FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITY OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ENROLLED IN VOCATIONAL HORTICULTURE (OHIO)

This study examined the relationships between problem-solving ability in horticulture and selected variables. Also examined was the canonical relationship between cognitive outcomes (problem-solving ability and achievement in horticulture) and the following six predictor variables: (1) academic aptitude of students, (2) extent to which teachers used problem-solving teaching behaviors, (3) degree of students' involvement in supervised occupational experience (SOE) in horticulture, (4) degree of students' participation in the FFA, (5) grade level of students, and (6) content emphasis of the horticulture program in which students are enrolled.;Findings suggest that, generally, students did not demonstrate a very high level of problem-solving ability and general knowledge in horticulture. There were positive and substantial pair-wise relationships between problem-solving ability, achievement, and academic aptitude. Low positive relationships were found between problem-solving ability and SOE involvement and landscape content emphasis. Low to moderate associations were found between achievement and all independent variables, except academic aptitude which was positively and substantially correlated with achievement.;Of all the variables studied, academic aptitude explained the highest proportion of variance in both problem-solving ability and achievement in horticulture. When academic aptitude was held constant, the program variables (all the independent variables except academic aptitude) together explained a significant proportion of the variability in both dependent variables. All the independent variables as a set predicted cognitive outcomes (problem-solving ability and achievement in horticulture) of students. Academic aptitude contributed most to the canonical relationship. Other predictors, except grade level, carried moderate weights in the relationship between the two sets of variables. Grade level was not important in the relationship.;The sample included 133 students enrolled in the horticulture programs in seven secondary vocational schools in Ohio. Data were obtained from available records, and directly from students using researcher-developed instruments. Correlational analyses were used including product-moment correlations, regressions, and canonical correlation.