Sheet, Minnesota Assembly Test
date: label: date made
content: 1946
notes: label: Description
content: Not all psychological tests were in paper-and-pencil form. This is a blank score sheet for a test for mechanical aptitude. It was based on the Stenquist Construction Test that had been used in World War I (for examples of the Stenquist test, see 311913.10 through 311931.13). The revised test, called the Minnesota Assembly Test, was first published in 1930. This score sheet for a 1946 edition of that Minnesota test. The examination involved assembling a set of ten relatively common objects. Two such sets were available. One included (in ascending level of difficulty) a monkey wrench, a locknut, a hose clamp, a test tube holder, links of a chain, an air gauge valve, a bottle stopper, a bicycle bell, a plug and wire, and a Corbin rim lock. This list of objects, as well as the list of objects in the second set, is on the sheet. The pieces needed were available in separate compartments of a large box, arranged from easiest to hardest going left to right. The cover of the box formed a tray in which to work. The score sheet lists the time in seconds that test subjects were allowed to manipulate each object – it ranged from 45 seconds to 250 seconds (over four minutes).
label: Description
content: The test was part of a group known as the Minnesota Mechanical Ability Tests introduced by Donald G. Paterson, Richard M. Elliott, Leo D. Anderson, Herbert A. Toops, and Edna Heidbreder of the department of psychology of the University of Minnesota. Donald G. Paterson (1892-1961) was a psychologist known for his interest in applied psychology, particularly vocational counseling, and in industrial and organizational psychology. He was chief psychological examiner in the Sanitary Corps of the U.S. Army during World War I and was on the faculty at the University of Minnesota from 1921 until his retirement in 1960. Richard M. Elliott (1887-1969) also worked on the Army testing program during World War I and served as psychology department chair at Minnesota from 1919 until 1951. Leo Dewey Anderson (1898-1990) earned his doctorate at Columbia University, writing a doctoral dissertation on shop courses. Herbert Anderson Toops (1895-1972) earned B.S. and B.A. from Ohio State University and became familiar with mass testing programs during World War I, when he worked on trade tests in the U.S. Army. Afterward, he continued this research, writing a PhD. dissertation at Teachers College of Columbia University. In 1923, he returned to Ohio State to serve on the faculty, rising to the rank of professor in 1927 and staying until his retirement in 1965. Edna Heidbreder (1890-1985) was a graduate of Knox College (B.A. 1911) and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin (Masters, philosophy, 1918) and Columbia University (PhD., psychology, 1924). She taught at the University of Minnesota from 1924 to 1934 before joining the faculty at Wellesley College.
label: Description
content: For a related document, see 316371.084.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Donald G. Paterson, Richard M. Elliott, Leo D. Anderson, Herbert A. Toops, and Edna Heidbreder, <I>Minnesota Mechanical Ability Tests</I>, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,1930.
label: Description
content: Thurstone, T.G. and Thurstone, L.L., </>Mechanical Aptitude IV: Description of Individual Tests</I>, University of Chicago Psychometric Laboratory, May, 1949, pp. 17-18. This document describes several tests of mechanical aptitude, including, on the pages given, the Minnesota Assembly Test.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Psychological Tests
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of David Gold
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0710.59
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0710.59
label: accession number
content: 1989.0710
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sheet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21.5 cm x 28 cm; 8 15/32 in x 11 1/32 in