An evaluation of a simulated building carpentry program for incarcerated students

This research involved an evaluation of the "Building Carpentry Simulation Game" at a juvenile detention youth camp. The purpose of the study was to determine if this program, using simulated roles, was as effective in providing instructional gain for incarcerated youth as compared to a traditional Building Carpentry Program. The traditional program, held in reference, was in one of the junior high schools in the community. Three evaluative instruments were used to measure the effective gain in each program. The Qualifying Test for Apprenticeship and Trainee Applicants, published by United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, was used to measure the knowledge of carpentry fundamentals. The Kuder Preference Record was used to find out what change of interest, if any, took place. A "Reactionaire" was developed to quantify the students' gain in their understanding of labor and business activity, legal and financial considerations, and general construction practice. The experimental design incorporated identical pretest and posttest batteries of the three evaluative instruments. These batteries were given to twenty-five students of the experimental group, the youth camp, and to thirty students of the control group, the junior high school, at about the same time. There were nine weeks between the pretest and post-test. Standardized aptitude test scores indicated that the experimental group was below the National norms by 1.9 grade levels in language arts subjects and 3.4 grade levels in computational subjects. The stanine average of all subjects for the control group was 4.3, thus indicating that they were very close to the National norm. The experimental group had additional disadvantages, as it was composed of only incarcerated juvenile offenders. ..