The library archives at the Australian Council for Educational Research are filled with many fascinating things.
Recently we dug up this gem – the Crawford Small Parts Dexterity Test, which was last borrowed from the library in September 1988.
Basically, it's a performance test designed to measure hand-eye coordination. The results were expected to be related to success in jobs such as wiring, manufacturing, engraving and assembly.
In today's video, Teacher editor Jo Earp is going to give it a go – inserting small screws into threated holes using a screwdriver.
When the test manual was last revised in 1956, the best results recorded came from male war veterans (the quickest time was 4 minutes 10 seconds), while the worst times recorded were from female employed assemblers (the slowest of them clocking in at 17 minutes and 50 seconds).
Male trade high school students achieved an average time of 7 minutes and 40 seconds, technical high school students 8 minutes and 15 seconds and academic high school students 9 minutes and 12 seconds.
Let's see how Jo compares …
Well, not a bad time but there were a few screws that didn't make it all the way through the plate. Keep practicing Jo!
