| The problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between children of different ethnic and gender groups and their eductive, analogical reasoning and pattern completion abilities.;Method. An archival, correlational study was conducted in which 1557 second grade students in the San Diego School District were administered the Raven Progressive Matrices Test (RPM). Initially, factor analysis was performed to confirm the underlying theoretical constructs. Thereafter, these factors, as well as a total eduction (ED) score of the RPM, were used as variables in multiple regression analysis to determine their relationship with the various gender and ethnic groups.;Results. Factor analysis of the RPM resulted in three factors: Pattern Completion Through Closure (PCC), Simple Pattern Completion (SPC), and Reasoning By Analogy (RA). The results of this investigation indicated that in this sample of children, African American and Hispanic ethnic status were found to be predictive of performance, with these children performing less well on most tasks. Gender was predictive of only one variable, in which girls, performance was better. Implications and suggestions for future research are explored. |
