DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 059 121 SO 002 261

AUTHOR Morse, Horace T.; McCune, George H.

TITLE Selected Items for the Testing of Study Skills and
Critical Thinking.
INSTITUTION National Council for the Social Studies, Washington,
D. C.
REPORT NO BULL-15
PUB DATE 71
NOTE 107p.; Fifth Edition
AVAILABLE FROM National Council for the Social Studies, 1201
Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
($2.75)

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC Not Available from EDRS.

DESCRIPTORS *Critical Thinking; Educational Accountability:
Elementary Grades; Secondary Grades; Skill
Development; *Social Studies; *Student Evaluation;
*Student Testing; *Study Skills; Teaching Techniques;
Test Construction; Tests

ABSTRACT
This bulletin, now in its fifth edition, provides the
teacher with specific assistance in evaluating student behavior in
two vital areas of social studies education--study skills and
critical thinking. The first three chapters provide background
discussion on the problems of teaching and testing these skills and
offer some general suggestions. A chapter follows giving suggestions
on the use of the bulletin. Here, teachers are urged to use the
exercises and suggestions as a starting point in directing the
learning and development of more efficient study skills rather than
as an end point to measure the relative mastery of particular skills
or abilities. The exercises are not intended to be used as a final
examination, but rather to stimulate pupils to further learning tin
the field of endeavor from which the items are drawn. The remainder
of the bulletin is devoted to the actual selection of test items. It
includes exercises on: acquiring information; reading and
interpreting graphs, charts, and tables; identifying the central
issues; distinguishing between fact and opinion, between fact and
motive, open-mindedness recognizing biased statements; drawing
inferences, recognizing statements which support generalizations;
and, determining the relative significance of questions.
(Author/JLB)
 6

Selcctai Itcms for thc .Testing of

STUPY SKILLS;
'AND

CRITICAL THINKING

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 Selected Items for the Testing of

STUDY SKILLS
AND
CRITICAL THINKING

BY

HORACE T. MORSE and GEORGE H. McCUNE

REVISED BY
LESTER E. BROWN and ELLEN COOK

Bulletin Number 15
Fifth Edition

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES

A National Affiliate of the National Education Association
1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
Price $2.75
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES
Officers for 1971

President Directors
John Jarolimek Ralph W. Cordier
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington Charlotte A. Crabtree
Dorothy L. Dunn
President-Elect Shirley H. Engle
Jean Fair
Wayne State University William B. Fink
Detroit, Michigan John McAulay
Howard Mehlinger
Vice-President
Harris L. Dante Donald William Oliver
Kent State University James P. Shaver
Kent, Ohio Lee H. Smith
Executive Secretary Ronald 0. Smith
Merrill F. Hartshorn Jean Tilford
Washington, D.C.

Associate Secretary
T. Marcus Gillespie
Washington, D.C. Publications Board
Robert D. Barr, Cha:, man
Assistant Secretary 0. L. Davis
Malcolm L. Slade
Washington, D.C. Helen Fielstra
Arthur Jefferson
Editor, SOCIAL EDUCATION
Anna S. Ochoa
Daniel Roselle
Washington, D.C. Jean Tilford

The National Council for the Social Studies is a National Affiliate of the
National Education Association of the United States. It is the professional
organization of educators at all levels elementary, secondary, college, and
university who are interested in the teaching of social studies. Membership
in the National Council for the Social Studies includes a subscription to the
Council's official journal, SOCIAL EDUCATION, and a copy of the Yearbook.
In addition, the Council publishes bulletins, curriculum studies, pamphlets, and
other materials of practical use for teachers of the social studies. Membership
(1.'es are $12.00 a year. Applications for membership and orders for the pur-
chase of publications should be sent to the Executive Secretary, 1201 Sixteenth
Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

COPYRIGHT © 1949, 1957, 1964, 1971 BY

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES
FIRST EDITION COPYRIGHT 1940 BY
HORACE T. MORSE and GEORGE H. McCUNE
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 70-183130

(v

4
 Foreword

Several years have passed since the National Council for the Social
Studies published thc First Edition of this valuable bulletin. The fael
that it has gone through five revisions and continues to be requested and
used by teachers speaks to the quality and riccd for this publication.
It is widely recognized that social studies education does, and indeed
must, concern itself with a broad range of diverse goals and objectives.
The.se goals and objectives vary from those concerned primarily with
content and content-related skills to those that deal with the social devel-
opment of learriers, with values development, with intellectual operations,
and others. It is unfortunately true, however, that the conventional instru-
ments used to evaluate social stud;es !earnings have not often reflected
this broad spectrum of outcomes. More often than not, evaluative instru-
ments in social studies concern themselves with a somewhat narrow set of
outcomes, mainly those relating to the substantive components of thc
program.
With the growing concern for accountability there is an increased need
for a diversity of evaluative devices that arc consistent with the broad
concerns claimed for social studies education. This Fifth Edition of
Selected Items for the Testing of Stildy Skills and Critical Thinking
provides the teacher with specific assistance in evaluating student be-
havior in two vital areas of social studies education. It provides a means
of evaluating outcomes related to processes of social studies instruction
that are generally regarded as important.
One characteristic of souu i evaluative procedures is that they encour-
age good habits of study. As such they help clarify goals for the learner.
Through the system of evaluation, thc learner sc..ts out what is perceived
to be of value. Acclamations by the te2r.hcr rnncerning the importance of
study skills and critical thinking are not likely to be effective in enhanc-
ing learner growth unless supported by sound ihstruction and evalua-
tion. The Council, therefore, is presenting this Fifth Edition with the
thought that it will contribute to the improvement of teaching and
learning.
The National Council for the Social Studies wishes to acknowledge the
contributions of the original authors of this bulletin, George H. Mc-
Cune and the late Horace T. Morse. The Council also expresses thaw
and appreciation to Leger Brown and Ellen Cook for their work in
preparing the Fifth Edition.
John Jarolimek, President
National Council for the Social Studies

5
 THE AUTHORS OF THIS REVISION
LESTER E. BROWN h1", held a number of leadership positions as a Junior High
School Teacher, Dist:iet Social Studies Chairman, Audio-Visual Coordinator,
Curriculum Consultant, Elementary School Principa% and a member of the
graduate faculties of several universities. In 196.5 he received the H. V. Wilson
Award, a national audio-visual award, and I:, 1967 he was presented with the
Kettering Award for Outstanding Administrator.

ELLEN Cool( has been a Junior High School Teacher for almost twenty years
and a Social Studies Department Chairman for the la3t six. Her unusual
versatility is reflected in her areas of special competence: social studies, music,
language arts, and guidance.

6
 Preface

The authors of this revision of Selected Items for tlte Testing of Study
Skills and Critical Thinking feel honored tha, they were chosen by the
Publications Board of the. National Council for the Social Studies to
update the work that was begun by the original authors, Horace T.
Morse and George H. McCune. The fact that thirty-one years and four
editions have elapsed since the first publication by the NCSS of their
pioneer work is adequate testimony to the wisdom and foresight of these
two. But even more significant is the fact that Morse and McCune were
addressing themselves to the great existing need of teachers then and
one that persists to our present day; i.e., how do ive teach the critical
thinking and study skills and how do we effectively measure the extent
to which students are attaining these important skills?
Many classroom teachers have recognized that while doing an assign-
ment, a child may succeed in memorizing facts and ideas. Further, at
test time he may score "high" because he remembers all the "right"
answers. However, most chissroom teachers have long recognized that
this is not enough. They realize the importance of helping children to
locate and evaluate information. Articles in educational journals and
speakers stress the great need in this arca, but they seldom offer teachers
practical suggestions for meeting this need in the classroom situation.
The main focus of this book is an attempt to fill that gap. It attempts to
demonstrate how the elements of critical thinking and study skills relate
to the immediate classroom situations. Hopefully, this book offers prac-
tical suggestions and sample materials which will aid the classroom
teacher in translating these goals into actual operation.

Lester E. Brown
Ellen Cook

v11
 Contents

Foreword v

Preface vii

THE APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF TESTING

STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 1

THE TEACHING
OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 11

SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTING TESTS

OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 23

How TO USE THIS BULLETIN 29

vill

8
SELECTED ITEMS FOR THE TESTING OF
35
STUDY SKILI.S AND CRITICAL THINKING
15
I. Exercise on Acquiring Information
II. Dctcrmining Rclativc Lcngth of Historical Pcriods 39

III. Reading and Intcrprcting Graphs, Charts, and Tables 40

IV. Constructing and Rcading Linc Graphs 50

53
V. Interpreting Tabular Data
VI. Rccognizing and Interpreting Trends
Revealed by Statistical Data 55

VII. Identifying Ccntral Issuc 58

VHI. Distinguishing bctwccn Statcmcnts of Fact

and Statcmcnts of Opinion 60

IX. Discriminating bctwccn Statements of Fact

and Statcmcnts of Motivc 62

X. Dctcrmining Difficulty of Proof 64

67
XI. Excrcisc on Opcn-Mindcdncss
70
XII. Rccognizing Biased Statcmcnts
72
XIII. Drawing Inferences
74
XIV. Exercise on Consistcncy
XV. Distinguishing bctwccn Sourccs
76
and Secondary Accounts
XVI. Evaluating Sourccs of Information 78

XVII. Rccognizing Statements Which Support Gcncralizations

87
XVIII. Dctcrmining the Relative Significancc of Qucstions

91
BIBLIOGRAPHY

99
APPENDIX

lx
 The Approach
to the Problem of Testing
Study Skills and Critical Thinking

Desirability of Developing Study Skills

Competent teachers in the field of the social studies have always
recognized the desirability of giving adequate emphasis to the develop-
ment of study skills and critical thinking on the part of their pupils. The
effective teacher has realized the necessity of training students in
methods of acquiring, evaluating, and using social learning as a corol-
lary to developing their knowledge and understanding of the materials
of the social sciences. In one of the early standard textbooks on the
teaching of history, Henry Johnson advocated a limited application of
historical method even in the upper grades (49, p. 307f.).' Kelly many
years ago stressed the development of efficient work habits and study
skills (53), and indicated that even children in the middle grades are
capable of the higher thought processes of reasoning and judgment in
simple form (52). This conclusion has been amply confirmed in subse-
quent years (64), (73). Anderson, Forsythe, and Morse discussed the
problem, analyzing the types of understanding and related skills in-
volved (8).
A study by Anderson (5) of the results of administration of the
Iowa Basic Study Skills Test revealed that there was great variation in
mastery of simple skills in the upper grades as a result of the neglect
of this aspect of subject matter by the average teacher. The extreme
variability within and among schools and grades led him to the conclu-
sion that there is no justification fcr what appears to be a common
assumption, namely, that no special instruction in certain study skills is
needed (6). Almost all writers who have given attention to the problem
have championed the inclusion of training in study skills and critical
thinking as part of the school program, and they have deplored the
obvious neglect of the matter on the part of most teachers.
Why should there be such a gap between theory and practice? Why
should the desirability of teaching study skills and critical thinking
be openly admitted on the one hand and yet be neglected on the other?

I Numbers in parentheses are for references listed in the Bibliography, at the

end of this Bulletin.

10
2 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Reasons Why Study Skills Are Neglected

I. Training
A number of reasons might be given for this unsatisfactory state of
affairs, but two are probably paramount. The first of these is the limited
amount of training which teachers of the social studies receive in the
subject matter of the social sciences. In many states it is quite possible
for graduates of colleges and normal schools to be certified as teachers
of the social studies in the secondary schools with the merest smattering
of subject-matter content. As a result, a student may enter upon a
career as a teacher of history without having had actual practice in
adequate research or without knowing what is meant by historical criti-
cism. Prospective teachers who major in some other field but complete
a so-called minor in the social studies are naturally even less adequately
trained. The raising of professional standards will ameliorate this situa-
tion in time, but the situation still exists. Thus many teachers of the
social studies neglect the teaching of study skills and methods of inquiry
because they are not themselves familiar with the necessary skills. The
more competent teachers who may have triumphed over lack of ade-
quate preparation have improved their effectiveness by intelligent read-
ing and inquiry in the field of their major interest and by further
training.
2. Appraisal of Progress
The second reason for the unsatisfactory teaching of study skills is
that there has not been generally available to the average classroom
teacher any method of appraisal of the progress of pupils in learning
the desired skills. The widespread interest in evaluation which has
marked the last few decades resulted in the production of a large
number of subject-matter tests. Outcomes of instruction other than
factual information were given attention in many published tests, but
study skills and critical thinking received relatively little consideration
until very recently. As a result, the teacher emphasized informational
outcomes for the most part, both in teaching and testing, and naturally
tended to disregard the outcomes which had received less emphasis by
leaders in the field. About the only ways a teacher could judge the
degree to which pupils were mastering study skills were by the individ-
ual discussion during the recitation or supervised-study period, or by
examining the results of the praece of the necessary skills in a theme
or written report which the student might submit. Both of these methods
of appraisal are excellent, and should remain a part of every social-
studies program, but they may well be supplemented with exercises of
a more objective type.

11:
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CF:!TICAL THINKING 3

Early Methods of Appraising Skills

There is a good explanation for the fact that the development of
testing of study skills and critical thinking has been slow. Any compre-
hensive test of skills must test a process which is in actual operation
as well as the results of that process. There are two ways in which
a paper-and-pencil test may be said to test study skills. One is to test
the results of past practice in the use of the relevant skills. The
memorized material retained as a result of such actual practice is to
some degree an indication that the process has been employed by the
pupil, and therefore that he has developed the required skill. This was
one line of approach followed in 1934 by the American Historical
Association Commission report on tests (51). Types of items which
test, in this indirect manner, for the possession of study skills are those,
for instance, which require a knowledge of proper reference materials
and understanding of tabular data.
A second approach to testing skills is to present items which require
the actual practice of a skill. Such skills range from reading of simple
graphs to the exercise of critical faculties in the interpretation of data.
The majority of the items included in this Bulletin are of the latter type.
Except for the simpler items based on graph-reading, these are the most
difficult types to construct, since they aim to indicate the degree of
proficiency of a process in operation. The objective test form does not
lend itself easily to the construction of items of this nature, and accord-
ing to Kelley and Krey (51), probably can never entirely replace more
subjective methods of getting a cross section of a thinking process.
Therefore it is hoped that this Bulletin may prove of greatest value in
a diagnostic capacity and in directing the attention of teachers to the
importance of giving adequate consideration to the development of
skills.
The importance of the development of the skill of thinking clearly
and critically in the field of the social sciences can hardly be overesti-
mated. But in mastering such a skill the learner in the field of mental
abilities is in a situation parallel to that of the learner of muscular or
manipulative activities. While he is learning, not the end product of his
efforts but rather the process he follows is immediately significant.
Proficiency will come in time if the process is correctly mastered. In
learning to swim, for example, the speed which one may exhibit at first
is less impertant than the efficient coordination of the parts of the body
in the swimming process. A competent teacher of art also places much
less weight on the first creations of his students than on the process by
which they are attaining their results.
Study skills and critical thinking skills may be learned most effectively
4 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

as they are to be used rather than through isolated situations. How-

ever, the realities of the classroom situation mitigate the mass teaching
of these skills at any one grade level and call for a sequential develop-
ment throughout the child's classroom experience. For example, the
skill of distinguishing between fact and opinion could be readily
mastered by even third-grade youngsters but learning this skill in
isolation without direct application to academic or social problems is
actually au exercise in futility. A preferable program would be the
teaching of the skill followed by exercises designed to develop the
skills of discerning the difficulty of proof, distinguishing between biased
and nonbiased sources and leading to a rather sophisticated examina-
tion of the validity of selected sources. A suggested sequence to be
used in the transmission of these skills at vdrious grade levels was
developed by Brown and Cook and is included in Appendix A of this
booklet. Their sequence was based n,)t only on the perceived difficulty
of the skills but further on the seaning opportunities to apply them
at various grade levels. Adequately mastered, these skills will be of
invaluable service to the maiuring pupil as he continues to learn more
about social relationships through his adult years.
Pioneer Research on Study Skills
The authors of this Bulletin have drawn freely upon the contributions
of workers who have pioneered in the development of tests of social-
studies skills. During the last few decades man; significant experiments
and studies have been completed which have little by little pushed for-
ward the frontiers of our knowledge in this field. Any discussion of
testing study skills and critical thinking would hardly be complete
without a brief résumé of the steps which have been made by educators
who have brought us to our present stage of development and pointed
the direction for future inquiry.
The Van Wagenen Reading Scales in History was one of the earliest
contributions to the objective testing of study skills. Although called a
reading scale, it was also a test of the ability of pupils to draw correct
inferences from a paragraph of descriptive history. It contained the
necessary prerequisite of a skills test in that all the data necessary to
the successful completion of each exercise were furnished in the section
so that no outside knowledge would contribute to successful perfor-
mance. Each form of the test contained fifteen paragraphs followed by
Eve statements. The task of the pupil was to check only those state-
ments which contained "an idea that is in the paragraph or that can be
derived from it." These tests were constructed, statistically scaled, and
validated with the utmost care on the basis of wide experimental admin-

13
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 5

istration. It is unfortunate that the direction pointed out so early by

Van Wagenen was not pursued more rapidly.
Another early somewhat objective test of study skills brought to
notice by a published description was that developed by Marion G.
Clark (26), who wrs later to work out the tests of skill in evaluation
of historical evidence under the sponsorship of the American Historical
Association Commission. In the early test, the results of which she
reported in 1923, Clark tested the historical sense of fourth- and fifth-
grade pupils by showing a series of pictures which had some definite
clue as to the relative period which they depicted. One of the series of
five pictures showed varying modes of travel, such as stagecoach, early
railroad train, and gasoline motor. These were presented in mixed order
and the pupils were to number them in the order of their chronological
development. One ingenious exercise was to show the children a picture
illustrating the first Thanksgiving, or another depicting a great modern
shipyard, and ask the child to name any person who would have been
living at the time which the picture indicated.
From her experience with these exercises, Clark concluded that
even fourth-grade children have "some sense of a developing world,"
and that fifth graders show an historical sense somewhat in advance of
that shown by fourth graders.
A more objective work skills test, much broader in scope, was re-
ported by Alice N. Gibbons in Bulletin No. 3 of the National Council
for the Social Studies, published in 1929 (37). This test was originally
drawn up during the summer of 1926 by social-studies teachers in the
schools of Rochester, New York. It contained exercises in learning
about a new book; use of general references; newspaper-reading;
interpreting a chart, picture graph, and table of statistics; summarizing;
and outlining. Among other social-studies subject-matter tests reported
were sections on reading comprehension, ability to make generaliza-
tions, and the ability to analyze the significance of given political
cartoons.
After two years of revision and experimentation, the teachers who
had developed the study skills test concluded that the major worth
of such exercises was their diagnostic value for pupils and teachers
alike, and that there was room for much additional experimentation
and progress in the direction of developing exercises and test items
of study skills and critical thinking.
In 1930 Ralph W. Tyler reported a series of exercises constructed
to measure the ability to infer (83). A significant conclusion from
this study indicated that the ability to select the most reasonable of
given inferences was not the same as the ability to propose an original

14
6 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

inference. It was found possible, however, to construct entirely objective

exercises which tested the ability to infer (83, 96). Tyler presented an
illustrative selection trzed on social-studies materials a few years later
in his chapter in the Fourteenth Yearbook of the Department of Super-
intendence (82). In his list of objectives for the social studies as part
of this same chapter he included a relatively large number of study
skills.
Gladys Boyington described a number of objective exercises for
testing study skills in the Second Yearbook of the National Council
for the Social Studks, which was published in 1932 (17). These items,
many of which were ingeniously constructed, were presented in multiple-
choice form. She divided the skills which were to be tested into two
general categories, namely, study tools and study techniques. Under
the second division were a number of items involving correct response
to such often used terms as characterize, classify, compare, contrast,
define, discuss, and illustrate. This section of the test was one which
yielded a great variety of response on the part of high-school and
college pupils. Boyington concluded that not only pupils but also many
teachers and prospective t:.achers do not have adequate concepts for
the words listed.
The authors of this Bulletin experimented to some degree with items
involving the proper understanding of such terms as Boyington lists.
The amount of their success was limited, however, because the flexibil-
ity of these terms in popular usage and even in dictionary definition
made it difficult to construct exercises in which one response could be
considered as definitely correct while closely related options could be
called unqualifiedly wrong. This same problem underlies all paper-and-
pencil tests of study skills and critical thinking. The authors feel, how-
ever, that there is much room for additional investigation in the direc-
tion pointed out by Boyington, and will await any further developments
with interest.
The results of a long and detailed investigalion of the use of objective
test forms for measuring outcomes of instruction including study and
critical skills were published under the auspices of the American His-
torical Association Commission in 1934 (51). This volume, by Truman
Lee Kelley and A. C. Krey, presented the tests which were finally devel-
oped in this area under the auspices and guidance of the Commission,
along with a penetrating analysis of the problem of the objective testing
of social-studies skills. In discussing the findings of the investigators,
Krey classified skills in three significant divisions: "(a) those concerned
with the acquisition of information; (b) those concerned with the
evaluation of information; and (c) those concerned with the expression

19
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 7

of social learning" (51, P. 58). Two of the tests sponsored by the Com-
mission dealt with social-studies skills.2
The development of the Iowa Every-Pupil Test of Basic Skills, the
first battery of which appeared in 1935, permitted a widely and uni-
formly administered testing of basic skills so that general comparisons
and trends could be noted. In addition to the sections on general
vocabulary and use of the dictionary, the test contained four sections
devoted to testing skills which are of particular importance in the social
studies. These were: comprehension of maps; reading graphs and
charts; use of basic references; and use of indexes. A primary value
stated for this type of test was its use for diagnostic and guidance pur-
poses. Detailed studies of the results of administering the Iowa basic-
skills test were made by Anderson (4, 5), Wrightstone (95), and Wil-
son (91). Great variability was found among different groups in their
abilities as measured by the test. The skills tested showed a steep
acceleration in growth up to the mental age of fourteen years, with a
more gradual acceleration after that point.
Wrightstone has published social-studies skills tests for both the
elementary and secondary levels (93, 95, 96). The elementary-school
series, in two forms, was called Test of Critical Thinking in the Social
Studies, and contained three general divisions: obtaining facts; draw-
ing conclusions; and applying general facts. The test for the secondary
level, the Cooperative Test of Social Studies Abilities, which first ap-
peared in experimental form in 1936, contained four parts of relatively
more complicated exercises. These sections were headed: obtaining
facts; organizing facts; interpreting facts; and applying generalizations.
In both of these batteries attention was directed to the testing of
skills which were an essential part of instruction in the social studies
but which had previously received relatively little notice in standardized
tests. There was a greater variety of forms and a broader interpretation
of the term "skills," in that items were included which required exercise
of the critical faculties as well as the more mechanical abilities such as
graph-reading.
Tests which emphasize skills and other frequently neglected outcomes
of instruction in the social studies were produce under the auspices of
the Evaluation Staff of the Eight-Year Study conducted by the Progres-
sive Education Association (71, 72, 77). In these tests new forms were
presented and mote emphasis was placed upon interpretive and critical
skills than upon less highly organized and complex abilities. Wright-
g Marion G. Clark, Exercises in the Use of Historical Evidence. New York:
Scribner's, 1934. Edith Parker and R. D. Calkins, Geography Tests. Not pub-
lished; for description see Kelley and Krey (51, P. 235-301).

y 16
8 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

stone (94) reports that the current definition of achievement has been
expanded to include such objectives as work, study skills, and critical
thinking.
Various Viewpoints Regarding the Teaching of Study Skills
Since teachers in nearly every field maintain that one of their major
purposes in instruction is to develop the ability on the part of their
students to think reflectively, one may well ask the question, "Why do
we not teach critical and reflective thinking apart from any particular
body of subject matter?" The answer to that inquiry raises an interest-
ing problem.
Such evidence as we have seems to point to the conclusion that
critical ability and reflective thinking tend to develop along with
knowledge and understanding in separate fields rather than as universal
or generally transferable values. The meticulous research scholar in the
physical sciences, who would be scornful of the prospect of drawing
conclusions based upon uncontrolled and unverified experiments, may
upon occasion malw entirely unwarranted generalizations in regard to
social relationships, generalizations based upon a limited number of
experiences or observations. Doctors and professors, who are supposed
to have developed critical acumen to an unusual degree, comprise a sur-
prisingly large percent of the names on the "sucker lists" of promoters
of get-rich-quick schemes. As profound a thinker as John Stuart Mill
is supposed by popular account to have cut holes in his screen door so
that his cat and her kittens could have easy entrancea large hole for
cat and a small one :or the kittens.
Some light on this problem has been shed by a study sponsored by
the Committee on Educational Research of the University of Minnesota
of an examination in critic.al thinking administered in the General Col-
lege of the University (27). The examination consisted of items drawn
from three fields: situations in general science, situations in social
science, and situations in logic. One of the specific purposes of the test
was to determine the relationships between the students' responses in
the three fields. The low correlations obtained suggested that the ability
to "think clearly" in one field was not necessarily accompanied by an
ability to think clearly in other fields.
A different point of view, that critical ability may be developed sepa-
rately from any specific subject-matter field, was apparently taken by
such groups in the 1930's as the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.
Their method of approach for the most part was that of identifying the
usual techniques or devices by which the propagandist tries to influence
his reader. Many of these devices are known to social-studies teachers
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 9

by the terms by which the Institute classified them, such as "name-call-

ing," "card-stacking," and "glittering generalities." The Institute has
published a number of interesting tests of the ability to detect propa-
ganda of this type.
Some persons who have heard about concepts and procedures used
for the testing of study skills and critical thinking have suggested that
these are merely another form of testing general intelligence. Thc
authors have conducted some studies since the first edition of this Bul-
letin appeared and are firmly convinced that this point of view is in
error, in spite of the naturally positive correlation of scores on intelli-
gence tests with those on study skills tests. The correlations, while
fairly high, are not high enough to support the assumption that these
tests are measuring the same mental qualities (68). Other studies have
also concluded that, as Furst says, "Critical thinking thus appears to be
somewhat independent of what is commonly measured as 'general intel-
ligence' " (36, 74).
The authors of this Bulletin are committed to the point of view that
the most effective way to develop social-studies skills, particularly those
which involve critical and reflective thinking, is through the medium
of the subject matter where these abilities are to be applied. Although
it cannot be denied that there may be some transfer from one field to
another, the amount of such effective carry-over is undoubtedly over-
estimated by the more enthusiastic proponents of the transfer theory.
For this reason this Bulletin has limited the field from which the exer-
cises are drawn to that generally embraced by the social-studies cur-
riculum of the secondary school.
 The Teaching of Study Skills
and Critical Thinking

Basic Considerations in Developing a Program

A practical program for teaching techniques of critical thinking
cannot be drawn with mathematical precision. Many variables are in-
volved, such as the teacher, the pupil, and the material equipment. The
teacher cannot teach skills if he has not become cognizant of, and
proficient in, the techniques which he desires a class to learn. Within
every class there are wide variations of aptitudes, abilities, and degrees
of maturation. And finally, the teacher is always faced with the problem
of providing materials in which the slow learner may achieve success
and which at the same time constitute a challenge to the brilliant
student.
Before any teacher can answer the question "How is the pupil to be
taught?" the teacher must have clearly in mind the various skills appro-
priate for the child's specific stage of academic development. An acute
consciousness should be manifested of how the development of a par-
ticular skill fits into the sequential development of the skill at increas-
ing levels of complexity. Then the teacher must make an effort to ascer-
tain the youngster's present level of mastery of the skill involved. This
of course implies pre-testing, a fundamental tool in individualizing in-
struction in any school. However, the proc2dure of pre-testing is predi-
cated on knowing exactly what behavior the child is to manifest when
engaging in critical thinking. Brown (19:p.5f.) attempted to delineate
these skills as follows:
1. The student will demonstrate his ability to locate the central idea
by selecting it after reading or listening to a given selection.
2. The student will exhibit his ability to recognize emotional words
by correctly identifying them in given selections.
3. The student will demonstrate his ability to distinguish between
fact and opinion statements by correctly categorizing a given set
of statements.
4. The student will demonstrate his understanding of the importance
of facts and opinions by selecting statements that are most diffi-
cult to prove.
5. The student will be able to identify and distinguish between a
biased and unbiased source of information by identifying several
examples of each.
12 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

6. The student will demonstrate his ability to evaluate the most valid
source of information by selecting the best source for a given
situation from a list of alternatives.
7. The student will demonstrate his ability to evaluate the potential
validity of sources by selecting the best source, the second best
source, and the third best source for a given situation.
8. The student will evidence his ability to detect bias by identifying
the most likely viewpoints of given persons towards a given situa-
tion experienced in an article or a speech.
9. The student will display his ability to distinguish between facts
that arc relevant and facts that are not relevant to a situation or
problem by correctly identifying the relevant and nonrelevant
phrases.
10. The student will demonstrate his ability to draw inferences by
selecting the most logical conclusions based on evidence in a given
selection.
11. The student will demonstrate his ability to evaluate the degree of
certainty of inferences by correctly classifying given statements
after reading or listening to a selection.
12. The student will demonstrate his ability to recognize stated and
unstated assumptions by (listing or selecting) them after reading
or listening to a given selection.

The possession of a skill by a pupil is no indication that he is in

the habit of using it. The final test of a pupil's command of a skill
is his actual performance in situations requiring the use of the
necessary abilities. This may be indicated more adequately by the
judgment of a competent teacher than by a score on an objective
test. The child's habit of using skills comes through the use of materials
that are related to his experience. If, as Henry Johnson once pointed
out, the child does not possess the essential experience, then it is the
teacher's task to provide him with such experience either directly or
vicariously.
The questions "How is this to be done?" and "What methods are to
be used?" are important, but not more important than the question
"How is the pupil progressing?" The answer to this inquiry is more
desirable than undue emphasis on any exact method of progress. There
is no uniformity of devices and techniques used by master teachers for
transmitting a knowledge of, or practice in, the study skills. One thing,
however, is common to all expert teachers concerned with the teaching
of skills. That is that the acquaintance with, and practice of, study skills
is accompanied by the use of meaningful materials which are within the
range of the experience of the pupil.
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 13

Teaching critical thinking skills is essentially a two-stage process.

The first stage is largely teacher-dominated, the second is more learner-
oriented. Many teachers err in believing that skills will be acquired
automatically. Research, as well as classroom experience, indicates
that this is just not true.
The first stage in teaching critical thiriking consists of the following
six-step process:
1. Isolating and carefully defining a specific critical thinking skill. Stu-
dents need to know exactly what they are expected to master.
1. Providing opportunities for students to practice this skill. Practice is
guided, with special materials provided and work "corrected." This
is the mastery stage, where much remediation and explanation is
needed. It is comparable to the primary level teacher providing
experiences for children to learn selected initial consonants and
vowels before trying to form them into words. No competent reading
teacher would expect a child to gain reading skills automatically. He
sharply articulates them in isolation before combining them. This
method is also essential in developing critical thinking skills.
3. After the skill has been mastered in isolated exercises, emphasizing
its application to topics being studied and to the students' daily life.
This application was probably mentioned in earlier teaching, but at
this point it is strongly emphasized.
4. Designing materials which integrate the newly learned skill into
topics currently being studied in class. This is an important step as it
allows for reinforcement of the skill and also further demonstrates
its applicability.
5. Administering a test to determine student mastery of the specific
skill. This test will indicate any need for additional practice.
6. Reviewing the skill in later assignments and class discussions. This
step is often overlooked in programs of skill development, but it is
vitally important. If a skill is to be mastered, it must be practiced
at later intervals.

The second stage in developing critical thinking is primarily accom-

plished by providing a favorable classroom atmosphere. The key to
obtaining a "climate" conducive to the promotion and development of
effective thought is allowing students sufficient freedom and security
to use their newly gained skills.
One other point is important in considering the development of a
program for the teaching and learning of skillsthe factor of material
equipment. The lack of material equipment should not be used as an
excuse for the failure to emphasize such skills as critical thinking,
evaluation, drawing inferences, or reading charts and graphs. It is

21
14 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

pointed out in the Fourteenth Yearbook of the Department of Super-

independence (69, P. 287) that "meagerness of equipment should not
justify a teacher's surrender to conditions" and that even a few postage
stamps can be used successfully as material equipment to place social
learning on a level far above question-and-answer recitations.
Readers of this Bulletin who are familiar with the Ninth Yearbook
of the National Council for the Social Studies (89), Chapter XIV of
the Thirty-First Yearbook (25), Bulletin No. 21 of the National Coun-
cil, Conmunity Planning in a Democracy (14), or Fay Rogers' account
of the "Social Life of the Tuttle School District" as reported in Krey's
Regional Program (55) are aware of th; wealth of material that is
available in the community which may be used as material equipment
for teaching social-studies skills. For example, financial statements of
various community organizations including local government units are
often available. These provide excellent material for the construction of
charts and graphs. The editorial pages of local newspapers often con-
tain general statements unsupported by fact; radio and TV commenta-
tors often quote figures which are largely meaningless unless qualified;
and "letters to the editor" in the daily newspapers are a common source
of misstatements and misapprehensions. As Walter Lippmann has co-
gently pointed out in his book, Public Opinion, the study of errors
"serves as a stimulating introduction to the study of truth." The teacher
who does not have at hand a wealth of material equipment need not
yearn unduly for the "pot of gold far away when acres of diamonds are
close by." The teachers who already possess in their schools a wealth
of material equipment know that it cannot take the place of scholarly
competence on their part or active response and participation by the
pupil.
A publication which should prove especially helpful to teachers
interested in teaching study skills and critical thinking is the Thirty-
Third Yearbook of the National Council for the Social Studies, edited
by Helen McCracken Carpenter, and titled Skill Development in
Social Studies (22). Several chapters cover the same topics as those
Sections listed in the Table of Contents of this Bulletin, so that the
two publications may be used together with considerable profit.
The Skill of Acquiring Information
Elsewhere in this Bulletin skills have been defined and their scope
indicated. The skills with which teachers are often concerned are the
techniques of obtaining information. The first use of these skills should
commence when the class convenes at the start of a new school year.
Even when one textbook is used by all the members of the class it

22
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 15

still may be utilized as a convenient starting point both for enabling

the teacher to find out what techniques the members of the class
possess for obtaining information, and for giving an opportunity for
teaching the skill. Often, even in senior-high school classes, there are
some pupils who have not mastered the techniques of using the index
or table of contents. A few extemporaneous questions, or better still a
prepared set of questions, will soon indicate those pupils who know
how to use the textbook profitably. Assuming that the class is using an
American history textbook, the teacher could ask such questions as
the following: If you wanted to locate what your book says about
the Monroe Doctrine, what part of the book would you consult?
Where would you look to find tne exact title of Chapter 12? On what
page is material about Abraham Lincoln found? Where would you look
to locate a map showing the Northwest Territory? Who are the authors
of your text? Where have they stated the purpose of the book? Where
is the copyright date to be found?
The skills of using card catalogues and reference works are tech-
niques useful in obtaining information. Social-studies teachers should
not take for granted that their pupils know how to use these materials.
Pupils need practice in building up the habit of using the card catalogue,
the encyclopedias, Dictionary of American Biography, Dictionary of
American History, A Guide to the Study of the United States of
America, Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, World Almanac, and
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, as well as other common refer-
ence works.
Basic to many operations in obtaining information is the fundamental
skill of alphabetizing. The discovery of pupils' deficiencies in this ele-
mentary skill is a constant surprise to most teachers, and yet such
deficiencies are extremely common. They can, and should, be overcome
by direct instruction.
There are a number of helpful devices for teaching pupils how to
use alphabetical lists such as card catalogues, indexes, and the topical
arrangement found in encyclopedias. For example, the teacher could
have the pupils write down a list of words such as "ostracize, expect,
principal, mercantilism, zone, fragile, whistle, star, kangaroo," and
mark these with numbers to show the correct alphabetical orders. This
simple device will indicate whether further practice is necessary. More
difficult exercises would be to have the pupils alphabetize such a list of
words as "marine, mimeograph, myrrh, merchant, misrepresentation,
modify, mundane, mimic, and misery" or such a list of names as
"McKinley, Magellan, Macaulay, von Moltke, de Montfort, Mabie,
Monroe, and Mac Mahon." A practical exercise at the beginning of the
16 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

school year would be for the class to arrange the names of the pupils
in alphabetical order.
Another useful device for teaching alphabetizing is a matching
exercise involving the guide words taken from the top of a page of a
standard dictionary. A group of guide words picked at random might
be "inadvisable-incapable, Austria-autopsy, budge-built, aught-Aus-
tralian, once-onwards, olive-on." A list of words to be placed between
the guide words_ would include "onion, inborn, aunt, omelet, automo-
bile, and Ontario." Such an exercise can be supplemented by practice
in finding words in other alphabetized lists easily available such as
telephone directories, catalogues, or book indexes.
School libraries are often evaluated on the number of available
volumes. However, a more valid index may be the level of each stu-
dent's ability to utilize it to effectively obtain desired data. This thesis
predicates that special attention should be given to teaching the use of
the card catalogue, Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, and stan-
dard reference works. In teaching students how to use the card catalogue
effectively the rule is to explain and illustrate and then to assign exer-
cises that will give the students practice. This procedure should be
repeated until the skill is mastered. Attempts to provide instruction in
the use of the card catalogue to the entire class simultaneously through
the medium of the standard card catalogue in the library are usually
quite unsuccessful. A more effective technique involves the utilization
of media such as filmstrips and/or overhead transparencies to provide
initial instruction for the requisite skills. The technique of utilizing
overhead transparencies lends itself well to pointing out and explaining
the meaning of call numbers, analytic notations, and other data. This
exercise could probably be followed by a tour through the library not-
ing the placement of standard reference works and the numbering
system. A follow-up exercise might be to have the youngsters locate
the call numbers of selected books. Obviously, each youngster should
not be given the same list and seemingly in the introductory stages a
list of four or five works would be sufficient. The refining of this skill
by requiring the student to locate references in specifically assigned
topics is also beneficial.
Special emphasis on the teaching of the library skills is exceedingly
vital in the modern secondary school that is built around the concept of
the learning center. The following question seems legitimate: "Of
what value is even the most modern and best equipped learning center,
if the individual student is unable to independently locate information
he desires?" Obviously, the learning center specialist can be of some
assistance in this area, but quite clearly he does not have the major

24
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 17

responsibility for this task. Our neglect of this responsibility has greater
significance than just the improper utilization of a learning center. By
teaching the youngster adequate research skills we provide him with
skills to pursue a lifelong search for information regardless of his future
station or position in life.
An effective strategy for teaching the use of reference hooks is for
the teacher to bring a book to class, point out some of its features, and
perhaps read a paragraph cr two. This should be followed by the prac-
tice of allowing the class to handle the book in turn. This procedure
should be followed by assignments to the books that have been men-
tioned by the teacher and handled by the pupils. The opportune time
to teach the use of reference books is when the occasion calls for a
reference book. Pupils will learn a skill more quickly if there is a felt
difficulty to be overcome by the acquisition of a skill.
The ability to read well is one of the fundamental skills for the
acquisition of information from printed materials. According to Kelty,
the "problem of technique on which teachers seem to need most help
is the management of social-studies reading materials." For the devel-
opment of skills in administering the reading program by the teacher
and skills for reporting on reading materials by the pupils, a pioneer
work is Bulletin No. 4 of the National Council for the Social Studies
(54). This helpful booklet, prepared by W. G. Kimmel, surveys the
status of the reading program in senior high schools up to 1929, points
out dangers in mechanical systems, and makes useful suggestions for
improving any program which the classroom teacher might be using.
Pertinent analysis and summaries of current practices in the manage-
ment of the reading program are to be found in numerous books and
articles concerned with teaching the social studies. Regardless of the
type of reading program in vogue in any particular school, the teacher
should keep in mind that a reading program should embrace only
meaningful materials within the range of experience of the pupil.
Finally, the reading program should be the starting point for the devel-
opment of such skills as note-taking, making outlines, comparing
authors, summarizing, making précis, making generalizations, determin-
ing central issues, recognizing underlying assumptions, evaluating evi-
dence, drawing warranted conclusions, and criticizing content. These
skills should be practiced and taught when the pupil needs the skill.
In the suggestions thus far discussed, the student uses inert materials
such as a map, picture, textbooks, or statistical data to develop his
skills. These can be handled by the pupil at his own speed; they
can be started or stopped at will while teacher and pupil analyze
methods and point out weaknesses, but regardless of careful planning

25
18 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

with meaningful materials some artificiality will remain. The situation

is still an academic one. In order to bridge the gap to real life situa-
tions, there are a number of other experiences that may be considered
in which the pupil uses a combination of skills to acquire and evaluate
information. These experiences involve relations with people as well
as inert materials and require in addition another kind of skill. This skill
depends in part upon a combination of the skills discussed and illus-
trated elsewhere in this Bulletin together with the social skill of dealing
with people. The pupil will use inert material but in order to get it he
must win the cooperation of people who are not connected in any way
with classroom situations. The new skills are developed in situations
where the pupil takes advantage of the exigencies of the moment to
change tactics and call into play the skills that he has learned through
classroom situations. An example will clarify what is meant and point
the way to other possibilities.
A pupil wishes to investigate the origin and.development of a neigh-
borhood welfare house. Like similar projects, the welfare house was
once an idea held by one, two, or more people. How was the idea
transmitted into stone and concrete, into a program involving a neigh-
borhood? How was the land acquired? How did the program develop?
Does the house receive city support? How and in what ways does the
institution serve the community? Answers to these questions are known
by people not always acquainted with the pupil. The pupil gets the an-
swers by interviewing people, by checking their statements with docu-
mentary evidence, and by careful observation.
The search for documents might lead to the courthouse, to the
records of land deeds, wills, and court actions, to minutes of govern-
ing bodies such as those of churches, town councils, or fraternal orga-
nizations, to printed material of public and private agencies. The
ownership of these documents is in some instances public and in others
private. Access by the pupils to records involves relations with many
people. The enthusiasm, earnestness, and sincerity of the pupil plus
his ability to enlist the aid of busy people calls for careful planning.
In each situation with a public or private official, questions must be
phrased to elicit a maximum of information and cooperation. The time
spent by officials varies with the keenness of the questions asked by
the pupil. Clerks in charge of public records are helpful to the extent
that the pupil can give them definite clues which will enable the clerk
to locate those records which will be most profitable for the project.
Moreover, the pupil must be able to recognize what he wants when it is
brought to him, or to discard it diplomatically without injuring his
public relations with the person who brought the materials to him.
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 19

The teacher plays an important part in the whole project. The teacher
assists by wise direction in planning the interview, in developing tech-
niques for approaching people on the merits of the project, in building
up a background of general information about the project from com-
monly available sources, anct in providing opportunity for the pupil to
practice the necessary complementary skills discussed and illustrated
elsewhere in this Bulletin. Thereafter the pupil is on his own. Periodi-
cally, however, the pupil should report briefly to the class or teacher
about his problems and progress.
Besides formal projects there are many informal activities that are
profitable for teaching and learning. The informal project provides an
opportunity for pupils to express ideas with words that they could not
express graphically by paper and pencil. One of these projects could
center around definitions and concepts. One pupil could act as secretary
and write on the blackboard the contributions of classmates. For ex-
ample, the class could be asked to differentiate between the following
pairs of terms, explaining the meaning of each, first separately, and
secondly in its relationship with the other term.
partnership corporation
shares bonds
money specie 1

spinning jenny spinning mule

bank trust
laissez-faire col lect ivism
competition monopoly
..:heck bill of exchange
ad valorem specific duties
protective tariff tariff for revenue
Another worthwhile classroom activity is a result of the teacher tak-
ing notes in his own reading of statements which conclude, sum up, or
assess periods and movements in history.
The following exercise may be used when the teacher and class
conclude a study of the Civil War.
Why did the Confederacy fail? By all the rules of history it should have
been successful. Charles Francis Adams made it a part of the business
of his active literary career to prove that the "Confederacy was strangled
by the blockade and the failure of Europe to intervene." Many South-
erners contended that the Confederacy was lost before it was born; that
the great leaders knew it must fail when they organized it. Mr. inodes
simply states that the "superior numbers and larger resources of the
North were the determining factors. Machines won the great conflict."
20 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

. . This correspondence goes far to show that the Confederacy lost by

the errors and mistakes of its great leaders.'
After a secretary is appointed and space on the blackboard is
blocked out and labelled accordi4 to the reasons given in the quota-
tion, the class uses what texts and source material are available to find
evidence proving or disproving the reasons given in the quotation.
Social-studies teachers often fail to conclude a topic or unit. It is too
easy to drop a topic or unit such as the Civil War after completing the
text and classwork on it. Pupils should develop the skills of evaluating
evidence and drawing warranted conclusions. Likewise teachers should
provide opportunity for pupils to learn these skills.
Many texts in history are caNless in stating dates and places when
and where events happened. Pupils studying history should learn very
early in their schooling that events have little meaning unless they are
dated and located. History continually deals with time and space con-
cepts. Many informal classroom exercises can be devised with the
goal of helping pupils understand these concepts. When historical events
are not dated in a text this problem is usually solved by studying the
text in order to fix two termini of the event: the date after which and
the date before which the account was written. The following exercises
are not too difficult and pupils will have much fun in seeking dates
before which and after which the quotations were made. The resource-
ful teacher will find others.
"I pray God to give us better hearts," Lt. Commander Thomas Hutchi-
son exclaimed, when a mob of "Sons of Liberty" sacked his mansion as
a protest against the Grenville Acts.
When were the Sons of Liberty organized? When were the Grenville
Acts passed? Who was Hutchison? What position did he hold? When
was his mansion sacked?
"I know the mode by which a revenue may be drawn from America
without offense," Charles Townshend, acting for the King, remarked in
proposing a new kind of tax to be levied.
Who was Charles Townshend? What responsible position did he hold
in the British government? Who proposes revenue bills in the British
Parliament? When were his proposals passed by Parliament?
Edmund Burke: "Fo- ;:e may subdue for a moment, but it does not
remove the necessity of subduing again. . . . let me add that I do not

a W E. Dodd, "Review of Jefferson Davis, Constitutiona'ist," in The American

Historical Review, January 1924, p. 355f.
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 21

choose wholly to break the American spirit that has made the country,"
as he offered his doctrine of Conciliation to George III when the In-
tolerable Acts failed to cure American unrest.
Who was Edmund Burke? When did he live? Where did he make
his speech? When were the Intolerable Acts passed? When was it
obvious that they had failed to accomplish their purpose?
Another type of informal classroom activity is one in which pupils
have an opportunity to arrange textual statements and facts in juxta-
position by cooperative effort in order to determine common principles
and generalizations or to show the process of developmeat. In this
exercise a chart is drawn on the blackboard by a pupil and the class
with the use of their text and other materials furnishes the necessary
informational data.
Construct a chart or table showing the principles laid down by the
Resolves of the First Continental Congress; the Declaration of the Causes
and the Necessity of Taking Up Arms; and the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. What similarities are present? What can be said for the
attitude of the colonists toward England as shown by these documents?
What specific acts of the British Government support the generalizations
made in these documents? What general statements can the pupils make
as a summary of colonial claims?
In formulating informal projects the teacher should reject those that
do not contribute to understanding, the interpretation of reality, the
development of historical processes, or critical thinking.
The question may well be asked how such projects with so many
intangible outcomes may be evaluated or whether the projects are
worth the time spent in developing them and guiding the student. If
the pupils are successful or partially so, the teacher will soon know it
by their attitude and behavior. The individual pupil may know the
answers to the skills tests in the classroom and yet be an unskilled
person in real-life situations, in using information and study skills he
has acquired. The real measure of interests, appreciations, work habits,
and study skills is the attitude and behavior of the pupil.
Many educators have pointed out that the classroom teacher needs
materials for the development of study skills and critical thinking, This
Bulletin is in part an answer to that need. Its usefulness depends on
the extent to which the classroom teachers are able to supplement the
exercises in the following pages by their own ingenuity and resource-
fulness.

29
 Suggestions for Constructing Tests
of Study Skills and
Critical Thinking

Underlying Considerations
Certain precautions must be followed in making and using study
skills test items beyond those ordinarily followed with objective-type
achievement test items. It may be helpful to pass along a few sugges-
tions to teachers who wish to construct items of their own for class-
room use. These precautions are therefore indicated below in abbre-
viated form from a more expanded statement which the authors have
published (67).
(1) Directions should be particularly clear and explicit. The form of
the exercises may be new to the pupils, or familiar forms may require
a somewhat different type of response. It is probably desirable to dis-
cuss with a class the necessity for a clear understanding and following
of directions before papers containing the test items are distributed.
(2) Sufficient time should be allowed pupils to enable them to com-
plete the exercises. Since these involve thought process, responses
cannot be reduced to the automatic level of memorized factual informa-
tion. A study skill test should not be a time test.
(3) The teacher constructing tests of study skills or critical thinking
skills should limit the information required to that which was previously
covered in class. A common error is the inadequate distinction between
the skill to be measured and the required factual material to perform
the skill. Although it is true that the possession of some factual infor-
mation may be assumed, great caution must be exercised to avoid con-
cluding that the youngster is unable to perform a specific skill when
actually he may be unable to respond correctly because he lacks
familiarity with the factual information which is being used to evaluate
his skill. Examples of information which may be assumed as commonly
possessed by students at the secondary level are that America was
settled by colonists from Western Europe, that the Catholic church is
the oldest organized Christian church, and that during the last hundred
years or so there have been two major political parties in the United
States.

23

_. 30
24 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(4) Items should be phrased so that they are readily understood,

and are clear as to what type of response is required. Some check
on word frequency by reference to lists of such frequencies would be
desirable to be sure that a pupil's possible lack of understanding of a
technical or unusual word does not invalidate the item for him.
(5) Study skills exercises are probably best if confined to a general
area, such as social studies or natural sciences. Some tests are avail-
able which are designed to test critical thinking as a general ability,
but experimental evidence would seem to indicate that there is not a
high correlation between critical thinking in different areas (27, p.
24f.).
(6) On the other hand, critical thinking is a complicated process.
Bloom (16) has classified the commonly accepted critical thinking
skills as follows:
2:00 Comprehension:
2:20 Interpretation
Identifying the central issue. p. 94
Distinguishing between wuranted and unwarranted
conclusions. p. 94
2:30 Extrapolation: Drawing warranted conclusions. p. 96
3:00 Application:
Drawing inferences and comparing them with previous
inferences. p. 205
Comparing and contrasting points of view, theories,
generalizations, and facts. p. 124
4:00 Analysis:
4:10 Analysis of Elements
Distinguishing between fact and opinion statements.
p. 146
Identifying stated and unstated assumptions. p. 146
4:20 Analysis of Relationships
Recognizing bias or emotional factors in a presentation.
p. 147
Distinguishing between essential and incidental infor-
mation. p. 147
Checking the consistency of an argument. p. 147
Distinguishing relevant from non-relevant data. p: 147
5:20 Synthesis: Formulating hypotheses and generalizationsbased
upon an analysis of the factors involved. pp. 170-71
6:00 Evaluation: Assessing the adequacy of the data used to support a
given conclusion or generalization. pp. 185-87
The varying complexity of the skills suggests that a variety of ap-
proaches must be utilized to measure the various skills. Consequently,
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 25

no single type of item can be said to be sufficient for testing critical

skills, and probably they are best determined by subjective as well as
objective means. A paper-and-pencil test measures performance on the
test only, and successful test performance would not necessarily mean
that the pupil was accustomed to use critical skills in a real-life
situation.
(7) As pointed out in an earlier section of this Bulletin, the best
educational use of items devised to test study skills is for diagnostic
purposes. Their administration should be merely a prelude to classroom
discussion which would provide opportunities ,for- 'pupils to learn more
about critical thinking by discussing with each other and the teacher
the reasons for making responses as they did. Such tests should never
be given as a "final examination," unless the skills have actually been
taught in class. The main purpose of the sample exercises in this book-
let is to provide models for possible application to individual classroom
situations.
Other Methods of Testing for Skills
There are numerous ways to test study skills besides setting up a
series of objective test items. In the list at the end of this section,
several suggestions are offered to teachers about other methods of test-
ing study skills. The methods are difficult or unwieldy as a basis for
the construction of objective test items, although they lend themselves
readily to development in individual classrooms. Materials which are
immediately available to any particular class are often most suitable for
use in constructing exercises of the types described. One of the most
fruitful sources of supply would be a local newspaper or the published
reports of local institutions, such as the city government, utility com-
panies, or industrial or mercantile concerns.
Teachers who make use of this Bulletin are urged to use the exercises
and suggestions contained in it as a starting point in directing the learn-
ing and development of more efficient study skills rather than as an
end point to measure the relative mastery of particular skills or groups
of abilities. The authors hold this point of view so strongly that they
feel that this section of the Bulletin may be just as stimulating and
useful to teachers as the section which contains spccific test items. The
alert teacher will construct items with data of his own selection, pos-
sibly using the items presented as a basis for form, or will construct
different forms which may seem more suitable for the particular mate-
rial or purpose. He may also foster the development of additional study
skills and critical abilities by intelligent adaptation of the exercises
suggested below.

32
26 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

1. Outlining. Students may be assigned to prepare an ouLine of

some portion of thr text, and be given a limited amount of time, such
as five minutes. Outlines may then be compared and criticized in re-
gard to form, content, clarity, and completeness. The assignment may
be to prepare a detailed study outline, as for reference purposes, or
merely a brief sketch outline of main points.
2. Summarizing Students may read a paragraph new to them and
then write a summary of it. This may vary from practice in writing a
single-sentence summary to a more extended one. When students have
finished, their summaries should be discussed and compared in the
light of the material in the original paragraph.
Constructing graphs. The same statistical informaticn may be
2.
represented by a variety of graph forms. The teachers may conduct
a class exercise or assign as individual projects the conversion of data
presented in tabular form into different graphical representations, such
as circle, bar, or line. If statistical information is found in descriptive
rather than tabular form the process may be carried all the way through
from tabulation to construction of one or more graphs.
4. Taking notes from a speech. The teacher may suggest that students
take notes or make an outline of a speech which is to be delivered over
the radio or television and which students will have the opportunity to
hear outside of school hours. Outlines and notes may then be brought to
class for discussion and criticism. The teacher may wish to give a brief
lecture which has been clearly organized, and by an examination of
pupil's notes diagnose the difficulties he may be having in getting
proper perspective, relationship, and form.
5. V isuclizing from a written description. The teacher may locate a
page or so in the text which gives a definite description of a battle-
field or a settler's cabin. Students may try to draw a floor plan of the
cabin, for instance, including all the furniture mentioned in the descrip-
tion in its proper place. They may then check with each others' plans
for the purpose of improving their own or criticizing the given descrip-
tion for lack of clarity or definiteness.
6. Visualizing from an oral description. A situation similar to the
previous one may be set up, except that the teacher or one of the
pupils may read a description from some source with which the pupils
are not familiar. They may then try to sketch out the plan of whatever
is contained in the description and compare papers afterwards for
discussion.

33
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 27

7. Observing. The class may observe a picture in the text or in thc

classroom and then list individually how many facts can be observed
or inferred from th: picture about the historical scene or background
wnich it represents.
8. Reading. Students may read a paragraph from the textthen
close their books and recall such data as facts, generalizations, argu-
ments, and illustrations given in the paragraph. This should be a para-
graph which the students have not seen previously.
There are many other activities fostering desirable skills which may
be developed in a similar fashion. A few in addition to those described
above may be listed specifically:
9. Interpreting cartoons
10. Following directions
11. Participating in a panel discussion
12. Taking part in a debate
13. Planning and taking part in dramatic activities
14. Planning trips, diaries, letters, news items, etc.
15. Map-making
16. Drawing cartoons and posters
17. Constructing models
18. Classifying collections of specimens
19. Planning and preparing exhibits
20. Participating in a mock trial or pantomime
21. Interpreting charts, diagrams, and tables
22. Interpreting maps
23. Analyzing pictures
24. Analyzing tape recordings
25. Evaluating critically models and realia
26. Taking part in an interview
27. Classifying items in a list
28. Performing experiments
29. Making a survey in the community
30. Evaluating events in history
31. Applying principles to new situations
32. Synthesizing from a body of data
A wealth of additional suggestive material may be found in compre-
hensive lists of desirable social-studies activities published in one form
or another accessible to most social-studies teachers. Excellent lists may
be found in Kelley and Krey (51, p. 64f.), Wesley (87), and Wilson
(92).
 How To Use This Bulletin

Criteria for Appraising Classroom Tests

In 1937 Brownell suggested several criteria other than the usual ones
of validity, reliability, and objectivity to be applied in determining the
value of classroom tests (20). The thought-provoking criteria were
presented in question form, as follows: (a) Does the test elicit from
the pupils the desired type of mental process? (b) Does the test enable
the teacher to observe and analyze the thought processes which lie back
of the pupils' answers? (c) Does the test encourage the development
of desirable study habits? (d) Does the test lead to improved instruc-
tional practice? (e) Does the test foster wholesome relationships be-
tween teacher and pupils? These suggestions arc especially stimulating
because they strike at the weaknesses of many objective achievement
examinations, especially those with a high percent of factual content.
The authors of this Bulletin feel that the types of exercises provided
in it meet Brownell's criteria better than tests of the usual achievement
type. Desirable mental processes are elicited since many of the items
require the exercise of desirable mental skills or processes in their
successful execution. The varieties of skills tested and the forms of
the exercises should materially aid the teacher in observing and analyz-
ing pupils' thought processes. Since the exercises are intended to stimu-
late the development of study skills and critical thinking, they should
be of service in encouraging the development of desirable abilities.
Attention to the development of skills in teaching should lead definitely
to improved instructional practice, and finally through open classroom
discussion after the tests have been administered, there should develop
wholesome relationships between teacher and pupils in the common
task of learning how to think more clearly and effectively in the field
of the social studies.
Range of Skills included in This Bulletin
The authors of this Bulletin have adopted a very broad interpretation
of the term skills. The processes of acquisition, evaluatio._), and use of
learning in the field of social relationships are so intricate and so en-
tirely conditioncd by the immediate situation that it would be fruitless
dialectics to try to draw fine distinctions between knowledge and skills.
Some manipulations arc morc obviously on thc mechanical side and
may be reduced almost to thc point of automatic rcsponsc. Such arc the

29

35
30 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

so-called basic skillsof writing, word recognition, ciphering, and

simple place location. Yet these cannot be developed nor exercised
without a certain fund of factual learning. At the other end of the scale
are skills which involve higher mental processes and are more closely
interwoven with acquired knowledge. Such are skills of critical-minded-
ness and rented abilities of refraining from jumping to conclusions,
evaluation of given sources of information, analysis of related parts of a
problem, and retention of an open mind. Within this range are other
skills or abilities such as those of proper use of reference material,
interpretation of social data presented in tabular or graphic form, and
making of an adequate summary.
There may be certain types of exercises which teachers feel should
be included in any bulletin of social-studies skills, but which they do
not find among those presented here. These are skills such as reading
comprehension, map-reading, and ability to use the library. There is no
question but that these skills are significant parts of the social-studies
program. But the authors felt that these areas had been well developed
by writers who have published tests for these skills. Therefore they felt
that other less accessible exercises would be more useful to teachers.
Those teachers who may be interested in securing information about
tests of the other skills are directed to the many entries under the rele-
vant headings in the bibliographies edited by Buros and Hildreth.1
There are also no test items included which require the ability to
reorganize given material by way of reconstructing an outline or select-
ing the mist adequate summary. There is ample evidence that objective
exercises may be constructed for testing these abilities. But exercises of
this type require a considerable amount of space. Furthermore, as in-
dicated in a previous section of this Bulletin, the abilities in question
can probably be better developed by the use of materials forming part
of eke regular day's work, where the teacher's immediate judgment
forms the basis for evaluation. More detailed suggestions for classroom
activities of this nature may be found in social-studies literature.
Recommendations for Using Test Exercises
There are a few definite recommendations which mey be made in
rcgard to the use of this Bulletin. It is not intended to be used as a
"final examination" in the manner of an achievement examination. The
purpose of these exercises is not to give a definite score ok mark for a
specific level of attainment, but rather to stimulate pupils to further
learning in the fields of endeavor from which the items are drawn. The

' See Bibliographies of Tests, p. 97.

36
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 31

exercises in the Bulletin are diagnostic in that they may help to identify
individual difficulties in study habits and thinking processes. They
should also stimulate students to concentrate more consciously on the
development of desirable skills.
Much of the potential value of the exercises will be lost if the results
are not discussed in class after portions of the tests have been given.
In the free discussion of items and expression of reasons for pupil re-
sponses there lies the opportunity for development of skills in which
pupils may be deficient. The processes of study skills and reflective
thinking cannot be effectively learned by using this Bulletin unless
pupils understand the reasons for the marking of the correct responses
in the items.
Section XVI, for instance, is devoted to a series of rankings of three
possible sources for knowledge about each of several historical events
or characters. Part A in this section asks the student to rank three pos-
sible sources of information in the order of their reliability in giving
an accurate account of the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.
These are, in the order presented in the item, a moving picture drama-
tizing the love affair of Anthony and Cleopatra, a newspaper account
in the "Sunday Magazine Section" of excavations of an old Egyptian
temple, and third, a translation of an inscription on the walls of an old
Egyptian tomb. The student who could rank these three accounts in
their proper order could doubtless tell why he had chosen such a
ranking unless his response had been based on pure chance. Certainly
he could not attain a high percent of correct responses on exercises of
this nature unless he had developed the skill of historical criticism to
at least a minor degree.
Even the student who makes a large number of correct responses
will add to his skill in criticism by discussing the reasons for his re-
sponses. The student who consistently ranks items incorrectly should
be encouraged to explain the reasons for his ranking. In this way the
teacher can discover individual weakne -s and by explaining patiently
the reasons for the correct ranking can L.:gin the development of critical
skill in pupils of even limited academic ability. Results of the adminis-
tration of experimental batteries of itcms of this sort, with subsequent
discussion, have brought two interesting facts to light. The first is that
there arc many students in the first years of the high school who show
a distrcssing naivete in their consideration of thc sourccs of knowledge.
Some of them were mystified as to why thcrc shou!d be any point to
ranking the sources. Thcy appeared to hold the attitude that it made
little difference where the "facts" came from. Thc second is that many
high school pupils bye implicit faith in the historical accuracy of thc

37
32 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

motion pictures, historical novels, and radio and television brJadcasts.

Both of these situations present a challenge to the social-studies teacher.
Sample exercises have not been provided in all sections of the
Bulletin because the authors feel that examples sometimes detract from
the effectiveness of a test of real skill. Pupils who possess the skill under
consideration should be able to solve the problem or complete the
exercises without the crutch of a sample item. The pupil who lacks the
skill tries to answer the exercises by making his responses as nearly
parallel as possible to the sample. This is a different mental process
from that which is really supposed to be tested by the exercises. The
same situation is true when there arc "determiners" in a series of
exercises which m:.:y indicate a pattern that the pupil may seek out in
selecting the correct responses rather than go through the desired type
of mental process. Therefore, teachers should not answer questions
about individual items nor provide examples when the exercises are
administered. By constant refinement of the directions, the authors have
tried to make them perfectly clear even to pupils of limited ability. The
teacher should be sure that the pupil Jilderstands the directions. Then
he should be able to answer the items as required if he possesses the
essential skill. If hc understands the directions and yet cannot answer
the items, he should receive no further help, because that is just what
the teacher is trying to find out. Such a pupil does not have the skill
for which the exercises arc testing.
Somc of the forms in which exercises in this Bulletin are presented
have been adapted directly from published material concerned with
study skills. Some of thc forms have been developed by the authors
as original forms in the attempt to measure certain skills for which
there seemcd to be no available tests.
The problem of testing for some of thc less definite outcomes of
instruction is an interesting one. How, for instance, could onc evolve
an objective exercise which might be said to give an indication of thc
relative degree of open-mindedness which a student may have? In
approaching this problem, it is advisable first to find a course of action
which would distinguish tetween thosc who posscss this quality and
thosc who do not. The individual with a "closed mind" is onc who is
pronc to draw conclusions based upon insufficient evidence and espe-
cially to cling to an idea once formed and refuse to modify it by con-
sidering additional evidence which may conflict with his sct opinion. A
person who reacts in this way would be much morc likely to make
broad and unqualified generalizations than would onc who retained an
open mind. Thus in Section Xl the student is given the choicc of one
of five words at thc beginning of a series of statements which, if under-

38
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 33

scored, would in his opinion bcst complete the statement. The two
extremes of these five words, All and No, if underscored would make
the statement too broad and unqualified to be accepted by one who
was cautious about making completely unqualified generalizations. In
scoring this exercise, no attention is paid to the underlining of any of
the three middle words, Most, Many, or Some, since any one of these,
though it might be questioned as making an entirely accurate statement
in any one case, yet leaves room for some qualification and does not
close the door to further thought, as do the two extremes. Thus it is
assumed that the student who underscores A// or No in a large number
of these statements does not have an open mind, so that the degree of
open-mindedness is indicated in individual cases by a small number of
the extreme words underscored. This section is based on experimental
work done by Watson (86). Naturally, an exercise of this type can be
used only once with the same pupils after it has been discussed in the
class.
One other section may be discussed briefly to give an indication of
the logic underlying the form of the item. In Section VIII, for instance,
the student is to distinguish bctween statements of fact and statements
of opinion. Item 11, "Strikes are not justified because the public often
suffers," is a statement with which many students, as well as other
people, may agree. Those who do not think it through may be tripped
by their emotional s.:1, and feel that a statement with which they agree
is a statement of fact. It takes a rather high degree of mental dis-
crimination to recognize the difference between "facts," as such, and
opinions strongly held, which we are prone to regard as facts.
In many other sections of the Bulletin the form of the exercise has
been evolved so that it will distinguish in some such way between
students who have command of the skill or mental process under con-
sidcration and those who do not. There arc so many thought processes
required in the field of the social studies that exercises such as these
can indicate only a part of the total critical skills which any student
may possess. There may also bc many other ways of testing for the
samc skills than by means of thc forms of exercises contained in this
Bulletin.
Teachers may copy thc form of thc exercises, using material more
relevant to thc courses thcy arc teaching, or may develop ncw forms
from thc sugt...stions herein containcd. Thc authors would be pleased
to receive suggestions from teachers or others interested in the tests as
to additional typcs of items which might be attempted, or criticisms
of thc itcms prcscntcd here. Thcy would he especially intcrcstcd in
hearing about thc administration of somc of the sections on thc cicmcn-

39
34 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

tary-school level, since only a few items were tried out at this level
during the administrations of the exercises in experimental form.
The authors would be reluctant, however, to debate at any length
the question of whether these items measure skills only or involve
factual learning and understanding also. The abilities tested have been
considered as skills rather than as knowledge or understanding for the
purpose of this Bulletin and not at all because the authors believe that
they are aspects of learning separate and unrelated to one another. Nor
are these items designed to test any one program of instruction. They
may be used as printed or modified to suit a particular situation or
variation in subject matter.
Upon one point, however, the authors are unqualifiedly certain: The
use of the exercises in this Bulletin is certain to provoke stimulating
classroom discussion and the lealization of the importance of doing
more work in developing skills.
The fact that the earlier editions of the Bulletin have become ex-
hausted would seem to imply that teachers are devoting increasing
attention to study skills. The authors hope that the present revised
edition will be even more helpful to those who are interested in this
fascinating problem.
 Selected Items
for the Testing of Study Skills
and Critical Thinking

Note: All items are keyed with the proper responseusually in italics within
the parentheses in the left-hand marginwith the exception of those in
Section XI. In all cases the "Directions" are for the pupils and should be
included with the items when these are reproduced for use.

Section I. Exercise on Acquiring information

One of the skills which receives a major share of attention in statements
of objectives of social-studies instruction is the ability to find relevant in-
formation. Some teachers go so far as to say that it does not matter if the
pupil does not know the answer to a given question if hc knows where he
of
can find thc proper answer. Be that as it may, it is undeniable that one
the first and most important !earnings in any field is how to go about the
process of acquiring pertinent data.
In the items which follow immediately, an attempt is madc to determine
whether or not pupils will recognize the most appropriate way of starting to
gather information. In Part A, Using Common Rcfcrcnces, the selection
of thc proper response is very likely an indication that the pupil has ac-
quired the knowledge necessary bv actual practice of the skill, or usc of the
references listed.
This section is one which depends for its successful completion upon
knowledge previously acquired rather than upon the operation of a process
for which all necessary data are furnished in the exercise itself. The authors
have included several such exercises in this Bulletin for two general reasons.
First, as explained in thc Introduction, the possession of such knowledge is
engaged in
a fairly reasonable indication that the possessor has actually
is
the skill or operation involving the use of materials rather than that he
repeating verbalized learning which has no real meaning to him. Second,
exercises of the types referred to have been given some attention in the
literature dealing with study skills, so that these exercises arc also included
for the sake of comprehensiveness.
Part A. Using Common References
Directions: The degree to Macau a sodaktudies library is useful to students
is determined partly by tbe ability of students to obtain needed information.
Below are two lists. One contains those books which could compose a
which
Social Studies Reference Shelf. Tbe other contains a list of questions
the questions.
you might wish So bare answered. Do not try to am wer

35

41
36 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Indicate whether you could find the answers, by placing beside the number
of the question theletter of the reference work in which you would be
likely to find the answer most satisfactorily.
Example: (F) 0. How many students are enrolled in American colleges
and universities? The answer F refers to the World Almanac, a handbook
of current information.

Reference Shelf
A. Dictionary of American History F. The World Almanac
B. An Atlas G. Readers Guide to Periodical
C. A Guide to the Study of the Literature
United States ol America H. andel State Government
D. Historical Statistics of the Handbook
United States I. Dictionary ol American Biography
E. Who's Who in America J. Harvard Guide to American History
Questions
(B) 1. How does North Amer Ica compare In slze wlth Air Ica?
(H) 2. Who is the chlef justice of your state supreme court?
(F) 3. How many persons were kIlled by autos last year?
(A) 4. When was the Cumberland Road built?
(H) 5. Who is the official custodlan of state law?
(G) 6. What was the political significance of the last Congresslonal electIon?
(F) 7. How much cotton was exported from the United States from 1960-
1970?
(I) 8. Where was Patrlck Henry, the Revolutionary orator, born?
(C) 9. Where is a descrIptinn of Botkin's A Treasury ol American Folklore?
(J) 10. What work has a short essay on "Methods of Note-Taklng"?
(G) 11. What events preceded the formation of the United Nat Ions'
(D) 12. What was a basic weekly dlet for the British Army in Canada in 1761?
(A) 13. What was the route of the Oregon Trail?
(F) 14. !icy, many immigrants came to the United States last year?
(E) 15. What public offices has the present Secretary of the Interior held?
(J) 18. Where is a description of American Manuscript collections?
(B) 17. How long are the Rocky Mountains?
(A) 18. What territory was covered by Lewis and Clark on thelr exploration
trip?
(E) 19. What are the names of the children of James B. Conant, former
president of Harvard University?
;D) 20. What was the value of furs exported to England by the American
colonies, 1700-1775?
(G) 21. What is the tine of a recent article in The Nation concerning Chinese-
American ielatIonships?
(B) 22. Ihhat c;ty In South America lies on the equator?
(I) 23. W. General George B. McClellan, a Northern general during the Civil
War, a graduals of West Point?
(G) 24. Who was the author of a story in the Saturdsy Review titled "Drugs:
Ten Years to Doomsday"?
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 37

(A) 25. Who commandrgd the American naval expedition against the Barbary
States of North Africa in 1803?
(E) 26. What was the date when Arthur Goldberg resigned as a Supreme
Court Justice?
(I) 27. Was Winslow Homer, the famous American painter of water color2,
ever married?
(A) 28. Why was the Scopes trial Important to the schools in Kentucky*/

Part B. Getting Material

Directions: Place the number of the option which most correctly completes
eacb of the following statements in the space provided.
(3) 29. To locate the page In a text that gives information about Jackson's
inauguration one should use the (1) bibliography (2) appendix (3) In-
dex (4) table of contents (5) preface.
(2) 30. The appendix will usually be found in which part of a book? (1) Before
the preface (2) Back (3) Middle (4) Front (5) After the title page.
(5) 31. The part of a textbook which contains copies of documents, lists of
presidents, etc. Is called the (1) glossary (2) index (3) preface (4) table
of contents (5) appendix.
(4) 32. To determine whether an American history book contains a chapter
titled "The American Revolution" one should (1) read the index (2) go
through the book page by page (3) read the summaries (4) read the
t 'Nle of contents (5) read the preface.
(2) 33. What is the best book to use to obtain a brief account of the life and
work of prominerd people of today? (1) American history text (2) Who's
Who in America (3) Civics text (4) World Almanac (5) Source book.
(2) 34. Which is the best book to use to obtain the size and area of the states
in the United States and the counries of Europe? (1) Who's Who in
America (2) World Almanac (3) Civics text (4) American history text
(5) European history text.
(1) 35. A list of references Is called the (1) bibliography (2) autobiography
(3) biography (4) encyclopedia (5) appendix.
(5) 38. For a brief account of the life of President Washington one should use
the (1) atlas (2) World Almanac (3) Who's Who in America (4) Read-
ers' Guide to Periodical Literature (5) encyclopedia.
(2) 37. To learn what the abbreviations used In the Readers' Guide to Periodi-
cal Literature represent one should (1) ask the librarian (2) look in the
front of the book for an explanation of how to use the book (3) ask
the teacher (4) try to figure out the meaning by reading several pages
containing abbreviations (5) look in a dictionary.
(1) 38. To compare the state government with the national govcmment means
to (1) select items which show the differences and likenesses between
state and national government (2) select Items that will show only the
likenesses (3) select items that will bring out the qualities of state and
national government (4) describe each (5) discuss each.
(4) 39. A textbook in American history contains the statement that "the Consti-
tution provides for the popular election of senators." To test the
accuracy of this statement one should (1) read about the election of

43
38 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

senators (2) write to the senator from the state (3) write to the con-
gressman from the district (4) read the document in question (5) ask
the teacher.
(3) 40. Which of the following would be most appropriate as a reference in
writing a long theme on the subject of "The Monroe Doctrine"?
(1) Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (2) Who's Who among North American
Authors (3) Encyclopedia Americana (4) Putnam's Historical Atlas (5)
Haggard's Devils, Drugs, and Doctors.
(1) 41. Which of the following is the best way to start attacking a social prob-
lem? (1) Analyze it into parts for closer study, (2) Try out the first solu-
tion that comes to mind, (3) Discover how the problem happened to
arise, (4) Collect reference material about the problem, (5) Construct
theories about how the problem arose.
(5) 42. Which of the following Is not a good method to use In attacking a
social myth? (1) Establish the actual meaning of the myth, (2) Com-
pare the meaning with objective data drawn from reliable sources,
(3) Establish the assumptions and implications of the myth, (4) Show
how human beings have reacted to the myth, (5) Interview a fair num-
ber of people to determine truth or falsity of the myth.
(3) 43. Which of the following is the best method of preparing yourself to
write a term paper on a topic about which you know nothing? (1) Read-
ing detaled accounts, (2) Examining pictures to get accurate details,
(3) Reading a general account, (4) Discussing the topic with friends,
(5) Reading a novel.
(1) 44. If you wanted to get a start on getting material for a report on atomic
energy, a topic about which you knew relatively little, which would be
the first of the following accounts that you would want to read? (1) An
article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, (2) An article in a scholarly
magazine, (3) A picture essay in Popular Science magazine, (4) The
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.
(4) 45. If you were using a reference book on European history, and wanted
to find out quickly whether or not It told about the Crusades, wh:ch
of the following would be best to do? (1) Look in the Introduction,
(2) Leaf through the book quickly, page by page, (3) Check the section
or margin headings, (4) Look in the Index, (5) Skim through the Preface.
(5) 46. If you wanted to find out an author's purpose in writing his book, you
would be most likely to find It in the (1) Table of Contents, (2) Epilogue,
(3) Section or margin headings, (4) Index, (5) Preface.
(2) 47. The year in which an American book was published usually can be
most easily found out from the (1) printer's date inside the cover,
(2) copyright date, (3) sub-heading on the title page, (4) date heading
in the index, (5) preface.
(1) 48. If you discover that the authors of two different textbooks have given
different figures for the total number of men who signed the Declara-
tion of Independence, the best way to find out which one is right is to
(1) find a copy of the document and count the names yourself, (2) check
the number in the encyclopedia, (3) believe the author of the book
which is most recent, (4) consult several other textbooks, (5) read the
text of the Declaration of Independence.
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 39

Section II. Determining Relative Length of Historical Periods

In studying history, so much attention is often given to individual dates
and events, or is focused on such limited periods of time, that pupils may
lose perspective. A grasp of broad time relationships should be just as
much an outcome of learning in history as are individual dates or a
knowledge of the sequence of a series of events or developments. In this
section pupils may be able to give the correct response even though they
could not give pertinent dates. In order to mark the correct answer, how-
ever, they would need to have a grasp of broad time relationships and
comparisons.
Although this section, like several others, depends upon previously
acquired knowledge for its successful completion, it has been included in
part because the literature in the field of study skills has devoted some
attention to what is variously referred to as "skill in developing a sense
of chronology."
In developing such a time sense it is helpful to compare other "periods"
with one of known duration, such as the time which has elapsed since the
signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In this way pupils may
avoid the rather common error of assuming that our period of existence
as an independent nation is a comparatively long one in the sweep of
recorded history.
Directions: Following are a number of historical "Periods" or "Ages"
grouped in pairs. In each pair, one of the two periods lasted LONGER
than the other. Mark this one with an X, as in the example.
Example: ( X ) I. The Ice Age
( ) 2. The Age of Steam Power
( X) 1. Perlod of Anclent History
( ) 2. Perlod of U.S. as an independent Natlon (since 1776)
(X) 3. Perlod of Medleval Hlstory
( ) 4. Period of Modern History
( ) 5. The "Age of the Reformation"
(X) 6. The American Colonial Period
(X) 7. Period of the Renaissance
( ) 8. Period of Contemporary History
( ) 9. New Stone Age
(X) 10. Old Stone Age
(X) 11. Age of Egyptian Civilization
( ) 12. Age of Grecian Civilization
(X) 13. Period of Ancient History
( ) 14. Period of Modern History
(X) 15. Age of Feudalism
( ) 18. Reconstruction Era (U.S.)
( ) 17. Period of Medieval History
40 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(X) 18. Iron Age

(X) 19. Agt of Grecian Civiiization
( ) 20. Period of Discovery and Exploration in the New World
( ) 21. The Bronze Age
(X) 22. The New Stone Age
( ) 23. Period of Contemporary History
(X) 24. The American Colonial Period
(X) 2E. Period of Ancient History
( )26. Period of Medieval History
( ) 27. Period of Contemporary History
( X ) 28. Period of U.S. as an Independent Nation
( X ) 29. Age of Feudalism
( ) 30. Period of U.S. as an Independent Nation
( ) 31. Reconstruction Era
( X ) 32. Period of U.S. as an Independent Nation
( X ) 33. Period of Renaissance
( ) 34. Period of U.S. as an Independent Nation
( X ) 35. Geological Time
( )36. Biological Time
( ) 37. Period of Written History
( X ) 38. The Ice Age
( X ) 39. The New Stone Age
( ) 46. Period of Written History

( ) 41. Period since Steam Power Was First in Use ter Railroad Engines
( X ) 42. The American Colonial Period

Section 111. Reading and Interpreiing Graphs, Charts, and Tables

In this Bulletin there arc many examples of graphic presentation: simple
circle graphs and line graphs; bar, profile, and combination line graphs: and
tables of statistics. They are the forms commonly used in social-studies
materiah and ar.: readily available in most mass-produced publications.
Teachers interested in developing skill in using thete materials could
appoint class committees to collect good and bad examples and display
them on a bulletin board or in a scrapbook. Each exampk should be
monntf'd on suitable paper together with ,tie source from which the example
was taken and appropriate criticism and explanations.
If pupils construct graphic reports themselves, they will soon de%elop
an awareiess of the difficulties of classification of social-science statistics
and the dangers inherent in oversimplifying them for graphic purposes. In
developing critical thinking with graphic materials the pupils should be
encourapd continually to ask questions such as: Is the chart accurate?
Do percents and other figures add up? Is the scale used for the graph

46
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 41

exaggerated or depreciated? Is thc standard for the graph abnormal in

sizc, color, or shape?
The scale or standard used for comparison or contrast in graphic
materials often makes a critical difference in the understanding of the graph
by the pupil. If, for example, present standards are compared with those
of 100 years ago the pupil may become unduly optimistic in his conclusions.
On the other hand if some abnormal period is chosen for the standard, the
pupil may be unduly pessimistic in his conclusions. If thc potentials of
society or institutions are chosen for thc standard, then thc pupil could
deplore the failure of soCety to realize them. In each of these examples
there are always intangibles and other factors not included in thc graph.
The alert leacher will always lead pupils to consider and to be aware of
sweeping conclusions madc solely on the basis of thc facts which any one
graph presents. In any case pupils and teachers should watch for "tunnel"
vision; but that is not always enough for it also makes a difference what
end of a telescope one is looking into.

Reading of Simple Circle Graphs

A circle graph presents data in the form of a circle. The circle is divided
along radii sl that the angle of each section is always proportional to the
facts which 'he circle represents. For the most part the same facts used in
circle grarlis could be just as well represented by a bar graph. One general
rule to be followed in constructing circle graphs is that the divisions of
the circle should be arranged clockwise with the 12 o'clock mark as the
starting point. This is a flexible rule, however, because sometimes it is
advisable for artistic balance and eye appeal to place the largest division
at the top. Other helpful considerations in constructing and criticizing
circle graphs are that circle graphs should seldom be used when the divisions
are so slight that the eye has difficulty in noticing the difference; that
shading often makes the circle graphs easier to read; and that labels usually
are kept on a horizontal plane except when the small divisions make this
suggestion impossible even by using arrows.
Graph A
Directions: The circle graph ore page 42 shows the distribotion of Federal
head ownership as of 1960. The figures on the chart refer fo mead mow
bers. Use the symbols 1, 2, 3, 4, Of 3 for year 111111Weri.
Questions on Graph A
(2) 1. Which government agency controls the most Federal land?
(4) 2. WMch government agency controls the least amount of Federal land?
(3 ) 3. What government agency does nor manage land in Alaska?
(4) 4. In what agency does Alaska have almost half the acreage?
(2) 5. Which agency controls the most land in Alaska?
(2) 6. Alaska accounts for about three fifths of the land in what agency?
(1) 7. Which agency controls about one quarter of Federal land?

47
42 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

3 NATIONAL Pm St1MCK wilLa 49 MUM hOWS

22.1 MKUON ACHS
MAMA ? 1 INIWO11\
4 NSA AND MAUR SOWS --- %

16 0 Auti.10i4 ACINS MONA

3 011411 MANOR --- .
.
PO 7 MOON
Aas
47.1 Miul014 Acns

FEDIEILAL LAND OWNERSHIP

SIAM MO
mama 0,-
1224 mom MK
11111111AV Or
MANASIMEINE
1111111 MAN
AGNS

From Outth,or Rtfrention for America. A Report to the President and to the
Congress 11. the Outdoor Recreation Recources Resiess Commission. Washington:
Ciosernment Printing Office. 19f'2. [I aurancr Rockefelkr. Chairman) Lib.
Cong. No. 62-61.1017.

Reading of Bar Graphs

In Grap'n B the bars represent 100 percent. Another usc of the bar
graph is to ha.e the length of thc bars indicate values. When the bar;
are vertical they are often referred to as a "pipe-organ- graph and when
the bars are connected, as an outline or profile bar graph. When the
are different'ated by shadings they are called contrasting bar graphs. In
Grapiis B. C , D. and E the presentation is horizontal to eliminate the
possibility of the eye seeing a curve which in some instances of multipk
bar charts may be undesirable. In Graph E the pictu.es are added to aid
comprehension.
In constructing or criticizing bar graphs note that bar graphs, like line
graphs. always include a zero line.
Graph 13
The statement that the machine displaces men in production does not
apply equally to all industries, but must he analyzed in view of the type
of occv tion. The graph following indicates a comparison of technologi-
cal displacement of workers by machinery in four industries: the manu-
facture of glass bottles. michine tools. lumber, and Ligarette-wrapping.
In some of the major industries the machine and one operator handle
the work formerly done by almost a hundred workers, as in the wrapping
of cigarettes. Displacement has not brought such a setioUS unemployment
 43
TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING
instance. where
problem to the lumber and machine-tool industries, for
of a hundred arc
the nature of thc work is such that eighty-cight men out
Mill needed in spite of the large-scale application
of machinery. In thc
between that of the
manufacture of glass bottles the situation is part way
displaced
other occupations under consideration, since fifty-four men are
by the machine and operator.
40 00 SO 100
20

A I I 1 1 1 1 1 I_
Pillill10111110 111
Number of Men Displaced by Owe Operator and Machiwery

Questions on Graph B
question (num-
Write A. 8. C. or D in the space before the number of the
which each lettered bar
bered as below) to indicate the type of industry to
e the graph refers.
( D ) 8. Glass-bottle industry
( A or C ) 9. Machlne-tool industry
( C or A 10. Lumber industry
( B ) 11. Cigarette-wrapping indqstry

Graph C
of bar graph.
The following illustration is an example of another type
3

I I I
iris
ururr ri
2

I
I II III
I I/II io I'll I I I

I IOU I,Il 1,11 1,11 real IA

Italy Norway
I
Ingised
I
%We Stank% !MGM
Clommory Sweden kolIend
Fle4sesd riwneurY Dimwit webs
1
A
Foreiga-bIrn Populatkai of the United States

49
 44 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

This type probably is more familiar to social-studies student; than the

previous one. This graph shows the foreign-born population of the United
States by the principal European countries of their birth, comparing the
years 1900 and 1910.
Note that cach of the countries has been given a letter symbol. Use
these when answering thc questions.
Ouestions on Graph C
( A ) 12. Which country contributed the most people in 1900?
( A ) 13. Which country contributed the most people in 19107
G I 14. Which c,uni,-; contributed the fewest people in 19007
( E 15. Which c)untry c,:w1tributed the fewest people in 19107
( 0 ) 16. What part of the British Isles contributed the most people
in 19007
( 1900 ) 17. Which year shows the greatest number of foreign born entering
the United States?
( A ) 18. Which countr, contributed the greatest number of people in
both periods?
( E ) 19. Which country contributed the least number of people in both
periods?
( C 20. Did the B or C group contribute more people in 1910?
( G ) 21. Which country contributed almost the same number of people
in both periods?
( 0 ) 22. Would you say that immigration increased (I) or decreased
(D) from 1900 to 1910?
( A. 0 ) 23. What two countries contributed more people in 1900 and 1910
than any other combination of two countries?

Graph
A 100 percent har graph is one in which a single bar represents 100
percent and the divisions of the bar represent percents of the whole. Graph
D is made up of a number of 100 percent bar graphs for comparative pur-
poses. Straight bars arc easy to divide into parts representing percents
uf the whole and are more convenient to use and construct than circle
graphs.
In any example the bar should be: wide enough to show differences clearly
but not so wide that the facts are distorted. In shading parts of the bar care
should be taken so that the shadings will not seem to make thc bat sag or
to develop other optical illusions.
The shading of the graph is not important. It is for the purpose of separat-
ing one section of the graph from another. Students should develop the skill
of estimating the length of each part of the bar without recourse to counting
each line or mark of the shading. Percent scales outside the bar enable it to
be read more easily and the additional inclusion of percents within each
division of the bar is a decided advantage to the re 'der. They have been
eliminated in Graph D because the exercise was desikned to test the ability
of the pupil to estimate thc various percents. When constructing bar charts
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 45

FREE WORLD vs SOVIET BLOC

UNITED STAVES HST Of Fitt WORLD SINO.SOVIIT BLOC

LI
I 1

Cool

Cred
Potreknrte
Primary
Alvetimen
Electric
Power
Merchaort
Fleets

Based ert preliminary MS date.

From Mutual .Stuirit P-ornm I iscal Year 1960. A Summary Presentation.

March. 1959. Department of State. Department of Defeme. International Coop-
eration Administration.

where comparisons arc madc there should be some consistent order of

arrangements such as: time series. magnitudes. geographical, alphabetical,
or natural. In Graph D the arrangement of the parts is a common natural
one and was chosen as being better suited than an alphabetical arrangement.
Directioru: t'se the followhnt symbols in answering each question.
1. For the United States.
2. For the rest of the free world.
3. For the Sino-Societ Bloc.
( / ) 24. Which area has the smallest population?
( 3 ) 25. Which group has the smallest merchant fleet?
( 3 ) 26. Which group produces the most coal?
(/ & 3) 27. Which groups are about equal in ihe production of steel?
( / ) 28. Which gruup produces more primary aluminum?
( 2 ) 29. Which group !le13 the most e!ectric power?
(2 & 3) 30. Which groups are about equal in the production of coal?
( 2 ) 31 Which group leads in three-fourths of things compared?
(/ & 3) 32. Which groups lead in only one area compared?

51
46 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINK!!:3

Exports Pros ide Outlets

for Many Farm ProductsFiscal Vest 1969

Percent of /969 Crops 6ported

0 /0 20 30 40 50 60 TO
I 13

COTTON

SOY BEANS 40

WMCAT

138

RICE

CORN /2

From Yearbook if Agriculture 1970

Graph E
.7 his chart is a common variation of the bar chart in that it contains
symbols for ready reference. increase of interest, and general attractiveness.
critical point is that all symbols should be of the same proportions so that
nc undue importance accrues to any one. The chart should be just as
meaningful with only the words and the bars.
 THINKING 47
TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL
hulks., yogi answer.
Directions: Use the following nantben to
the esideoce ghee in the chart.
I. The Oatmeal is supported by
incorrect cannot be determined
3. Whether the statemest is coned or
by the esidence he the clout
by the evidence &ea in thc chart.
S. The statement k contradkted
Questions on Graph E
States clepends upon exports.
(3) 33 The total farm economy of the United than any other crop
34.
Percentage-wise. we export more of our rice
(1)
shown above. loss of i-,come if other coun-
(3) 35. The American farmer would suffer great
products.
tries stopped importing our agricultural three-fifths of the tobacco
(1) 36. The United
States consumes about
produced. States
that economic health in the United
(3) 37. The graph demonstrates the countries that import our
depends upon the economic health of
products.
Growers of corn wouldsuffer most from the cessation of exports.
(5) 38. over half of the soybeans
(1) 39. The United States keeps far its own use
and wheat grown. than any
greater proportion of their cotton
(5) 40. Americans consume a the stave graph.
other agricultural product shown in

Graph F
calkd a multiple bar chart. It is
The illustration on page 48 is usually
in rank order. The chart illustrates
oftcn used when various items are placed
problem in the United Stateswhat to do with leisure time. Every
a growing achieving more leisure time, more
decade sees an expanding population directed to-
travel facilities, most of which is
money to spend, and better enioy outdoors.
wards more and better opportunities to
writing yuar answers.
Directions: Use the followiog syrnhoh in
1. Pnwed by studying the chart.
proof is not in the chart.
2. May or may not be troe, but
3. The chart pros-es the statement wrong.
Questions on Graph F

,'1) 41. Americans seek simple pleasures most.

and silence.
(2) 42. Some people go camping for isolation
Some people go camping where they can be with other people.
(2) 43. driving and walldng.
(1) 44. The most popular activities are pleasureamount of time Is spent on
(1) 45. Aside from pleasure driving the greatest equipment.
activities which require least preparation or
popular summer activity.
(1) 48. Swimming is the most special conditions, skills, or equ;oment rank
(3) 47. Activities that require
high in the frequenclet.
Vuectiong continued on paee 491

53
 46 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

WHAT AMERICANS DO MOST

moue ov ACTIVITY OATS no PERSON. 12 MRS AND OYU

NMI 1. 190MAY 3r, 1E01

INNING Mt REAMS SS.73

NAMING NNI MAMIE 1 7.112

PLAYING Ot7700011
GANES 00 ;volts 12.71

SwINNING a 47
013.115111NG 5.11

IICYCLANS 5.15

FISNING 4.10
AMMON
SMITS EVENTS 3.75

PICNICIUNG 3.53

NATURE WAIRS
OATING 040T CANOE
OR SARI 1. I."
MINING 11. I.s.
NOINESACI RIDING III 1.25
CAMPING

ICE SWAIM I 35
IMMO OE I .5T
TOIDOGOANING
IMMO I .42
WATER SEWN I .41
MIMING OUT00011 .31
DIANA, commis, ETC.
CANOEING .12

SAILING .11

MONTAN CLIMOING .05

SNOW SIANG .07

From Outdoor Recreation for America. A Report to the President and to the
Congress by the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. Washinoon:
Government Printing Office, (Jan.) 1962. [Laurance Rockefeller. Chairman) Lib.
Cong. No. 62-60017.

- 54
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 49

(2) 48 Fewer people participate in winter sports than in summer sports

(2) Suburbanites are more ective than city people in outdoor recreation.
49.
(2) AcqvIties that require special conditions, skills, or equipment rank
50.
high in intensity of personal involvement.
(3) 51. Less time is spent in activities involving walking than in activities in-
volving water.
(2) 52. The children of today do more kinds of things for recreetion than
their parents did.
(2) 53 Among occupations. poofessional people enicry the most recreation.
farmworkers the least.
(3) 54 Swimming is the most popular activity.
(3) 55. Asiivities that require expensive equipment rank high in the
frequencies.
(2) 56. Participation in outdoor activities tends to go up as income does.
(2) 57. Occupation has considerable influence on participation in outdoor
activities.
(1) 58. Most activities tlat require special skills or equipment rank low in
the frequencies.
(1) 59. A small percentage of the activities listed are also indoor activities.
(1) 60. Fishing is a more popular activity than water skiing.

Graph
The illustration is sometimes called the multiple line graph. It illustrates
efficiency in thc use of farm labor. The solid black line represents the work
done in one hour by one man. The black line with dots on it (middle) repre-
sents total farm output. The broken line represents the number of man-hours
of farm work. The statements follow thc graph.

perree Pro 61 EFFICIENCY IN USE OF FARM LAWN

1910-12 FARM PRODUCTION
400

350

300
0.161.1 pot how ..,
250

200
9- Fenn enopyt
150

1^0 . 9. a, ............... .qor.......--- ..... ....,....

N' -..
...-.......16.........6........
SO N166-1torrs
of hormewedr

1510 1S 20 25 30 35 40 4S so SS 60

From Yearbook of Agriculture 1960

55
50 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Use the follow* symbols la writing your seswers:

1. Prored by stedyhtx tbe graph.
2. Neither proved nor contradicted by studying the graph.
3. Contradicted by gtatlying the graph.
Questions on Graph 0
(1) 61. Advances in efficiency of farm labor have resulted directly from
fewer hours of farmwork and from greater farm production.
(3) 62 From 1910-1960 farm output per man-hot:- has risen at an average
rate of almost 10 percent a year.
(3) 63 From 1910-1920 farm output per man-hour declined.
(1) 64. Farmers in the late fifties turned out almost four times as much prod-
uct each hour of work as a farmer did each hour in the years just
before World War I.
(2) Chemistry applied to agricultural problems accounts for the increase
65.
in farm output between 1915 and 1925.
(1) C6. From 1920-1940 there was a downward trend in the number of man-
hours of farm work on farms.
(1) 67. Annual gain in farm output. 1920-1940. averaged about one percent
a year.
(2) 68. Annual gain la farm output. 1920-1940. was the result of increased
mechanization.
(3) From 1910 to 1980 farm output per man-hour has increased slowly
69.
but steadily.
(2) 70. Electric power on the farm has been an important factor in increasing
the efficiency of farm labor.
(1) 71. Efficiency of farm labor rose about five percent per year from 1940-
1945.
(2) 72. Advances in mechanization helped accelerate the reduction of man-
hours of farm work since 1945.
(2) 73. The practical disappearance of work animals on the farm after World
War II released land for crops consumed by human beings.
(3) 74. The number of man hours dropped at an annual rate of about ten
percent. 1945 to 1950.
(1) Since 1950 the percentage of the reduction of man-hours of work has
75.
increased slightly.
(/) 76. There was a greater percentage rise in farm output per man-hour in
World War II than in World War I.
(2) 77. The rise in farm wages accounts for the grester use of mechanical
power.
(3) 78. The greatest percentage of increase in farm output per man-hour
occurred during World War II.
Section IV. Constructing and Reading Uns Grephs
Line graphs or curve charts aS they are sometimes called are probably the
oldest and most wi ly used of all graphs. They are most successful wheil
used to show successive values at different periods; where several series are
to be compared on the same chart; when dose reading and exactness are

56
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 51

desirable: and when thc emphasis is on movement rather than on actual

e.mounts. Line graphs arc not always thc best form of chart to use when thc
presentation is for popular appeal: whcrc thc emphasis is on change of the
amounts plotteJ rathcr than on total movement: and where there arc kw
v.:Aims to be plotted. When cyc appeal is desirable, the use of illustrations on
the chart gives some indication of the material presented. These may be cut
from a newspaper or magazine and pasted on the chart to "dress it up."
In constructing and criticizing line graphs a few suggestions should be
kept in mind. Many advertisers arc notoriously prone to forget standards in
chart construction and often misuse facts in their enthusiasm to prove a
point. AItention to a few recognized standards will provide average students
with thc means to develop critical ability when they construct charts and
wten they sec them in print.2 Time values usually move from left to right
on the horizontai scale. Every plotted point has two values: an a.?;ount
val ic on thc vertical scale and a time value on the horizontal scale. Most
authorities agree that the omission of the zero line on a chart gives a false
imgression ef values whcn thc major interest of thc chart is in the relative
amount of change between points on the same line or curve. There is. how-
ever. one exception. when the reader's interest is in the absolute amount of
change rather than in the relative amo,mt of changc, thc zero may be
omitted. The omission should be indicated to attract attention. Two ways
to show omission arc acceptable and both attest thc author's good faith:
a straight line at tht bottom of the scale waved at each cnd or a wavy line
..cross the bottom of thc
A few other suggestions will pre:ent pupil and teacher from the pitfalls of
chart making thc amount and time scale should be well proportioned 3 and
neither onc should ever he expanded or contracted while the other remains
constant. (Sec figures 1, 2. and 3 below.) To do so distorts the real meaning
CORIMICT ecoaA swam? feria tIPAPOPO lanaalli100101011

MEM..

0
JAM A. J. JAN. Mt.

'See especially Time Series Charts: A Manual of Design and Construction. This
was first prepared in 1938 by the Committee on Standards for Graphic Presenta-
tion, under the procedure of the American Standards Association. The American
Society of Mechanical Engineers sponsored the publication. It may be purchased
from their publications department located at 29 West 39th Street, New York City.
' The long side of a rectangle is equal to the diagonal of a square constructed
on the short side. A rectangle of this proportion is known as "root-twe or
"hypotenuse" rectangle.

57
 TEST1F4CI OF STUDY SAILLS AND CRITICAL TNINIliNG

of A ch.srt And ps,:iures .1 movement contrary to the fas,ts %ince thr .smount
scale controls thr movement ot the line or curve scak should he chown
th.st will honestly portray facts and aid thr .w.curate reading of :he values
The wurces of farm power have changed consiTerably during the twente!th
century A graph could bc constructed to rerre-ient such A ChAngc hy plotting
thr number of farm work animals thorws And mules) from 1910 to 19n()
on graph paper I hc line thus drawn can he compa-ed with a similar one
representing the number of tractors, The necessary figures (stated in round
numbers) for comparison are as follows
Sou cioi F %RN PnlAit R

I:ate Horses and Moles Trictors

1910 24,000,000 1,000
1915 26,000,V00 25,000
1420 25,000,000 246,0(1)
1925 23,000,000 549,000
1930 19,000,000 920,000
1935 16,600,000 1,048,000
1940 14,000,0(X) 1,545,000
1945 12,000,000 2,354,000
1950 7,600,000 3,394,000
1955 4,300,000 4,345,000
1960 2,800,000 4,600,000

* Historical Statistics of the United States.

Directions: On the graph form below, each vertical line represents one of
the dates in the table. Start with 1910 at the left and end with 1960 at the

Head
CHANGING SOURCES OF FARM POWER Tractors
(Millions) TRACTORS, HORSES, AND MULES (Million,)
32.0 4.8

28.0 I 4.2
r ...re... Tractors
24.0 Ie.. 3.6
%,..4
20.0 .8. 3.0

Horses and mules

..... 2.4
16,0 all awl ,.
....,
%
12.0 ,,, 1.$
%.
6*- 1.2
8.0 %.
4.0 °-........, 0.6

0
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960

From Yearbook of Agriculture 1960

58
 TEVIN(i r)Ir t",'...OV SA ILL S AND CA1 LICAL THrNAINii
)

repemesi **eying
righ& ref thew duel es she bnItnen. Ihe heeimend Siam
aggeownes el farm pewee. 1 is the Ira ...that Nee as NM left in fervors'
se the holism
of hogs.. and ahri. Each Wier. al limning with song
theorfom, weeld be 31 million
repremeni. 4 million mintak. the kip line,
millioue of
head. Ii. the ierlical line at She frstrenw right io repmest
hollows repogwrah te of
trm son. Each Magnet starting with sem at the
million tractor.. I he lop line. therefore, would be 4.1I n.illio. truiog..
point which rep-
the nest .lep Is to place a dot on each date line at the
Ise the scale 03 the kft.
merib the number of animak tried in that year each date
Now. Connect thew dots with a broken line. Then place a dot on
in that year.
Hue al the point which representi the number of tractor med
Use the scale on the right. Connect the dots with a solid
line.'

Section V. Interpreting Tabular Data

54 Is an exampk of a "bible of loan and
Direction,: The table on page
Its purpose is
nonforfeiture values" nsually printed in life insurance policies.
choice in the advent of death, emergency, or
to give the policy holder some
non-payment of premiums.
given is $1000.
The face value of the policy for which the figures are
of death the
After one full premium shall have been paid, then in case
in case of default
face value of the policy will be paid to the beneficiary;
holder may choose to end the policy and take the
of payments the policy
value for the time
cash value or permit the policy to continue at its face
$1000, such value
stated. If the face value is for a greater amount than
will be proportionately more.
Questions on Table A
the
( $176. ) 1. How much money could the policy holder borrow on
policy at the end of the fifteenth year?
2. if the policy holder wishes
to maintain the faco value of
( 17 ) the sixth
the policy and stopped payments at the end of in-
year, for how many years (no days) would he have
surance?
the policy
( none ) 3. How much extended insurance would there be If
holder fails to pay more than one premium?

correct response each point prop-

4 Section IV could be scored by counting as a line drawn by students.
erly located on the graph as revealed by the connecting the connecting line,
It is the point on the date line which is important, and notpresented here has the
which need not be drawn absolutely straight. The graph
would
iine,drawn to the proper points to show how a perfactly correct responsegraph form
look. In administering this or a similar exercise to the students, the
would naturally be blank.

59
 ,4 111>'Tilioti t)P -.it APO SKILLS ANC) CRITICAL fookoiihni

How iholy Pt*Imions must Os pied hetor monoy ..; oil Do

borrowed on the policy '
How many premiwms have been pall chin hi as.h value
is $1411
( VO)Q 6 If Ms policy holder dos after the first premium has ha)n
peed hOw much mk,ney would his estate receive"
( $446 ) 7 When the policy holder can borrow $.200, how much paid up
insuranco must he have in ordr to negotiate the loon"
( $827 1 8 What is the largest vim of money that can be borrowed
on the policy7
( $239 ) 9 If a young man takes out a policy when he is tornty-ore
years of age about how much par d- up insteance dos he
have at age 30?
( 78 1 10 If the policy holder fails to pay premiums alter age 5C how
old would he be when the inlicy ceased to exist as a
contrar'"

Table A
SEX AND ISAT AGE ( MALE-2 1 )
End of Cash Reduced Extended Insurance
Policy and Paid-up
Year Loan Insurance Ycars Days
1

2 $ 1 $ 4 0 140
3 13 39 5 35
4 26 75 10 96
'5 38 108 :4 93
6 51 141 17 114
7 65 176 19 257
8 78 207 21 95
9 92 239 22 198
10 106 269 23 179
11 120 298 24 68
12 133 323 24 209
13 147 350 24 334
14 162 377 25 78
15 176 401 25 111
16 190 424 25 113
17 204 446 25 88
18 218 466 25 40
19 233 488 24 363
20 248 509 24 299
Attained Age
60 549 793 17 299
65 627 842 15 243
*1-igurescourtesy of Z. J. Taylur, Special Agent, Prudential Insurance Company.

60
Om'

rulriNii Jai Irurrt soist.i AM) C.PritiCAL foolontiPai.

llociteet Vt. Itecesettiog aed Inemposesie Trends

Nov.atod by Sta *Vital Dela
I AINCS 14 SWIMS-al data should he .iltr.it.IIVIC ti' rC.411
an planning will lom.allv improvic their Appearan.c poorly designd
taNe. no matter how ps,ient its ineytage, will not he re.si.i Pupils should he
cricoura,:ed to make or this purpose mush information in sokial
sludw:s t.i.t t;an he rcadilv (sullied The Frobkins imolved in designing and
planning a table will sharpen the skill of pupils so that theN w!ll develop a
critical attitude towards those !her n A, few siripie suggestions will: help
both teacher and pupil I or ci-s. reading the total of a column rnav he put
at the top of the column. Ihe use of pictorial Wks lc almost a guarantee
that the tabulation will he understood. If the table of statistics is long. group-
ing the rows of figures into fives aids in the reading of the figures. In simple
tables the figures of greatest magnitude arc at the top and the rest arc en-
tered in descending order. ihe use of notes to clarify and explain headings
should alwayi he encouraged, and one of the notes should give the source
or sources of the data tabulated. In short, the table should be self-explana-
Icily and :he data should be so classified that the place of each statistic in
relation to all the others is readily seen.
Directions: Thk is a test of the ability to draw conclusions from statistical
data. In making your dectsions consider only the evidence given in the
sable and any logical trends which may be reasonably interred Irons
the data, even though you may be acquainted with other evidence which
would indicate definitely that a statement is true or false.
Answer Symbols: Use numbers only.
If the evidence alone is sufficient to make the statement true;
1.
2. If the evidence alone is sufficient to indicate that the statement is
probably true;
3. If the evidence alone is not sufficient to indicate any degree of
truth or falsity;
4. If the evidence alone is sufficient to indicate the statement is prob-
ably false;
S. If the evidence alone is sufficient to make the statement false be-
cause it is contradicted by the data in the table.

Questions on Table B
(1) 1. Producing cotton has always been more time-consuming work than
producing wheat or corn.
(5) 2 The inc'ease in the yield per acre has been greater for wheat than
corn.
(1) 3. Over the years the preparation of the soil for corn and the tending of
the crop is more time-consuming than the harvesting of corn.
(3) 4. Between 1800 and 11360 labor-saving machinery was used to produce
wheat and corn.

61
0,4 k "41- . :0 ; ANL) AI. OA' MOO 'NI

.)v eat 11 PIN* M4td1PiliO4 )1, oftt,t1 Noe NNW r ,,ig tin 41- Jri.t4frt.
8,(3 rnao !Ns Nil, venting of wfsCot
)) 8 More machinery is needed ,n the 'NfOntiadr centLry k)I
Prepar the soil and tend the crop mai- Po/ either weleat )I orn
15) 1 Less cotton is raised in the twentieth century than in the nineteen'',
century
(21 8 More macninery is probably used in the prortctIon of +shat r n
and cotton sinc World War II than in the period prior to the Civil War
f) 9 Wheat farming was the first of th crops hstnd in tne aart to snow a
radical reduction of man-hours of labor
(2) 10 Cotton farming is v:t sbly less mechanized than either *neat o- corn
farming
if) 11 About five time: Is many man-hours of labor was needed to produce
wheat in 1840 as was needed 100 years latrir
(5) 12 The gain in farm labor productivity has been about 150 percent from
the beginning of World War II
(4) 13 Man-hours per acre and yie'd per acre are Interrelated.
(3) 14. The relation between y:tod per acre and time for harvest depends on
the extent of mechanization.
(5) 15. Tne biggest gain for labor efficiency over the years has been for corn
rather than wheat.
(3) 16. The most time-consuming pre-harvest operation has been the tending
of the cropcultivating and hoeing.

Table B
MAN-HoURS USED TO PRODUCE SPECIFIED AMOUNTS OF
WHEAT, CORN, AND COTTON: 1800 TO 1950 *

Item 1800 1840 1880 1900 1920 1940 1950

Wheat
Man-Hours per Acre 56 3f 10 15 12.0 7.5 4.6
Before Hary.est 16 12 8 7 5.5 3.7 2.6
Harvest 40 23 12 8 6.5 3.8 1.0
Bushels per Acre 15 15 13.2 13.9 13.8 15.9 16.6
Man-Hours per 100 Bushels 373 233 152 108 87 47 18
Corn
Man-Hours per Acre 86 69 46 38 32 25 15.2
Before Harvest 56 44 28 22 19 15 9.9
Harvest 30 25 18 16 13 10 5.3
Bushels per Acre 25 25 25.6 25.9 28.4 30.3 39.0
Man-Hours per 100 Bushels 344 276 180 147 113 83 39
Cotton
Man-Hours per Acre 185 135 119 112 90 98 74
Before Harvest 135 90 67 62 55 46 33
Harvest 50 45 52 50 35 52 41
Pounds of LintAcre 147 147 179 191 160 245 283
Man-Hours per Bale; 601 439 318 280 269 191 126

* Historical Statistics of the United States.

; Bale of cotton: 500 pounds gross weight, 480 pounds net weight of lint.
 i AND I A., 1' 1140114 .

/ allows Wm speraSises Wm
w db. %woe iv Wow% low ems rimpv Oft
wooed haat

(..),...trrions on 1 able C

') I? Th tota( vaiLe C eaporm aq less in 1720 lin AS i 1;60

I)) 18
SMugg"g Wax MO! a materiai factor durIng the 'ewe 6Indir !mild
ratien
(5) 19 Every area except New York showed a steady gain over the Intire
period
(2) 20. The value of exports from Georgia was less in 1720 thin n 1770
(2) 21 The value of exports from New England was less in 1685 ttan in 17W
NI 22. The total value of exports vets probably less in 1730 than It was In
1750.
(3) 23. The decline in the value o. oxports from New England in '760 caut,ed
the decline In the value of exports from New York in 1760.
(1) 24. There was a greater value of exports from the Southorn colories
than from New England for 75 years.
(1) 25. There was a greater proportionate gain in the value of exports from
the Carolinas between 1720 and 1740 than in any otter colony or
division,
(5) 26. A merchant's business in New York suffered because of the decline
In the value of exports in 1740 and 1760.
27. The difference in the value of exports
between New England and the
(3)
Southern colonies in 1775 was probably due to a greater self-suffi-
ciency in New England than in the agricultural South.
28. Georgia was probably better off economically in
1760 than in 1700.
(2)
29. Connecticut had less to export in 1760 than in 1740.
(2)
(3) 30. The repeal of English export duties in 1721 accounts for the gains in
exports from all the colonies.
England, 1700-1775, was
(3) 31. The value of furs exported from New York to
greater than the value of cotton exported from the South.

Table C
VALUE OF EXPORTS TO ENGLAND BY AMERICAN COLONIES *
(Stated in pounds sterling)

Division or Colony 1700 1720 1740 1760 1775

Total 395,021 468,188 718,416 761,000 1,920,950

41,486 49,206 72,389 37,802 116,588
New England 21,125 187,018
New York 17,567 16,836 21,498
4,608 7,928 15,048 22,754 175,962
Pennsylvania 504,451 758,356
Virginia and Maryland 317,302 331,482 341,997
14,058 62,736 266,560 162,769 579,549
Carolina 12,198 103,477
Georgia 924

* Historical Statistics of the United States.

63
 4 ' 'P ;$ IL L i1444(.1 I.
&lichen VII IdentiffIng Central Isom
I he !nil .ILT Iii ihjt,ii rtti rAl iiit,tmation is to lotate
....writ issue It the student Is im.thle to o Ns. the woken% .4 ruti,.jI think
%Wined t)hm'iil h1 annot oe to the next step eva'natinl data.
onless he knows what this data is sopra,"401 to prose
raditiiinalk tea,hers has,: the scars.h tor the k.entral IsThe r

printed materials t soalls the teas.her helps ,Ieselop this skill to.
?lasing them start with short pasaes and gradnalls progress to longer ones
lie nsualk asks. What is the author rInt; to tell us'
The slew ink! ot IV ,ommereials offers another Ipporttinio, to praslite
this *kill oromerciak are osnallN short. with a conspcuous lack of evi-
tlence to prove their elaims Initi.0 students shoutd he queried as to the
main claim of 'he commercial. Then the., might he asked. for csampk,
it truc that a certain toothpaste will insure popularity? What evidence do the
sponsors offer to support this contention? Is it adeguate? Applying the crit-
ical thinking processes to the medium of 'IV seems especially appropriate.
since such a Loge portion of a youngster's time is devoted to this pastime.
Thc following examples have been selected from commonly used secon-
dary texts.
Directions: Read the following paragraph: Preface to Poor Richard's
Almnnack, 1733.
Courteous Reader.
I might in this place attempt to gain thy Favour, by declaring that I write
Almanacks with no othcr View than that of thc publick Good, but in this I
should not be sincere: and mcn are nowadays too wise to be deceiv'd by
Pretences how specious socvcr. The plain Truth of thc Matter is, I am
excessive poor, and my Wife, good Woman, is, I tell hcr, excessive proud:
shc cannot bca:. she says. to sit spinning in her Shift of Tow,2 while I do
nothing but gaze at thc stars: and has threatmed morc than oncc to burn
all my Books and Rattling Traps (as she calls my Instruments) if I do not
make some profitable Use of thcm for the Good of my Family. The Printer
has offeed me some considerable share of the Profits, and I have thus begun
to comply with my Dame's Desire.

Item: Choose the main idea of the "Preface."

a. Franklin's purpose in writing the Almanack was to please his wife.
'b. Franklin's purpose in writing the Almanack was to make a profit.
c. Franklin's purpose in writing the Almanack was to please the public.

Source: Kownslar, Allan and Frizzle, Donald, Discovering American History,

New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Inc., 1967. p. 75.

"Specious" means believable on the surface.

2A "shift of tow" is a straight, loose undergarment made of coarse linen cloth.
 AlkeD frItkoKIlYi

Ihrfrrhulas: Riad fit* followtaft poraitspIr

Lake rift in bh:
N ortum had more freedom of action and mvre ,:han4,4: to
outsikk the home 01,in in P nglAnd olontal Lawi 'gave them more protetion
l.w Allowcd husband to heat his wife
In I ngland for instance, the ..ommon
Li*, he
with am re.i.onahle instrument . according to Massaehtisetts
Widespread hi,me mAimfattaing
heat her onk in self defense
wke as nen At their husbands to learn trades In the south the mistress
When sea
plantation was a full partner in directing the workiny force
.1

New Ungland husbands left their %tikes. silmetimes tor )ears at a time.
merchant% or itorekeepers Still other women
women were successful ai
were printers. newspaper publishers. druggists. and doctors.

!tom Choose the main idea from the above paragraph

than English
a Colonial women experienced greater freedom of action
women.
b. All colonial women worked outSide the home.
C. Colonial women were better educated than English women.
Ilittory of u Free People. New
Source: Bragdon. Henry and McCutchen. Samuel.
1968. p. 19.
York. Collier.M.ieMillan Limited.

Directions: Read the paragraph below:

for 1890 appear
In a recent bulletin of the Superintendent of the Census had a fron-
these significant words: "Up to and including 1880 the country
been so broken into
tier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has bc a frontier
by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to
it cannot.
line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc.,
therefore, any longer have a place in the census reports." This brief official
Up to our own
statement marks the closing of a great historical movement.
of the coloniza-
day Amcrican history has been in a large degree the history
land, its continuous
tion of the Great Wes:. The existence of an area of free explain Amer-
recession, and the advance of American settlement westward
ican development.

Item: Choose the main idea that comes from tho paragraph.
a. The census will now be more difficult to administer.
b. Land values will rise because of the scarcity of free land.
frontier.
*c. America's greatness is partially due to the existence of a
"Frederick
Source: Discovering American History, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Jackson Turner, 1893," p. 540.

Directions: Read the following paragraph:

the first half
Chaptcr 16 describes the growth of industry in the North in
organized, and the
of the nineteenth century. The first labor unions were spread in the
leaders of important reforms made their appearance. Slavery

65
44) '10;f tivii OF IN..; Cry SiftiLLS MVO CifiTICAL

SouthAnil .NliIu'fljsI in Muhl the North and the South opposed keeping
human heings in honds Imrnication and the htolding of rAilro...ls in the
North helped 4h.,rpen differs:me% hetween northerner. And southerneri whit:h
had alre.sdN ikveloped

tram Choose 'he main idea that comes from the paragraph
a Chapter 16 dals mainly with the opposition to slavery by the Aloolition
ists
b Chapter 16 deals witm differences between living in the North and South
Chapter 16 explains how immigration lid to the Jevelopment of labor
unions
Source The 1 ree and the Bra.e Rand M.Nally and Co , pp 144 164

Section VIII. Distinguishing between Statements of Fact

and Statements of Opinion

A worthwhile distinction which teachers should endeavor to make clear

is the difference between facts and opinions or between facts and an author's
interpretations of the facts. It iF beyond debate that Franklin D. Roosevelt
was President of the United States during World War II. but one could
argue indefinitely whether or not Roosevelt was our greatest war President.
The distinction between fact and opinion is always worth making because
pupils will thus learn to base their conclusims or interpretations on facts.
After discovering the facts relating to a series of events, pupils should be
encouraged to interpret them and t.o form opinions about them. The know-
ing sentences illustrate the distinction between fact lnd opinion:

1. The atomic bomb was used near the end of World War II.
2. The cause of the friction between nations after World War II was
the atomic bomb.
Thcse two statements seem to be factual but the second is an interpreta-
tion rather than a fact. The distinction between fact and opinion should be
made whenever an opportunity presents itself because those who cannot
develop that ability readily become victimized by propaganda. There is
another reason for making the distinction. The student will see why the
social sciences are more than a collection of dry-as-dust facts. He will
understand why it is necessary for h:m to organize facts for purposes of
new interpretations. He will thus be encouraged to regroup facts to form
new relationships and to yield new interpretations. The teacher .who stimu-
lates his pupils constantly to make distinctions between facts and opinions
thus performs a worthwhile function in developing critical ability.

Directions: In the list which follows, some of the sentences are statements
of fact, and others are statements of opinion. Indicate to which class you

66
 TES TING OP ",,TUDY SAiLLS AND CRITICAL el

Ittlek astb statanteet beton. by *dos Ihe row Wawa dba space pre-
miad for et. MN one try le &Kids I east stellemest la Mee at him but cosh
whether It shooed be claulled an a otatamorat al /art et of up4s4i049.
FFact
0--Opishou
(0) 1
The Democrati: prey has done more tor this country than the Repub-
lican party has
(F) 2 In 1939 thcre were two World's Fairs held ir the United States
(F) 3 Alaska is northwest of Oregon
(F) 4 Scientific research often results in the production of new products
(0) 5. No war has ever sccomplished any good for the world.
(0) 8. A high tariff increases the prosperity of the country.
(0) 7. Only his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo prevented Napoleon from
making himself master of Europe.
(0) 8. All communists In the United States are traitors to this country.
(0) 9. Dictators are never happy men.
(F) 10. The schools of today offer a broader training than did the schools of
fifty years ago.
(0) 11. Strikes are not justified because the public often suffers.
(F) 12. Julius Caesar wrote a book about his wars in Gaul.
(0) 13. Without the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, democratic government
would never have developed.
(0) 14. Congress would be more efficient if the term in office of Congressmen
were lengthened.
(F) 15. Some voters would like to see the terms in office of Congressmen
lengthened.
(F) 16. A high degree of artistic skill was developed in ancient Greer.:e.
(0) 17. The Indians are better off today than they were before the white men
came to America.
(F) 18. The border between the United States and Canada Is not fortified.
(0) 19. Control over Little America in the Antarctic region is necessary for the
future security of the United States.
(F) 20. Virginia was one of the original thirteen colonies.
(0) 21. Thn civilization of the ancient Greeks was in many ways superior to
that of modern times.
(0) 22. An excellent kind of education for boys is military training.
(F) 23. Institutions are organized and socially
sanctioned sets of behavior
patterns.
(0) 24. The contribution of Negroes to our civilization Is almost neggible.
(0) 25. The best medical care should be provided for rich and poor alike.
(0) 26. Opportunities which individuals have should be determined more by
their social and economic position than by their ability.
(0) 27. War Is inevitable under any kind of social system.
(0) 28. Unemployment insurance is undesirable.
(0) 29. White people are superior in most respects to other people.
(0) 30. A nation is justified in going to war only when attacked.
(F) 31. It was President George Washington's opinion that the United States
should not have alliances with European countries.
(F) 32. Our world is not the same world of a hundred or even of fifty years ago.
62 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(F) 33. It can be shown that crises often bring out the best in people.
(0) 34. Why do people assume war would bring out the worst in everyone?
(F) 35. Life was horrible for the people of Europe when the black plague
killed one-fourth of the population.
(F) 36. Anyone who can read can conclude that the experts can't agree on
the best way to survive a nuclear war.
(0) 37. We should listen to the scientists who make atomic bombs, because
they are the only ones who really know what the effects will be.
(0) 38. "Free trade," "disarmament," "the United Nations," are communist-
oriented slogans.
(0) 39. The internal threat of communism within the United States is vastly
more imminent than the external threat.
(0) 40. The Oils of the United States are weak and unimportant and the few
neutral countries are hostile to the United States.
(0) 41. A strong military establishment is needed in the United States because
internal subversion will make us fall like a piece of "overripe fruit."
(F) 42. The present constitution of the Soviet Union was developed in 1936.
(0) 43. Welfare legislation leads to socialism, which leads to communism.
(0) 44. The intellectual student is susceptible to the appeals of communism
by reason of his educational conditioning.
(0) 45. Communism has never sold itself on its merits; nor has it ever been
adoptJd by a free vote of a free people.
(0) 46. The United Nations Charter does not stand for freedom as Americans
know freedom.
(0) 47. The genius of the American public school has been Its closeness to
the people.
(0) 48. Capitalism is at Its ebb, heading for collapse.

Sectioh IX. Discriminating between Statements of Fact and

Statements of Motive

It is helpful in considering material in the social-studies field to be able

to determine which of a series of statements may be verified as factual and
which may not be so verified, but are instead statements indicating purpose
or motive. Such an ability is a beginning of higher forms of critical skills,
and may therefore very properly receive emphasis in the instructional
program.
It is difficult to avoid "determiners" in building items of this type. The
phrase "in order to" would of course be a complete giveaway if used. Since
even the word "to" provides somewhat rf a clue, the word "to" has been
used in a number of the options, although not to convey the idea of purpose.
Directions: Place the number of the correct answer in the space provided.
(/) 1. Which one of the following is a statement of motive? (1) Japan invaded
China in 1932 to gain more territory, (2) China proved very difficult for
Japan to penetrate after the invasion, (3) The United States Supreme

68
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 63

Court has not always consisted of nine justices, (4) After the Washing-
ton Disarmament Conference of 1922, the United States Navy was not
built up to full treaty strength, (5) Marco Polo traveled through China
to the court of Kubial Khan.
(1) 2. Which one of the following is a statement of motive? (1) Roman high-
ways were carefully planned for rapid transportation of soldiers, (2)
The cooperativc movement is receiving much attention in the United
States, (3) The protection of England depends largely on her fleet,
(4) Agriculture is one of the main industries of this country, (5) The
first English settlers in the New World faced many hardships.
(2) 3. Which one of the following is a statement of motive? (1) Early maps of
the New World were usually inaccurate, (2) in 1922 the United States
sponsored a general conference to consider disarmament, (3) Several
old-age pension plans originated in California, (4) Hitler broke the
provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, (5) The War of 1914-1918 was
called the "War to End War."
(4) 4. Which one of the following is a statement of motive? (1) Italy is ex-
posed to attack from the sea, (2) Many American Presidents have been
military men, (3) in 1849 many goidseekers flocked to California, (4)
The Panama Canal was constructed to shorten sea voyages, (5) Mod-
ern bombers are adapted to a wide cruising range.
(5) 5. Which of the following is a statement of motive? (1) industries are
strictly regulated in dictator nations, (2) Women's suffrage was made
effective by an amendment to the Constitution, (3) Much of northern
Mexico Is a desert region, (4) Alaskan bases are necessary to the
defense of the United States, (5) In 1915 the Allies borrowed money
from the United States to carry on their war.
(2) 6. Which of the following is a statement of motive? (1) India had long
worked to gain the independence from Great Britain which was granted
in 1947, (2) Many people in India supported England in World War II
to improve India's chances for independence, (3) Many Indians had
received training In government from the British before independence,
(4) The independence movement resulted in breaking the old area of
India into two countries, India and Pakistan.
(4) 7. Which of the following is a statement of motive? (1) Gambling is made
legal in some states, (2) Many more people lose from gambling than
win from it, (3) Some money realized from government lotteries is
sometimes used for useful purposes, (4) Some people favor govern-
ment lotteries and other forms of gambling because of the money the
state can get, (5) Other people believe that there is no justification to
make gambling legal.
(2) 8. Which of the following is a statement of motive? (1) The hockey team
of the Soviet Union had difficulty in adjusting to the warmth of
American arenas, (2) The primary activity of Moscow's cultural dele-
gates while in the United States was to demonstrate their skill in
aesthetics, (3) American athletic programs are not organized by gov-
ernment to compete with other nations, (4) The Russian ballet has
received much attendance and great interest in the United States,
(5) Most of the Soviet Union's cultural activity in the United States has
been confined to music, dancing, and athletics.

69
 64 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(1) 9. Which of the following is a statement of motive? (1) The Soviet Union
torpedoed the summit conference because they 'had no proposals for
solving International problems, (2) Switzerland has a healthful climate
suitable for international conferences, (3) Rival Argentine military
factions moved close to civil war In Buenos Aires, (4) British and
Common Market negotiators tried to break thgir trade policy deadlock,
(5) Algeria won Independence from France but their leader: continued
to feud.
(3) 10. Which of the following is a statement of mofive? (1) The President is
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, (2) The
President requested authorization from Congress to call up 150,000
reserves, (3) The President can activate the National Guard to allay
fears of critical International situations, (4) The United Nations tries to
negotiate cease fire agreements between warring nations, (5) The
President flew to Mexico City on a two-day good-will trip.

Section X. Determining Difficulty of Proof

On all sides we are constantly bombarded with statements and generaliza-
tions about social relationshipsin newspaper columns, magazines, radio
and television programs, political speeches, advertisements, lectures, and
ordinary discussions and conversations about social, political, and economic
problem3. Some of the statements made could be verified and some could
not. It is, of coursc, of considerable help in trying to think clearly about the
problems discussed if one is able to make even th e. elementary distinction
between statements for which evidence may be assembled and other state-
ments which are not verifiable, or which are so controversial that they could
not be proved conclusively.
The foundation of proof is possibility: a thing or event that may happen
or did happen. In order to establish possibility, sufficient trustworthy evi-
dence must exist to prove it. Assuming that all the items in the following
exercises arc possible, we should consider, in establishing degrees of diffi-
culty in proof, trustworthy evidence and how it may be obtained. Option 5
of item number 1, for example, may be true but its proof lies in the future
and for all practicable purposes is therefore unattainable. In exercise 4 the
difficulties of devising ways of proving option 4 arc almost insurmountable,
whereas for each of the other options of item 4 much material is readily
available.
Teachers should constantly point out to their pupils that social-studies
texts and other materials of the social sciences often contain statements of
questionable accuracy and others of a debatable nature. Conscientious
writers usually indicate which sections of their writings arc based on con-
jecture and make no claim for the authenticity of such sections. Other
writers do not, and pupils may lose interest and confidence in history when
they discover some elements of error in what they had believed to be true.

70
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 65

Directions: la each of the following questions there is one of the five items
which would be more difficult to prove than the other four. Place the
number of that option in the space provided.
(5) 1. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Many medieval manuscripts were written in Latin, (2) The area of
Alaska is greater than that of Texas, (3) Cleveland held two terms in
office as President of the United States, (4) The "elastic clause" of
the federal Constitution has provoked much controversy, (5) The
Russian economic system is doomed to failure.
(2) 2. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) The federal budget did not balance In 1937, (2) The Treaty of
Versailles caused most of the trouble in Europe between 1920 and
1939, (3) Georgia Is well suited for cotton-ralsing, (4) Cuba's standing
army is smaller than China's, (5) The Reconstruction period after the
Civil War worked great hardship on the South.
(1) 3. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Overexpansion of the railroads caused the panic of 1857, (2) The
Union army was larger than the Confederate army in the Civil War,
(3) Woodrow Wilson was once president of Princeton University, (4)
Many Americans do not like anti-Semitism, (5) Abraham Lincoln was
born in 1809.
(4) 4. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Washington was unpopular with some groups by the end of his
second administration, (2) Jefferson was born in Virginia, (3) Theodore
Roosevelt was the youngest President to take office, (4) Soil erosion is
the greatest problem of the Middle West, (5) California once called
Itself the "Bear Flag Republic."
(5) 5. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(I) The government of Mexico is a republic, (2) American schools are
superior to Mexican schools In physical equipment, (3) The United
States has a naval base in Hawaii, (4) South American trade Is Im-
portant to the United States, (5) The principles of the Monroe Doctrine
are out-of-date.
(5) 6. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Some Arab countries have had Soviet military advisers, (2) A clause
of the Treaty of Versailles laid the blame for starting World War I on
Germany, (3) Some Democrats did not approve of Franklin D. Roose-
velt's New Deal policies. (4) The Marshall Plan to ald Europe after
World War II did not offer to include Poland, (5) The "cold war" be-
ginning after World War 11 was deliberately planned by Russia.
(4) 7. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) The Empire State Building is taller than the Eiffel Tower, (2) The
thirteen original colonies had many disagreementl among themselves,
(3) The 1938 treaty with Canada lowered the price of woolen goods in
the United States, (4) Democracy is a better form of government than
fascism, (5) The standard of living of the wage-earning class is higher
in the United States than in most other countries.

71
56 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(2) 8. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) There was little organized education in Europe during the Middle
Ages, (2) Greece contributed more to civilization than Egypt did, (3)
The invention of the steam engine influenced the way people lived,
(4) The Battle ot New Orleans in 1815 was entirely unnecessary to
making the peace treaty, (5) The climate of southern Arizona is bene-
ficial to persons suffering from lung trouble.
(4) 9. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(I) Nearly every large city has a slum district, (2) Race and nationality
are sometimes confused, (3) Modern European languages contain
words from many sources, (4) We have always had war, but it is not
inevitable, (5) For many centuries women in China were denied the
right to receive an education.
(2) 10. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Labor strike's sometimes occur during good times, (2) Control by
the federal government hampers the development of business, (3)
Savings accounts in national banks are automatically insured, (4) The
Post Office Department usually operates on a deficit, (5) The tourist
industry in Europe increased markedly after World War II.
(3) 11. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Many plans have been propos9d in past times to provide for some
sort of international law or gcvernmelt, (2) The United Nations owns
only a part of the property in New York City on which its buildings are
located, (3) The adding of new members to the United Nations, such
as new countries in Africa, will weaken the influence there of the
United States, (4) The United Nations has been unable to settle some
cases of quarrels between countries, (5) Difficulties In the Congo
caused much trouble for the United Nations.
(5) 12. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) The agricultural production in Soviet countries has usually not
been up to the expectations of the government, (2) At v-arious times the
Soviet government has taken steps to control food prices, (3) Some
discontent with agricultural production has been voiced in Russia,
(4) The Soviet government has tried several ways of stimulating im-
proved agricultural production, (5) The failures of Soviet agriculture
are a result of the communist collective farming methods.
(5) 13. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) A jet plane crosses the United States from east to west in about
five hours, (2) Some 500,000 American Indians dwell in the United
(3) Jacqueline Cochran was the first woman to break the
States,
sound barrier, (4) President Wilson appointed the first National Re-
search Council in 1916, (5) The Soviets have a global rocket which
cannot be destroyed by an anti-rocket.
(4) 14. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Paine's pamphlet Common Sense stated arguments for American
independence, (2) Thomas Jefferson was on the committee to form
the Declaration of independence, (3) July 4th is known as Indepen-
dence Day in the United States, (4) America became free because of
men like George Washington.

- 72
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 67

(1) 15. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Benedict Arnold had always wanted to undermine the American
efforts, (2) One of the problems the soldiers faced in 1777 was lack
of food, (3) Franklin was a diplomat as well as an inventor, (4) The
Spanish king encouraged the independence of the English colonies.
(2) 16. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) The Hapsburg family ruled in Austria-Hungary, (2) The assassina-
tion of the Austrian Crown Prince was the cause of World War I,
(3) Germany declared war on Russia, (4) Great Britain sent troops to
Belgium's aid.
(1) 17. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Ciemenceau had a greater grasp of the war aims than Lloyd
George, (2) The war on the ground was fought primarily as one of
trench warfare, (3) Russia signed a separate peace treaty with Ger-
many, (4) There were 124 Americans drowned among the eleven
hundred casualties from the Lusitania.
(4) 18. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) The U. S. did not sign the Versailles Treaty, (2) President Wilson
wanted a peace without victory, (3) Congress and President Wilson
did not agree on the League of Nations, (4) if the U. S. had joined
the League, World War II could have been avoided.
(1) 19. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) Business would be better without labor unions, (2) Regular air mall
service between the East and West coasts started in 1924, (3) Calvin
Coolidge was elected president in 1924, (4) Florida experienced a land
boom in 1925 and the value of land rose sharply.
(2) 20. Which of the following would be most difficult to prove true or false?
(1) The median income for the United States in 1955 was $3,926 for
employed white males, (2) Welfare costs cause inflation, (3) The
median income for non-whites in the United States is lowGr than 9-.41
for whites, (4) There is a difference in life expectancy between whites
and non-whites.

Section Xl. Exercise on Open-Mindedness

This is thc only section of the Bulletin where any sort of items arc used
which might be called "trick questions." Yet these arc of that nature only
because the same type of item may be used only one time with the same
pupils, since the method of scoring, once revealed, gives a clue which
would enable pupils to avoid making improper responses thereafter.
The assumption underlying this type of item is that only those pupil3
who have what may be termed a closed mind would subscribe to completely
unqualified generalizations regarding social relationships. In the following
Section, item 2, for example, a number of pupils will underscore All, in
the belief that the advancements of science have improved every phase of
modern living. Some who have heard about romanticized concepts of the
"good old days" may even be tempted to underscore No in this particular
item. There might indeed be considerable difficulty in determining which
68 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

of three middle terms, Most, Many, or Some, would be most applicable in

any given case, but there would be agreement that none of the extremes of
All or No would be acceptable :or the items given.
Therefore in scoring items of this type no attention is paid to the under-
scoring of any of the three middle words. The underscoring of either of
the extremes, All or No, is counted as an error. This technique was used
in an extensive study by Watson (86) to measure fair-mindedness.

Directions: Underscore one of the first five words in each of the following
statements which you think makes it the truest statement.

Examples: All, Most, Many, Some, No, dogs are larger than cats.
All, Most, Many, Some, No, persons on earth have taken a
trip to the stars and back.
1. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Amer leans are better people than those of other
countrles.
2. All, Most, Many, Some, No, modern ways ot doing thIngs are better than
those of the past.
3. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people ars happler today than the people livIng
In past periods.
4. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Amer leans are more highly civillzed than peo-
ple who have Ilved In past ages.
5. All, Most, Many, Some, No, ways of IlvIng today are just the same as they
were In olden tlmes.
6. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Japanese are very pollte people.
7. All, Most, Many, Some, No, honest and klnd officials have carrled out the
dutles of thelr office successfully.
8. All, Most, Many, Some, No, communlsts are vlolent people who want to
destroy the government of the United States.
9. All, Most, Many, Some, No, poor people are better off today than they have
been In past tlmes.
10. All, Most, Many, Some, No, problems that soclety has to face today are the
same as those of earlier tlmes.
11. All, Most, Many, Some, No, democratic governments are better than any
other klnd.
12. All, Most, Many, Some, No, reasons mlght be sufficlent for us to change the
form of government of the United States.
13. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Amer Ican soldlers are bIgger and stronger than
most of the soldlers of other countrles.
14. All, Most, Many, Some, No, forelgners want to come to the United States
because they can mak ) more money here.
15. All, Most, Many, Some, No, th Ings that we learn we learn only In school.
16. All, Most, Many, Some, No, taxes are always much too high.
17. All, Most, Many, Some, No, poor people work harder than rich people.

74
 69
TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Democrats are more patriotic than Republicans.

18. All, Most, Many, Some, No,
19. All, Most, Many, Some, No, labor unions are a great help to the laborers.
20. Ail, Most, Many, Some, No, people who live out in the country are better
than those who live In the city.
21. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people who live in the city consider that those
who live In the country are Inferior.
22. All, Most, Many, Some, No, 'awyers try to get around the laws so that they
can make more money.
23. All, Most, Many, Some No, dIshorest men are very inefficient if they are
elected to a public office.
24. All, Most, Many, Some, No, ways that people did things In the past are just
the same as we do them today.
25. All, Most, Many, Some, No, ways that people did things in the past were
better than the way we do ti-.em today.
26. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people who want to change the government of
the United States are communists.
27. All, Most, Many, Some, No, poor people who lived in past times were better
off than poor people today.
28. All, Most, Many, Some, No, problems that society had to face in the past
are the same as those of today.
29. All, Most, Many, Some, No, wars i which the United States has taken part
have been to promote selfish interests.
30. All, Moot, Many, Some, No, people who live in slum areas are naturally
careless and untidy.
31. Ail, Most, Many, Some, No, comic books are harmful in their effects on
young children.
32. All, Most, Many, Some, No, immigrants who have comp to the United States
from southern Eurone make less desirable
citizens than thora who have come from north-
ern Europe.
33. All Most, Many, Some, No, polls of public opinion are unreliable in pre-
dicting outcomes of elections.
34. All, Most, Many, Some, No, cooperative industries, or "co-ops" are leading
this country toward socialism.
35. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people whc oppose testlng c: nuclear bombs
by U.S. are loyal Americans.
36. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people who oppose federal aid to education
are concerned with the welfare of the schools.
37. All, Most, Many, Some, No, critics of the United Nations are really trying to
promote peace.
38. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people who wa it the United States to join the
European "common market" would like to see
capitalism changed.
39. All, Most, Many, Some, No, governments of Central and South American
countrles are subject to frrquent revolutions.

75
70 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

40, All, Most, Many, Some, No, methods used to lessen communist influence
in Vietnam are justifiable.
41. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Americans have some kind of insurance against
old age and unemployment,
42. All, Most, Many, Some, No, colleges admit students on the basis of their
high school records.
43, All, Most, Many, Some, No, movies are now made by independent pro-
ducers.
44, All, Most, Many, Some, No, Americans spend money freely.
45. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Americans go to the movies,
listen to the radio, and watch television.
46. All, Most, Many, Some, No, American youth hold part-time jobs after school
hours.
47. All, Most, Many, Some, No, Negroes have great musical ability.
48. All, Most, Many, Some, No, inventions are useful in the home.
49. All, Most, Many, Some, No, American workers are paid a decent living
wage.
50. All, Most, Many, Some, No, alien ideas in America defeat national pur-
poses.
51. All, Most, Many, Some, No, vital decisions in democracy are t.,yond the
control of the electorate.
52. All, Most, Many, Some, No, "conflicts" have certain positive functions in
society.
53. All, Most, Many, Some, No, alien ideas should be kept out of America.
54, Ali, Most, Many, Some, No, foreigners make undesirable American citi-
zens.
55. All, Most, Many, Some, No, able-bodied men should be required to take
military training.
56. Ail, Most, Many, Some, No, men are stimulated to their best efforts by the
profit motive.
57. All, Most, Many, Some, No, people are intelligent enough to make wise
decisions on Important social issues.
58. All, Most, Many, Some, No, groups and individuals sl,ould be given com-
plete freedom of speech regardlesi; of radical
views.
59. All, Mc .t, Many, Some, No, law and police work should be male monop-
olies.

Secfion XII. Recognizing Biased Statements

Nearly everywhere and almost all the time all of us are confmnted with
statements which are exaggerated or twisted or biased because of the emo-
tional attitude of the person who makes them. Sometimes we ourselves make
statements which are more the result of our emotional complexes than of
our reasoning. Sometimes emotionally tored statements are easy to detect
and sometimes they are so subtle that it is hard to identify them as such.
 71
TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING
series of statements
In this section the attempt has been made to gather a emotional bias on
which reveal a strong
on the same general topic, some of
the part of the writer, and others of which indicate that the writer was at-
making his observation.
tempting to be reasonably fair and objective in
Practice in distinguishing between the biased and the more thoughtful state-
interest and growth in critical
ments will provide opportunity to stimulate
skills.
clipped from the section
Directions: The following statements have been Editor." Go through the
of representative newspapers entitled "Letters based
to the
judgment the statement is on emotion or prejudice
list and if in your "emotion") opposite the num-
indicate the same by placing the letter E (for
if the statement seems to you to be
ber of the statement. On the other hand,
was not emotionally biased,
based on fact and if it appears that its author"thought") opposite the num-
indicate the same by placing the letter T (for
ber of the statement.
and repression in the
(T) 1. The irony of the growing appea! of conservatism societies have historically
quest for law and order is that conservaCve
been the breeding ground for violent revolution.
unwilling to work
(E) 2. Most of the people on relief are shiftless, lazy, and
even If they have the chance.
Communist."
(E) 3. One lesson of history is clear, "Don't trust a
land of opportunity and a
(T) 4. America has always prided itself as being a
haven for refugees. times as much on
(T) 5. Is it a mark of a great country to spend eight
"defense" as it does on social welfare?
Federal Reserve
(E) 6. Everyone who works for a living is a slave to our
System, which controls our supply of money.
people wlthout con-
(T) 7. No nation can now provide true welfare for its
tinuous cooperation with other nations. should not be scared
(E) 8. This country has never yet lost a war, and so we
of what the Russians may do.
its development.
(T) 9. The Ut lted Nations Is reaching a crucial point in
the United Nat Ions is that its policies may be
(E) 10. The real trouble with who have no
controlled by representatives of a lot of new countrles
political experience or wisdom.
11. I wonder if the starving
Blacks and Chicanos in our ghetto area would
(T) Greatest Problem"?
agree with your article, "Pollution is America's
12. Patriots can do much to awaken other Americans to the dangers
(E)
facing the United States. of inflation.
(E) 13. Government expenditures are a powerful fuel for the fires
against our freedom count on the apathy of the
(T) 14. Those who conspire
American people.
Establishment is making its annual plea
(E) 15. Ho Huml The Educational
raises for the starving teachers.
with petty dlctators In every bureau.
(E) 16. Government is loaded
(T) 17. We cannot blame
foreigners for the fact that wo do not know how to
eliminate poverty
adjust our economic machlnery in such a way as to
and unemployment.

77
72 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL -LIINKING

(T) 18. How can young people feel we understand them when we judge them
more on the length of their hair than on the caliber of their con-
tributions?
(T) 19. The war in Vietnam may continue for another decade, but the real
question is can we as a nation with all our internal strife continue
that long?
(E) 20. Hippies preach "pPace," but theft real message is the peace pipe
filled with "pot."

Section XIII. Drawing Inferences

In understanding the significance of spoken or written statements it is
frequently necessary to be able to grasp implications or inferences which
may not be stated directly. Thus the whole matter of grasping the meaning
of statements beyond the actual facts presented is a very important skill or
ability in considering material in the field of the social sciences, as well as
in other fields. This process is closely akin to general reasoning processes
followed in the study of logic, but, of course, has special applications to
learning in the social studies.
It is important for pupils to learn the limitations of a passage as well as
the inferences which may properly be drawn from it. For that reason, several
of the numbered statements below go beyond the information provided in
the passage to the extent that.they are not warranted as inferences. Practice
with exer,:ises of this type will aid in developing in pupils the ability to draw
conclusions or recognize correct inferences and also to recognize statements
which are unwarranted as inferences from data provided.
Inference: "A truth or proposition drawn from another which is admitted
or supposed to be true; a conclusion; a deduction" (unabridged dictionary).
Directions: Assuming that the information below is true, it is possible to
establish other facts using the ones in this paragraph as a basis for reasoning.
This is called drawing inferences. There is, of course, a limit to the number
or kinds of facts whkh may be properly inferred from any statement.
By writing the proper symbol in the space provided, indicate that a
statement is TRUE, if it may be properly inferred from the information
given in the paragraph. Indicate that it is UNTRUE, if the information given
in the paragraph implies that it is false. Indicate that NO INFERENCE can be
drawn if the statement cannot be inferred one way or the other. Use only
the information given in the paragraph as a basis for your responses. Do
the same for paragraphs B and C.
Use the following symbols in writing your answers:
Tif the statement may be inferred as TRUE
Fif the statement may be inferred as UNTRUE
Nif no inference can be drawn about it from the paragraph
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 73

Paragraph A
By the close of the thirteenth century there were scveral famuus univer-
sities cstablishcd in Europe, though of course they were very different from
modern ones. One of the earliest to be founded was one of the most widely
known. This was the University of Bologna, where studcnts from all
countries came who wished to have the best training in studying Roman
Law. Studcnts especially interested in philosophy and theology went to the
University of Paris. Those who wished to study medicine went to the
Universities of Montpelier or Salerno.
Questions on Paragraph A
(T) 1. There were lawsuits between people occasionally in those days.
(N) 2. The professors were poorly paid.
(F) 3. In the Middle Ages people were not interested in getting an education.
(T) 4. There were books in Europe at that time.
(N) 5. Most of the teaching In these medieval universities was very poor.
(N) 6. There was no place where students could go to study.
(F) 7. There were no doctors in Europe at this time.
(F) 8. There was no way to travel during the Middle Ages.
(T) 9. If a student wanted to be a priest, he would probably attend the
University of Paris.
(N) 10. There were no universities in Europe before the thirteenth century.
(N) 11. There was only one language in Europe at this time.

Parag raph B
The list of necessities for the poor free laborer in ancient Rome was very
small. He needed about fifteen bushels of wheat every year. About the only
meat he had to cat was that which the priests gave away after a sacrifice on
holidays. He needed about a penny's worth of oil and another penny's worth
of wine each day; his small daily portion of vegetables cost this much again.
A pound of cheese cost relatively more, but would suffice for several days.
These foods constituted the articles of his usual menu. The wool for the
two tunics he needed each year cost about $1. Half this much would pay
for a pair of sandals which he seldom wore. The state supplied amusements
on holidays free of charge and also supported the free public baths, where
friends could gather. If he was out of work the state would also supply him
with grain. Therefore it was possible for the poor freeman to live and also
to have a wife if his wife would spin and weave. (Abridged from T. Frank,
History of Rome, 1923, p. 389-390.)
Questions on Paragraph B
(T) 12. Even the laboring class had some recreation.
(F) 13. The state was not concerned with the condition of the poor people.
(T) 14. The living conditions of the Roman laborers were very poor.
(T) 15. Food and clothing were quite cheap in Rome In comparison with
modern times.

79
74 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(N) 16. The laborers did some of their work at home, since the Romans had
no factories.
(F) 17. Most laborers were so poor that they could not get married.
(N) 18. Some of the rich Romans were cruel to their slaves.
(N) 19. The state was opposed to the organization of workers into collegia,
or guilds.
(T) 20. There was a relief problem even in the days of ancient Rome.
(F) 21. The Romans ate mostly cheese and vegetables, since they did not like
meat.
(T) 22. A laborer's wife often made his clothing for him.
(T) 23. Some priests were interested In the welfare of the poor.
(F) 24. The Romans did not have a well-organized government.
(N) 25. The living conditions of the slaves were better than those of the free
laborers.

Pa rag raph C
The correct marriage among the Veddas of Ceylon is for a man to marry
his father's sister's daughter. The children of two brothers or of two sisters
cannot marry, since such a marriage would be considered very improper.
When seeking a bride, the man goes to his future father-in-law with a
present of dried deer flesh, grain, honey, or yams tied to his unstrung bow.
The marriage ceremony is very simple but appears to be absolutely binding,
since cases of divorce or separation are almost entirely unknown. The
women are jealously guarded by the men, who do not allow traders or other
strangers to see them. (Abridged from C. G. and B. Z. Seligmann, The
Veddas, 1911, p. 88 and 96.)

Questions on Paragraph C
(T) 26. Family or kinship ties are very strong among the Veddas.
(T) 27. The force of custom is respected by these people.
(T) 28. The Valdes are in a primitive state of civilization.
(N) 29. Marriages between second cousins are forbidden.
(F) 30. They do not understand the use of weapons.
(N) 31. The Veddas are very superstitious, and worship the forces of nature.
(F) 32. It is easy for explorers to get photographs of Vedda men, women, and
children.
(N) 33. If the children of two sisters were to marry, they would be punished
by death.

Section XIV. Exercise on Consistency

One of the skills which is a desirable outcome of learning in any field is
the ability to figure out the pattern of relationships among a group of state-
ments. This calls for a relatively high degree of skill in analyzing the
statements and combining them into a new pattern on the basis of their
relationship to each other and to main issues. The need to use this process
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 75

of "sifting" is one which is met constantly in all sorts of situations of daily

living. It is one which our young people must develop to a high level if they
are to be able to participate actively as citizens in the discussion and solution
of the many problems of American and international affairs.
The items in this section are composed of a variety of statements, some
of which are in direct conflict with one another. In order to mark the
responses correctly, the pupil must have the ability to pick out the conflicting
and inconsistent statements. It will help pupils to develop the ability to think
more clearly about social relationships to have practice in assigning state-
ments to their proper categories in exercises such as this.

Exercise A
Congressman Rosnec has been campaigning throughout the state in the
effort to get votes from all possible groups of people. He has advocated
high prices for farm produce to the farmers. He has told various patriotic
groups that he favors 100 percent Americanism and is opposed to un-
American activities. He has told the laborers that he is in favor of high
wages and low prices on the necessities of life. He has promised the busi-
nessmen that he will reduce taxes and has championed the increasing of the
national defense forces and the continuation of the national public-works
program.

Directions: Which of the following questions would Congressman Rosnec

have difficulty in answering directly and to the point? Mark all such items
with an X. Mark those which he would not have difficulty in answering
directly with a 0. All questions should be marked with one of these two
symbols.

Questions on Exercise A
(0) 1. Would you permit communists to have police protection at their
meetings?
(X) 2. Do you favor a high tariff on all imports?
(X) 3. Do you believe that labor unions have the right to call a strike?
(0) 4. Would you favor loyalty tests for public officeholders?
(X) 5. How would you secure low prices on the necessities of life?
(0) 6. Do you believe that the United States should share the atomic bomb
with other countries?
(X) 7. Do you favor any new form of taxation?
(0) 8. Should we take further steps to protect the Panama Canal?
(X) 9. Do you favor repeal of the tax on oleomargarine?
(X) 10. Do you believe In continuing support for the economic aid to under-
developed countries?
(0) 11. Should the federal government have the right to censor radio and
television speeches?
(X) 12. Do you favor strong government control over industry and business?

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76 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Exercise B
Nelson Jones is chairman of a group of citizens who have taken a special
interest in some of the activities of the junior college in the local community.
Mr. Jones and his group have criticized the college program sharply because
it has not given enough attention to teaching the "fundamentals." They have
also gone on record as claiming that some of the procedures of the college
are wasteful and extravagant. They have maintained that the students show
a lack of discipline, and they object to the fact that some of the teachers
seem to them to have liberal views. They have criticized the dean of the
college publicly because he has defended both the faculty and the students,
and Mr. Jones and his committee members are circulating a petition to the
Board of Education requesting the removal of the dean.
Directions: Same as Exercise A
Questions on Exercise B
(X) 13. Would you approve of providing funds to modernize the equipment
in the science laboratories?
(0) 14. Do you approve of having a course in American history in the junior
college?
(X) 15. Do you believe in the right of the teachers to give money to a political
campaign?
(X) 16. Do you believe that it is the job of the administration to run the
college?
(0) 17. Would you approve of the college's using its funds to buy new uni-
forms for the band?
(0) 18. Do you believe that a graduate of the junior college should be able
to transfer to a four-year college without loss of credit?
(0) 19. Would you approve of the Student Council's right to meet and make
decisions without any faculty supervision?
(X) 20. Would you approve of dismissing some classes on the occasion of a
brief visit to the community of a famous national hero, so that students
could see him?
(0) 21. Do you believe that all students should be required to show that they
can write correct English before graduating from the junior college?
(X) 22. Do you believe that the dean of the college has the right to defend the
points of view of members of the faculty?
(0) 23. Do you think that the college should start a course in "Preparation for
Marriage and Family Living," which a number of the parents and
students have requested?
(X) 24. Do you believe that the Student Council has the right to express views
which differ from those of the dean of the college?

Section XV. Distinguishing Betwelan Sources and Secondary

Accounts
Many young people often think of the social sciences as a body of estab-
lished and more or less self-selected facts. The neat arrangement of contents
in school texts and in reference books may lead them to think of history, for

82
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 77

example, as an unbroken record of events. The teacher should correct such

impressions and make clear to pupils that very few of all events have left
tangible or reliable records. What is left, however, is voluminous. The rec-
ords may be written or oral tradition; they may be remains of buildings,
monuments, stamps, coins, inscriptions, pots, tools, weapons, or pictures; but
they must testify to human thoughts and human activities. These are some
of the sources of history. The real goal in using sources in the classroom is
not the sources themselves as objects of curiosity to be examined and laid
aside but their contents and meanings. The sources arc only a means to an
endthe understanding of the past.
There is another class of materials described as secondary accounts, to
distinguish them from sources, such as textbooks or historical novels. Every-
one makes use of secondary accounts since no one could possibly examine
all the sources and determine for himself the facts of the past. Secondary
accounts are usually based on sources or other second-hand accounts and
include the writer's interpretations and organization. Many are invaluable
for the study of history, but others, unfortunately, are worthless because
they arc false and misleading. The critical abilities of the pupil will be given
a chance to develop if the teacher will provide opportunity for discussion of
why, for example, the Congressional Record is a source of information about
the Congress while Whose Woods These Are, although containing much
historical information about national forests, is only a secondary account
and written primarily for the purpose of reporting and controversy.
In considering written accounts from which is derived accurate knowledge
of the facts and events in history, it is necessary to distinguish between
sources and secondary accounts. The ability of a student to distinguish be-
tween sources and secondary accounts is usually an indication that the
student has used source materials and understands what they are.

Directions: Go through the following list carefully. Write the letter 3

beside those items which you think should be classed as sources. Waite the
symbol Sec beside those items which you think should be classed as secon-
dary accounts. In identifying these accounts, consider them in the light of
sources or secondary accounts for the events which they describe.
(S) 1. The Treaty of Versailles.
(Sec) 2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, a novel depictirg condi-
ditions In the South at the time of the Civil War.
(Sec) 3. A newspaper editorial concerning the Munich Pact of 1938.
(Sec) 4. Napoleon, a biography written by Emil Ludwig.
(S) 5. The Constitution of the United States.
(S) 6. The newspaper text of one of President Roosevelt's "Fireside
Chats," a radio broadcast.
(S) 7. The Congressional Record.
(S1 8. The Rosetta Stone used as a key to the early Egyptian language.
(S) 9. Adolph Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf.
(Sec) 10. Ivanhoe, a novel written by Sir Walter Scott.

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78 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(Sec) 11. A history textbook.

(S) 12. George Washington's diary.
(S) 13. Baked clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform characters, used about
3500 years ago by writers.
(Sec) 14. Paul Revere's Ride, a poem written by Longfellow.
(Sec) 15. The Dictionary of American Biography.
(Sec) 16. The Charge of the Light Brigade, a poem written by Tennyson.
(S) 17. Photographs of the moon taken by the Gemini space crew.
(S) 18. A papyrus roll used by the Egyptians.
(Sec) 19. Radio broadcast of the signino of the Magna Carta.
(S) 20. TV broadcast of the Democratic presidential nominating convention.
(S) 21. A televised broadcast of a baseball game.
(S) 22. A statement that some Germans destroyed works of art in occupied
countries during World War II, taken from the Indictment of the
International Military Tribunal.
(Sec) 23. A description of how the cave dwellers mixed the paints they used
to draw pictures on the walls of their caves.
(S) 24. A list of candidates on an election ballot.
(Sec) 25. A news commentator's account of how the Russian delegates were
instructed to vote in the United Nations session.
(S) 26. A motion picture of the daily customs of the Australian Aborigines.
(Sec) 27. An historical motion picture showing the effect on the Indians of
the sight of the first Spanish ships in the New World.
(S) 28. A sales slip from a grocery store, listing purchases and prices made
on a telephoned grocery order.

Section XVI. Evaluating Sources of Information

In preparing term papers and reports pupils are often indiscriminate in
their use of information. They should question whether the information con-
tained in a particular document or record can be used with complete assur-
ance as to its reliability. The reliability of an account depends upon whether
the document or record has value as historical evidence. Its value as evi-
dence depends upon the purpose for which it was written; the circumstances
under which the record was made; whether it was written from memory or
based on documents contemporary with the event it recoyds; whether inde-
pendent witnesses have agreed on the facts; and whether the writer has
exploited the facts to make a good story, to amuse the public, or to instruct.
In initial teaching or testing of this skill it is usually helpful to the student
to begin with selecting just the best source of information from a group of
alternatives. As with the teaching of other study skills, the class discussion
emanating from the "correction" of these items is probably the most
valuable part of the lesson.
Directions to students: You have been given an assignment to write a term
paper. You have been told that to a large degree it will be valuable accord-
ing to the extent to which the references you use are accurate and are
unbiased, impartial, and unprejudiced.

84
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 79

Below are a number of possible topics. Under each one are listed three
references which might give information about it. If the material were
available, which would you consider as most rrliable for giving a true
picture of events as they actually happened? Show your choice of the beat
source by circling either A, B, or C.
Topic I: The hardships of laborers who built the lranscontinental Railroad.
A. Accounts as recorded in diaries of the workers.
B. A story by the grandson of one of the construction superintend-
ents.
C. A T.V. special on the building of the railroad.
Topic II: The "true" story of the Boston Massacre.
A. A T.V. story of the period.
B. A native of Boston telling the story as handed down by her
ancestors.
*C. A newspaper of Boston, printed during the period, that describes
the event.
Topic III: The "long count" -- Dempsey & Tunney
'A. Motion pictures taken of the actual fight.
B. Statements of the event taken from the participants.
C. Radio accounts of the actual fight.
Topic IV: The effect of the Vietnam war on the people of that country.
*A. An interview with a family in each of ten villages in Vietnam.
B. A T.V. documentary showing the poverty and hunger of Viet-
namese people.
C. A speech given by Senator Kennedy.
Topic V: The "Truth" about drug abuse on college campuses.
*A. An account of the situation written by students on several cam-
puses.
B. A newspaper article describing raids on four campuses.
C. An interview with a college president.
Topic VI: The physicateffects of heroin on the human body.
A. A boy whose cousin has taken heroin.
*B. A report by the Federal Drug Administration on the effects of
heroin.
C. A T.V. interview with an ex-heroin addict.
Topic VII: What it was like to live in London during the German bombings of
World War II.
A. A T.V. documentary showing actual pictures of London during
the bomb!ngs.
B. The recollections of an American whose aunt was in London then.
C. A novel which is set in London during the bombings.
Topic VIII: The burial of the Etruscan Civilization.
A. Pictures of objects discovered by a team of archeologists.
B. A story of an Etruscan funeral feast.
C. An article about Etruscan cities.

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80 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Topic IX: The "true" story of the Salem Witch Trials.

A. A newspaper article by a reporter who covered one of the trials.
B. The diary of one of the girls who accused .others of being witches.
C. The court records of the trial proceedings.
Topic X: The fundamentals of Communism.
A. A person living in the Soviet Union.
B. The writings of Karl Marx.
C. A book about the Russian Revolution.
After the students have mastered the idea of the best potential source,
they are ready to attempt the more complex skill of ranking the sources
according to their validity.
In Exercise A which follows, the third source of information is to all
intents and purposes an eyewitness account. It is contemporary with the
event it records. The moving picture about Anthony and Cleopatra, how-
ever, was made for commercial purposes. In it the story is the main purpose,
and historical considerations are incidental and secondary. The same criti-
cism holds true for the newspaper account. The writer may have examined
worthwhile reports, but the chances are they were secondary accounts. The
main purpose of the writer was to amuse the public and to tell a good story.
Historical considerations were likewise incidental.

Directions to students: You have been given an assignment to write a term

paper. You have been told that to a large degree it will be valuable accord-
ing to the extent to which the references you use are accurate and are un-
biased, impartial, and unprejudiced.
Below are a number of possible subjects. Under each one are listed three
references which might give information about the subject. If the material
were available, which would you consider as most reliable for giving a true
picture of events as they actually happened? Rate them according to your
preference within each group of three. Indicate your choice of the best
reference within each group of three by writing the figure 1 in the space
before it; your choice of the second best by writing the figure 2 before it;
and your choice of the third with the figure 3. Consider each group of
three separately.

Teachers may wish to score each of these parts containing three items
as a single unit, either all correct or all wrong. Or they may mark as in-
correct within each group the responses which are not exactly as given in
the key, and give credit if the response to a single item within the group is
correct.
A. The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians
(3) 1. A moving picture dramatizing the love affair of Anthony and Cleopatra.
(2) 2. A newspaper account in the "Sunday Magazine Section" of excava-
tions of an old Egyptian temple.
(1) 3. A translation of an inscription on the wall of an old Egyptian tomb.
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 81

B. The events surrounding the tall of the Bastille prison in Paris on July 14,
1789
(2) 4. An account in an Eng:ish newspaper on July 17, 1789.
(1) 5. An account written in the diary of a man who saw the affair.
(3) 6. A modern play dramatizing the bravery and suffering of the French
nobility during the Revolution.

C. The condition ot the peasants in Russia under the Tsarist rule

(2) 7. An official note to the French ambassador by the Russian Prime
Minister.
(3) 8. A poem about the bravery of the Russian peasant soldier.
(1) 9. A letter from a peasant farmer to his brother in America.

D. The capture ot the city ot Antioch in Asia Minor by the European "Franks"
during the First Crusade
(1) 10. A letter written during the crusade by one of the Frankish leaders
who had taken part in the siege and capture of the city.
(2) 11. A history of the crusade written ten years later by one of the Franks
who had gone on the crusade.
(3) 12. A history of the crusade written by a monk who did not go on the
crusade.

E. Living conditions of the ancient Romans

(2) 13. An epic poem written by a Roman which mentions some family
customs.
(1) 14. Excavations of the buried Roman city of Pompeii.
(3) 15. A novel about the fall of Pompeii.
F. Conditions under which laborers worked in English tactories and mines in
the early ninete-witl: century
(3) 16. A contempor,..ii newspaper interview of a typical factory owner on
factory conditions.
(2) 17. A contemporary news account by a reporter who had visited a fac-
tory and a coal mine.
(1) 18. The report of a committee appointed by Parliament to investigate
conditions of the working classes.

G. The exact territory ceded to Napoleon from Austria by the Treaty ot Lune-
Wile in 1801
(3) 19. A letter written by a French soldier who took part in the campaign.
(2) 20. Napo leo:i's memoirs written by himself several years later.
(1) 21. The text of the Treaty of Luneville.

H. President Lincoln's motives in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation ot

January 1, 1863
(3) 22. A poem about Lincoln written by Walt Whitman, a contemporary
Northern poet.
(2) 23. The news story that appeared in a Confederate newspaper, the
Virginia Gazette, for January 10, 1863.
(1) 24. The account of the Proclamation that Gideon Welles, Lincoln's Secre-
tary of the Navy, wrote in his diary.
82 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

I. The discovery of gold in California

(2) 25. A news item in Ihe San Francisco Chronicle in September 1848.
(3) 26. The account of the gold rush as told by Zane Grey, Western novelist.
(1) 27. An account written by the San Francisco Chronicle in September
1939, on the ninety-first anniversary of the discovery, including an
exact reprint of the original 1848 account.

J. George Washington as a General

(1) 28. The Diaries of George Washington, printed with every letter, every
comma, copied exactly.
(3) 29. The Sparks edition of the writings of George Washington in which
the editor blue-penciled, without indication, offensive words and
changed the context of many sentences so that writers of letters to
Washington and their families would not be offended.
(2) 30. The latest edition of Washington's letters and papers with indicated
omission of all phrases and sentences that would be valueless for
the writing of history.

K. The Battle of the Marne, September 1914

(3) 31. An account which contrasted the spirit of the heroic boys of the
Allies and the ponderous foolhardiness of the enemy.
(1) 32. An account compiled from material taken from the reports of oppos-
ing commanders.
(2) 33. An account appearing in a journa1 printed in a neutral country.

L. Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech given on the spur of the moment
(3) 34. A movie dramatizing the speech.
(2) 35. An account written by Patrick Henry twenty-five years later.
(1) 36. An account written by an eyewitness while Henry was speaking.

M. Potsdam Conference promises

(1) 37. State papers by President Harry S. Truman.
(3) 38. Contemporary articles In Harper's Magazine by a prominent historian
and a political scientist.
(2) 39. An account by one of the members of President Truman's official
party.

N. Atomic bomb destruction of Hiroshima

(2) 40. News item in the New York Times published the following day.
(1) 41. Army Signal Corps photographs.
(3) 42. Memoirs of the bombing-plane's pilot written on the 10th anniversary
after the event.

0. The Dred Scott Decision, 1857

(2) 43. A historical film about the Dred Scott vs. Sandford Case, 1857.
(1) 44. A copy of the Supreme Court justices' opinions concerning the Dred
Scott vs. Sandford Case, 1857.
(3) 45. A newspaper report written by a Republican who lived during the
Dred Scott vs. Sandford Case, 1857.

-
88
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 83

P. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

(2) 46. An encyclopedia account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
(3) 47. A movie about the life of Abraham Lincoln.
(1) 48. A copy of the texts of the debates as found in Documents of Amer-
ican History.

Q. The Pullman Strike, 1894

(2) 49. A newspaper article written by a reporter who was in Chicago at the
time of the strike.
(1) 50. A T.V. documentary which shows actual pictures of the strike and
its repercussions.
(3) 51. An account of the strike as told by the nephew of a man who was in
Chicago in 1894.

R. The Tweed Ring

(2) 52. An account of the "Tweed Ring" written by a New York Times news-
paper reporter.
(1) 53. A New York State government report of the "Tweed Ring."
(3) 54. A letter written by "Boss" Tweed to a friend.

S. What Ouebec looked like shortly after its settlement

(3) 55. See slides a friend took in Quebec last summer.
(1) 56. Study some paintings of Quebec by an artist who went there in the
1650s.
(2) 57. Listen to a historian lecture about early Quebec and what he thinks
it probably looked like.

T. Woodrow Wilson's plan for peace as stated in his Fourteen Points

(2) 58. A textbook account of Wilson's peace plan.
(1) 59. A copy of the original Fourteen Points.
(3) 60. An interview with someone who lived during Wilson's administration.

Follow the same directions in regard to the following excerpts from

newspaper accounts. All of them contain some kind of reference to the
source for the news item. Some statements have been repeated in another
group.

U. The reported disagreement between Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and the

Russians
(3) 61. Judging from the attitude taken today by communist leaders it is
believed in Trieste that they have decided to await Marshal Tito's
expected statement.
(1) 62. The genesis of the Soviet-Yugoslav quarrel, according to the report
of the United Nations' Commission, is the three-sided dispute be-
tween Russia, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria over Greece.
(2) 63. Paris, June 30Government circles were reluctant today to make
anything like an official comment on the breach between Premier
Stalin and Marshal Tito....
84 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

V. Reports on the flying saucers

(3) 64. British scientists and airmen, after examining the wreckage of one
mysterious flying ship, are convinced that these strange aerial objects
are not optical illusions.
(1) 65. The general in charge of the planning division of the U.S. Air Force
stated that all reports of so-called flying saucers are being thoroughly
investigated.
(2) 66. A British cabinet official quoted scientists as saying a flying ship of
the type observed could not possibly have been constructed on earth.
W. Reports on attempts to control inflation
(1) 67. Chairman Paul W. McCracken of the President's Council of Economic
Advisers has maintained the position that an active policy of "talking
down" wage and price hikes has proved worthless and unworkable.
(3) 68. Some delegates to an OECD meeting in Paris told newsmen that a
policy of permitting unemployment to run its course will not be ac-
cepted today by labor unions or by the public in general.
(2) 69. The U. S. Chamber of Commerce, on November 27, said the economy
now is suffering from a "crisis of cost," with gains in output per
worker lagging far behind the rising cost of production.

In the remaining groups are excerpts from news accounts, spoken and
printed. They are often used to indicate the source of the news. Some of
them are more reliable than others. Rate them according to your preference
within each group of three. As before, consider each group separately.

X.
(2) 70. The President's secretary told reporters today that the President is
worried about the outcome of his interview.
(3) 71. A source close to the President, who declined to be quoted, seemed
optimistic about the chances for an early cease-fire.
(1) 72. Mr. Laird, the Secretary of Defense, in a prepared statement, said
that measures were under consideration for further coordination of
the armed services.
Y.
(3) Paris is understood to have prepared new plans.
73.
(1) Official circles in the French government have been quoted as stating
74.
that the President of France will soon have a new plan to propose.
(2) 75. Official circles have stated that a surprising new development in
negotiations occurred yesterday.
Z.
(1) It is believed by news reporters, on the basis of evidence considered
76.
authoritative, that Washington is preparing to change its strategy in
the coming talks.
(2) 77. Newspapers are presenting, without comment, information supposed
to come from government circles.
(3) 78. Reporters are convinced, from what they have heard, that the govern-
ment may change its demands.

90
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 85

AA.
(3) 79. It is rumored that .. .

(1) 80. The Secretary stated in a news release that . . .

(2) 81. A spokesman for the State Department said that ...
BB.
(3) 82. It is reported reliably that ...
(1) 83. An informed source close to the President said today that ...
(2) 84. Officials here were reportea to have said that ...

Section XVII. Recognizing Statements Which Support

Generalizations
The social sciences contain records of events which never repeat them-
selves. Since no two or three events are the same, it follows that their out-
comes likewise cannot be identical. There are, however, laws, trends, and
developments, and pupils and teachers alike take joy in discovering them.
For example:
A. Corrupt electorates usually are served by corrupt officials.
B. Tyranny tends to incite rebellion.
One of the traditional purposes and gratifications in the study of history
is to gain historical perspective. That is to say, we study the past in order
to enrich our understanding of the present and in part to anticipate the
future. The following exercises are made up of general statements to which
are added specific, concrete, and factual descriptions. The purpose of the
exercise is to look at general statements in reverse. Given a body of data,
what general statements can be made? Given a general statement and a
body of data, what are the data which support the general statement?

Directions: After each of the main headings or generalizations lettered

A, B, C, D, E, and F, there are numbered statements. Consider each gen-
eralization and its statements as a unit. Study each unit carefully and if in
your judgment any statement below each generalization could be used as a
base to support the generalization, indicate the same by placing the letter Y
(for "yes") opposite the number of the statement. If the statement does not
uphold the general statement, indicate the same by placing the letter N
(for "no") opposite the number of the statement.

A. Credit helps maintain the balance cl the economy.

(Y) 1. Credit gives flexibility to purchasing powerit can be expanded or
contracted to meet the needs of business or individuals.
(N) 2. I i the 1920's credit was used to clear the market of its goods.
(N) 3. Most of our purchasing power is derived from credit instruments.
(Y) 4. Credit can be a hazard because It increases our economic Inter-
dependence, which in turn renders the economic system much more
sensitive to every jolt.
("A" Statements continued on page 86)

91
 86 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(Y) 5. A lack of credit speeds up the depression process once it has begun.
(N) 6. Credit is a promise today to pay tomorrow for goods and services
created yesterday.
(Y) 7. Our high living standard depends on our ability to produce 3 high
volume of goods at the lowest possible cost per unit. Credit greatly
increases our ability to do this.

B. We can learn much from people who come to our country from other lands.
Immigrants have made splendid contributions In the fields of American art,
painting, music, and industry. They have helped to provide a cultural basis
in American life.
(N) 8. Americans are fond of the music of Sibelius, the Finnish composer.
(Y) 9. Many Irish helped build the Union Pacific railroad.
(Y) 10. Albert Einstein, a naturalized citizen, once taught at The Institute for
Advanced Studies at Princeton.
(N) 11. Aliens admitted to the United States must be
able to read and write.
(N) 12. Many Germans who had migrated to the United States fought on the
side of the North during the Civil War.
(Y) 13. DImitri Mitropoulos, an eminent symphony conductor,
became a
naturalized citizen.
(N) 14. Few Chinese and Japanese are permitted to take out naturalization
papers.

C. Milton said: "Liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to our
own conscience, is the highest form of liberty."
(Y) 15.
The facts of history suggest that radical doctrines are never dan-
gerous so long as they may be freely discussed.
(N) 16. A common saying is, "Let your conscience be your guide."
(Y) 17. The denial of free speech is a poor way to combat dangerous ideas.
(Y) 18. Free expression of opinion is essential to political liberty.

D. Edward Howard Griggs once said: "Under democracy the people will get
the worst government they are willing to tolerate; and under democracy the
people can get the best government they are willing to work for."
(N) 19. Some of the units of local
government of Switzerland are examples of
pure democracies.
(N) 20. According to the leaders of the Communist Party in Russia, the
people in Russia now have more democracy than a century ago.
(N) 21. The government officials of Russia are hard workers.
(Y) 22. The town meeting in early
New England was open to all the qualified
voters.
(Y) 23. The grRnd jury is a device which may be used by the people to in-
vestigate charges of graft In public office.

E. "Causes of the Depression."

(N) 24. When the Great Depression,
as it was called, first came, Hoover held
conferences at the White House with heads of railroads and leaders
of Industry. He tried to persuade them not to fire employees and to
go ahead with their programs of expansion. In short, his first step
was to ask for the "voluntary" cooperation of businessmen.

92
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 87

(Y) Especially hard hit were workingmen in industry, because people

25.
who suffered losses in the stock market cut down their buying of
factory goods. This resulted in many unsold products, and manu-
facturers were forced to lay off the employees who had produced
them. At first thousands and then millions were thrown out of work.
(N) 26. The world seemed upside down for Americans. Once they had been
proud because many humble men and women had gone from rags to
riches In the United States. Now they had to face the fact that
millions had within a short time gone from riches to rags.
(Y) 27. The prolonged slump in agriculture was like a cancer sapp!ng the
economic life of the entire country. The shrinkage of farmers' pur-
chasing power cut down the market for manufactured goods and so
kept factories from producing to capacity and workers from finding
employment. The declining value of farms made it harder for farmers
to get credit and imperiled banks that had invested in farm mort-
gages.
(Y) 28. But early in September, 1929, prices in the stock market, where stock
in industries was sold, began to fail, possibly an Indirect result of poor
money conditions in Britain. The drop continued, until by early
November stock prices had fallen to 50 percent of what they had
been only a few weeks before.
(N) 29. Hundreds of thousands of Jobless people with no other place to lay
their heads slept in the parks orif they were luckyin abandoned
factories, where it was warmer than outdoors. It Is estimated that a
million peopleyoung and oldwere "on the road" in 1931.

F. Man's pollution of the sea may upset the delicate balance of the cyc/e of
ocean life.
(Y) Over-fishing causes the elimination of one species, which in turn
30.
leads to the extinction of other species that depend on it for food.
(N) 31. The Soviet Unlon has 27 schools for the training of technicians, biol-
ogists, and marine specialists.
(N) 32. Population experts believe that land-grown food surpluses of today
will not be enough to feed the world tomorrow.
(Y) 33. The dumping of nuclear wastes into the ocean may eventually poison
the salt water, the plants, and the animals of the sea.

Section XVIII. Determining the Relative Significance of Questions

This section is set up to test a mental ability of a high order. It is diffi-
cult to define or describe that skill exactly, but it might be called the ability
to grasp the essentials of a situation, .)r to "size up" its pertinent aspects.
It involves more than understanding alone, and might in part be consid-
ered as a critical skill.
One of the authors of this Bulletin has had the privilege at various times
of working with individuals who had developed this ability to a marked
degree. The writer can recall, for example, gathering data which bore upon
various questions about which a decision must be made by one of these

93
88 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

persons. The gathering of relevant data for even a single problem might be
a laborious process, involving checking and cross-checking in numerous files
and references, and several hours of piecing it together and digesting it. When
the problem was referred to the other person, he would ask a pertinent
question, which the writer answered on the basis of the data he had col-
lected. After about three or four such pointed and incisive questions, the
person would have the information necessary to make a decision, and
promptly did so.
From this experience the authors have tried to construct items which
would test the ability or skill indicated by setting up a series of general
statements followed by a list of questions, some of which are significant
and some of which are not. There may well be other ways of checking on
the possession of such a skill objectively, although the best means is un-
ddubtedly through informal classroom discussion.

Directions: The following general statements, lettered A, B, C, D, etc.,

are largely meaningless without qualifications. The questions following each
lettered statement include those which, if answered, would make the lettered
statement meaningful and those which, if answered, would not make the
general statement especially meaningful.
Do not attempt to answer the questions. Merely indicate whether the
answer would or would not make the lettered statement meaningful. Con-
sider each group as a separate unit.
Answer symbols: YIf the answer to the question would make the lettered
statement meaningful.
NIf the answer to the question is not significant for
making the lettered statement espedally meaningful.

A. The production of wealth always involves human costs.

(Y) 1. In what occupations are human costs high?
(N) 2. Does labor have the right to strike?
(Y) 3. What organizations have played an outstanding part in reducing occu-
pational hazards?
(Y) 4. What have the states done to eliminate accident hazards in industry?
(N) 5. Why is the public the "victim" of industrial warfare?
(Y) 6. In what occupations are human costs relatively low?
(N) 7. What effect does a restrictive immigration policy have on the reduc-
tion of human costs?

B. In November 1950 the United Nations Assembly condemned the invasion of

the Suez Canal area by Great Britain and France.
(N) 8. Were there any ships in the canal at the time?
(Y) 9. Did the United Nations Assembly have any power to enforce its
decision?
(N) 10. Had the Suez Canal construction been directed by a French en-
gineer?
 89
TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINK1G
Nations?
(Y) 11. Were Britain, France, and Egypt members of the United
12. What was the relative propo)lion
of tonnage passing through the canal
(Y)
annually which was bound for Great Britain?
(N) 13. Were there military airfields within 50 miles of the canal?
Egypt's seizure of the canal in the
(Y) 14. Did the British and French regard
summer of 1956 as illegal?
the quota system.
C. The present United States immigration policy is based on
(N) 15. Why has the United States been called "the melting pot"? admitted from
(Y) 16. Does the quota system limit the number of immigrants
any one country?
Americans traveling
(N) 17. Does the United States immigration policy affect
abroad?
favor Northern
(Y) 18. Why does the Immigration policy of the United States
Europeans?
since 1940 than in
D. Greater changes have occurred in American agriculture
many decades previously.
(Y) 19. Have farms increased or decreased in size?
(Y) 20. How much hired labor is used?
(Y) 21. Are farmers vulnerable to a price squeeze?
(N) 22. What farmers were the first to mechanize?
(Y) 23. Do farmers generally have low fixed costs?
(N) 24. What was the impact of the cotton gin? public policy?
(N) 25. How dld the development and use of the reaper affect
(Y) 26. Do farmers buy or raise feed for cattle?
in 1962 the
E. According to statistics published by the Bureau of the Census
other group.
proportion of old people in 1970 will be greater than that of any
(Y) 27. What ages are included in the term "old people"?
United States will lose none of the popula-
(N) 28. Does this mean that the
tion by war in the Intervening years?
Importance In the
(Y) 29. Will the support of the aged assume much more
next few decades?
(Y) 30. What proportion of the present population is aged?
31. Is the number of people over
sixty years of age gainfully employed
(Y)
decreasing or increasing?
excessive mobility of the population from one
(N) 32. What is the result of the
section of the country to another?

F. Atomic power may change many of our ways of living.

the energy within the atom?
(Y) 33. Do scientists know how to use
to produce than energy from other
(Y) 34. Is atomic energy more expensive
sources? of using
(N) 35. Were the comic book authors the first ones to think of ways
atomic power?
be
(N) 36. Who was the scientist who first demonstrated that the atom could
broken up?
which provide
(Y) 37. How available a supply is there of the raw materials
sources of atomic energy?
("F" Statements continued on page 90)

95
90 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

(N) 38. Does the average person understand the theory which may make
atomic power available?
(Y) 39. How much did the invention and use of steam power change ways
of living?

G. Foreign powers may be less dangerous to this country than our own in-
difference to our responsibilities as citizens.
(Y) 40. Are there any foreign powers which seem to be a threat to the
United States?
(N) 41. How many foreign powers have a democratic form of government?
(N) 42. Is it all right for a Congressman seeking re-election to vote for
hi mself ?
(N) 43. Was the United States the first country to adopt suffrage for women?
(Y) 44. Is voting the major responsibility of a citizen?
(Y) 45. Is it all right for a person not yet of voting age to write a Congress-
man, telling him how he thinks the Congressman should stand on a
public question?
(Y) 46. What is the average percent of qualified voters who vote in national
elections?

H. In April 1861, members of the South Carolina militia fired on Fort Sumter
in Charleston harbor.
(N) 47. How many lives were lost among the defenders of Fort Sumter?
(Y) 48. Who owned Fort Sumter?
(N) 49. Who was the South Carolina militiaman who fired the first shot?
(Y) 50. Did the status of the people of South Carolina change after they
fired upon the fort?
(N) 51. Was the commander of the militia a competent military officer?
(Y) 52. Did the commander of the fort have the authority to resist the South
Carolina militia?
(N) 53. How many days did it take for the militia to capture the fort?
(Y) 54. What was the feeling of people in the rest of the United States when
they heard about the firing on Fort Sumter?

I. Without education the chances for a profitable lob and a satisfying life are
meager.
(N) 55. Are students tending to become "phony intellectuals"?
(N) 56. Are American students being spoonfed?
(Y) 57. What is Intellectual self-rellance?
(Y) M. What part does ability to learn and adaptability to new situations play
in Job opportunItleo?
(Y) 59. What le the difference between training and education?
(N) 60. What do you think about the charge: "One can loaf through college
and be with one's friends rather than go to work"?
(Y) 61. Which is more importaa expectation of being taught or determina-
tion to learn?
(Y) 62. How much opportunity for employment is there for people of little
skill or for the high school drop out?
(N) 63. Would Federal grants to public education violate "states' rights"?
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 97
TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

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100. Buros, Oscar K., editor. The Nineteen Forty Mental Measurements
Yearbook. Highland Park, New Jersey, 1941.
101. Buros, Oscar K., editor. The Third Mental Measurements Yearbook.
Press, 1949.
New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University
Yearbook.
102. Buros, Oscar K., editor. The Fourth Mental Measurement
New Brunswick, New Jersey: Gryphon Press, 1953.
103. Buros, Oscar K., editor. The Fifth Mental Measurements Yearbook.
New Brunswick, New Jersey: Gryphon Press, 1959.
Highland Park, New Jersey: Gryphon
104. Buros, Oscar K., Tests in Print.
Press, 1961.
105. Hildreth, Gertrude H. A Bibliography of Tests and Rating Scales.
Second edition. New York: The Psychological Corporation, 1939.
Bibliography of Tests and Rating Scales;
106. Hildreth, Gertrude H. A
1945 Supplement. New York: The Psychological Corporation,
1946. Basic
107. Wrightstone, J. Wayne; Leggitt, Dorothy; and Reid, Seer ley.
Information.
Social Science Skills: Finding, Evaluating, and Using
New York: Henry I-Iolt and Co., 1943.
 Appendix

SEQUENCE CHARTCRITICAL THINKING

(KEY: EP, early primary; LP, late primary; El, early intermediate;
LI, late intermediate; J, junior high school; S, senior high school)

Introduce.
through
planned Reteach,
SKILL readiness Develop maintain,
experiences systenunkally and extend

I. Locating information
A. By using a dictionary, can
select the appropriate meanings
for significant words and
phrases for the context in
which they are used LP EI-LI J-S
B. Will acquire a working knowl-
e,.ige of standard reference
books in a discipline LI
C. Can arrange events, facts, and
Periodical Literature and other
indexes to select appropriate
articles for a research project
D. Will express an awareness of
various other sources of infor-
mation in addition to printed
materials EP LP-L1
II. Organizing information
A. Can identify the central issue
in written and oral communi-
cation even if it is not directly
stated EP LP-El LI-S
B. Can identify facts which relate
to the central issue EI LI-S
C. Can arrange events, facts, and
ideas into a sequence EP LP-LI
III. Evaluating information
A. Can distinguish between factual
and fictional books LP EI-LI
B. Can distinguish between facts
and opinions EP LP-LI

99

1C4
100 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Introduce,
through
SKILL planned Reteach,
readiness Develop maintain,
experiences systematically and extend

C. Can recognize that opinions are

not necessarily false but they
do require evidence to support
their central thesis LP EI-J S
D. Can doe:mine the viewpoint
of an author and state probable
reasons for his bias LI J S
E. Can recognize that all people
are biased in one manner or
another and that biases are a
reflection of our value system El LI-J S
F. Can recognize that stereotypes
are overgeneralizations and are
designed to appeal to emotion
rather than reason LP EI-J S
G. Will avoid the use of stereotypes
both in written and oral
discourse LP EI-J S
H. Can recognize stated and
unstated assumptions upon
which an argument or issue is
based and will attempt to deter-
mine their validity l S S
I. Can compare information about
a topic drawn from several
different sources and can
recognize agreement or
contradiction LI .1 S
J. Can determine the degree of
validity of the various sources
of information LI J S
K. Can determine which source of
information is more acceptable
and state reasons for his choice EP LP-J S
L. Can determine how well the
facts support the generalization
or belief LI l S
M. Can determine if the facts
supporting an issue contradict
cach other or are inconsistent
with generally accepted facts LI .1 S

105
 TESTING OF STUDY SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING 101

introduce,
through
planned Reteach,
SKILL readiness Develop maintain,
experiences systematically and extend

N. Can determine if the facts

supporting or refuting an issue
are essential or incidental LI
0. Can distinguish between facts
that are relevant and facts that
are not relevant to the situation
or problem LP EI-J
P. Can determine whether any con-
clusions he is pressed to accept
are supported by sufficient data
and will attempt to discover if
significant facts have been
intentionally or unintentionally
omitted LI
Q. Can reach tentative conclusions
based on existing evidence EP LP-.I

106
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