Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Publication Date

5-20-1970

Abstract

The Problem

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problem solving abilities of Navajo Indians, Spanish Americans and Anglos in two schools of Albuquerque, using WISC performance subtests as criterion measures and including the five psychomotor skills, perception, visual set, emotional set, physical set and fine motor acts as predictor variables at intra- and inter-ethnic levels.

Procedures

The study was divided into the following parts: (1) review of the pertinent literature, (2) design of the study outlining selection of subjects, selection and application of test instruments and compilation and treatment of data, (3) presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data and (4) conclusions and recommendations.

Findings and Conclusions

There is a significant relationship between problem solving abilities and psychomotor skills for all the subjects included in this study. There are significant relationships between the WISC performance subtest of Block design and the five psychomotor skills of perception, emotional set, visual set, physical set and fine motor acts. There are significant relationships between the WISC performance subtest of Object Assembly and the five psychomotor skills listed previously. There is a significant relationship between the WISC Coding performance subtest and one of the five psychomotor skills, the fine motor acts. The Navajos' performances were significantly higher in emotional set, visual set and fine motor acts than those of the Spanish Americans. The Navajo performances in fine motor acts were significantly higher than those of the Anglos. Similarly, the Navajo performances were significantly higher in the WISC Coding performance subtest than those of the Spanish Americans and Anglos involved in this study. The Anglos involved in this study performed significantly higher in visual set than did the Spanish Americans and Navajos. Similarly, the Anglos performed significantly higher in physical set and fine motor acts than did the Spanish Americans. In the WISC Object Assembly performance subtest, the Anglos performed significantly higher than the Spanish Americans. The performances of the Spanish Americans involved in this study were at a lower level in all the three WISC performance subtests and on the five psychomotor skills than were those of the Anglos and Navajos.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Certificate in Curriculum and Instruction

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

William Barton Runge per Robert John Doxtator

Second Committee Member

Miles Vernon Zintz

Third Committee Member

John Thomas Zepper

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