Maurice E. Troyer

Case Study Tests of Ability to Use Knowledge of Human Growth and Development

THE purpose of this paper is to describe the construction and use of three reasonabIy valid and reliable instruments developed as a means of measuring students’ and teachers’ ability to apply the facts and principles of human development. Traditionally student progress is appraised by testing for the acquisition of facts and principles in the discipline being studied. The test may be objective or subjective. It may be purely memoriter or i t may give opportunity for the student to recognize the truth or falsity of generalizations or to draw inferences. But essentially, such a test is not dynamic in that i t presents isolated instances. It is artificial in that there is seldom any attempt to even simulate a life situation. It tends to test knowledge or recognition of facts and principles. Thus there is the implied assumption that ability t o retain and repeat facts and principles is evidence that students can use them effectively. Unfortunately, there is evidence to support the belief that the knowledge of facts and principles does not assure the ability to apply those facts and principles to a life situation. Horrocks (5) found that knowledge of facts and principles about adolescent behavior are positiveIy but not highly related to the ability to make a diagnosis or to identify appropriate remedial procedures. This would also appear to be true in other areas. The situation is well summed up by Eurich and Cain (.3) “tests of knowledge are not valid measures of teaching ability, nor

Problems in General Education Suggested by a Study of the Achievement and the Opinions of Syracuse University Students

THREE rather pertinent problems were raised concerning general education in this study: i What constitutes a valid program for evaluating the outcomes of general education? 2. To what extent may general education be achieved by arranging standard subject-matter courses at strategic places throughout the curriculum? 3. How might the curriculum and instructional program be so arranged so that a majority of the faculty will assume direct responsibility for the achievement of certain all-pervasive objectives of education?

The Knowledge of General Education of a Sample of Syracuse University Students as Revealed By the Cooperative General Culture Test and the Time Magazine Current Affairs Test

non-art students matched with them on age and intelligence, as measured by the nine scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, have been investigated. The findings reveal significantly higher mean scores for the art students on the Depression, Psychopathic Deviate, Interest, Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia and Hypomania Scales of the Multiphasic. These findings seem, on the whole, to be psychologically meaningful. Owing to the selective character of the sample used and to the inadequacies of the Multiphasic as a tool for personality diagnosis, caution is indicated in interpreting these results. Further study of the personality characteristics of different vocational and social groups is recommended. On the basis of the present findings, it would seem that investigations along such lines can afford material aid to the understanding of various social problems.