between student reading scores and student overall performance level in industrial arts. The strength of relationship between reading and performance success in areas of industrial arts are listed in descending order: mechanical drawing, printing, electricity, wood, ceramics, and metal. (3) A significant positive relationship (beyond the .001 level) existed between student math scores and student overall performance level in industrial arts. The strength of relationship between math and performance success in areas of industrial arts are listed in descending order: mechanical drawing, printing, electricity, ceramics, metal, and wood. (4) A significant positive relationship (beyond the .001 level) existed between a linear predictor function of student attitude, reading and math scores and student overall performance in industrial arts. The strength of relationship between a linear predictor function and performance success in areas of industrial arts are listed in descending order: mechanical drawing, printing, electricity, metal, wood, and ceramics.;Recommendations for future directions and areas for additional research have also been presented in this study.