Two laboratory approaches for teaching basic woodworking technology to students in agricultural mechanics

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was twofold:

1. To select and develop two laboratory approaches for teaching basic woodworking technology to students in agricultural mechanics.

2. To compare student performances of the two laboratory approaches both on the college level and on the high school level.

PROCEDURES: The development phase of this study involved the selection and preparation of desired student behavioral outcomes, curriculum, content and materials, two laboratory teaching methods, and student performance measuring instruments for basic woodworking technology. One trial comparison experiment was conducted on the college level with two matched groups of juniors enrolled in agricultural mechanics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Each group consisted of eight students. One experiment was conducted on the high school level with two matched groups, each consisting of six high school sophomores. The project-oriented laboratory teaching method was selected for use by the control groups of each experiment. The method used by the experimental groups in both experiments was the "timed-learning experience laboratory method." This method was developed by the writer.

CONCLUSIONS: The following conclusions were formulated from the data collected in the experiments:

1. In the college experiment the students taught by the "timed-learning experience laboratory method" had a greater average percentage of gain on both the written and the laboratory test than the students taught by the project-oriented method.

2. In the high school experiment the students taught by the "timed-learning experience laboratory method” had a greater average percentage of gain on both the writtten and the laboratory test than the students taught by the project oriented method.