Discovering learning potential in secondary education using a dynamic screening instrument

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3453948

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Psychology (research) (MSc)

Graafeiland, Nina van (2022)

Discovering learning potential in secondary education using a dynamic screening instrument

Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a newly developed dynamic screener to assess first year secondary school students’ potential for learning. Participants included 52 children (mean age = 13.14) from different Dutch educational tracks. The dynamic screener consists of the subtests reading, mathematics, working memory, planning, divergent thinking, and inductive reasoning. Each subtest employs a test-training-test design. Based on randomized blocking, half of the children received a graduated prompts training between pre-test and post-test, while the other half did not. On some, but not all, subtests training seems to lead to an increase in performance. Additionally, some constructs measured through the dynamic screener relate to current school performance. This pilot study provides preliminary support to the use of such an instrument to gain more insight into children’s learning potential and instructional needs. Directions for future research are discussed.

executive functioning

working memory

divergent thinking

inductive reasoning