Dynamic testing (DT) is a method of testing that includes the provision of a form of feedback and guidance to the testing procedure, and can be used to examine children’s potential for learning in...Show moreDynamic testing (DT) is a method of testing that includes the provision of a form of feedback and guidance to the testing procedure, and can be used to examine children’s potential for learning in various cognitive functions, including working memory (WM). Furthermore, intrinsic motivation (IM) seems to be related to enhanced WM performance and learning, especially in feedback-contexts. However, research on the effectiveness of DT of WM in this age group, as well as the influence of IM, is lacking. Therefore, the current thesis aimed to study the effectiveness of our DT of WM, as well as the influence of IM. The study had a pretest-training-posttest design with two groups. The experimental group received training, whereas control group did not. The sample included 100 typically developing primary school children between 8 and 9 years old (Mage = 8.46, SD = 0.50, 51% girls). Contrary to previous findings, our results showed a decrease from pretest to posttest in WM performance in the control group and a slight increase in performance in the experimental group. Moreover, the children’s IM did not significantly influence the WM improvements when tested dynamically. The findings suggest that the training element in our DT could have protected against the decrease in WM from pretest to posttest and that IM did not have a significant influence on these results. These findings contribute to the field of research by highlighting the importance of factors such as sustained attention and time-on-task effects in the prevention of this decline in WM performance during DT. Besides these factors, future research should look into the effects of age, cognitive load and engagement on the DT of WM and IM to gain a better understanding on how to improve its effectiveness, especially in 8- to 9-year-old children. Further exploration could aid educational professionals in implementing the dynamic approach and supporting children’s learning processes and cognitive development.Show less
The present study aimed to explore the applicability of Dynamic Testing (DT) in the measuring of the learning potential of Working Memory (WM), of 92 typically developing school children aged eight...Show moreThe present study aimed to explore the applicability of Dynamic Testing (DT) in the measuring of the learning potential of Working Memory (WM), of 92 typically developing school children aged eight and nine in Dutch education system. Further, the study aimed to explore the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) in the results of DT when measuring WM, further investigating potential effects of SES on the instructional needs of DT, by searching for potential differences in the number of prompts used during training between the SES groups. The study was an experimental pre-test-post-test design, with experimental and control conditions in our sample, where the former received dynamic training. The measures used were a static working memory measure (Picture Span subtest of the WISC-V), an IQ screening (IDS-2), a FAS-III screener to determine the level of SES, two dynamic tasks of working memory matching in difficulty as pre-test and post-test measures, and a dynamic training based on prompts to enhance the participant’s performance in DT of WM. Repeated Measures ANOVA and One-Way ANOVA were conducted to perform the statistical analysis. Overall, the results did not indicate significant effects of DT in the measuring of WM learning potential for our sample, nor effects of SES in the results of DT. Additionally, SES did not have an effect on the number of prompts used during training, thus no significant differences were found in instructional needs based on the SES. However, subtle effects were observed in the applicability of DT, as well as in the effect of SES and slight differences in the instructional needs between SES groups. These trends suggested a subtle effect of DT and of SES. Based on our findings, suggested clinical implications would be meticulously training the testers to obtain rigorous results on the application of DT. Further, considering the effect that SES can have in a child’s perceived cognitive ability with static testing, and contemplating a cautious administration of DT could potentially bring in a more accurate representation of their actual WM ability.Show less
Research on working memory (WM) in school-aged children indicates that personal factors, such as gender and intrinsic motivation, can influence their performance on WM assessments. Typically, WM is...Show moreResearch on working memory (WM) in school-aged children indicates that personal factors, such as gender and intrinsic motivation, can influence their performance on WM assessments. Typically, WM is evaluated using static measures, which often provide limited understanding of children's cognitive capabilities. In contrast, dynamic testing may offer a deeper insight into these potentials and learning progression. However, there is limited research into WM with DT in TD children in our age range. As such, the current study aimed to assess the applicability of dynamic testing (DT) for investigating working memory (WM) in typically developing Dutch primary school-aged children aged 8 to 9, and to explore the influence of intrinsic motivation (IM) and gender on children's progression in DT of WM. The research was conducted using an experimental pretest-training-post-test design with two conditions with 103 typically developing Dutch primary school children (mean age = 8.5 years, 48,3% boys and 51.7% girls). The participants were randomly assigned into two groups based on randomized blocking. The experimental group received a dynamic training between the pre- and post-test measures, whereas the control group did not. The dynamic WM task involved recalling sequences of pictures presented in matrices, with difficulty levels ranging from three to seven items per sequence. Contrary to expectations, children's performance regressed from pretest to post-test. Finally, the effect of IM and gender to progression from pretest to posttest did not significantly affect WM performance across groups. Together these findings highlight the complexity of assessing WM through DT and highlights the need for larger samples and refined methodologies to draw robust conclusions. Insights gained could inform educational strategies tailored to individual cognitive strengths and weaknesses.Show less
This research was performed to see how useful dynamic testing of reading and writing would be for children with and without dyslexia and to explore the relationship between dynamic testing of...Show moreThis research was performed to see how useful dynamic testing of reading and writing would be for children with and without dyslexia and to explore the relationship between dynamic testing of reading and writing and intelligence, specifically fluid and crystallised intelligence. To research this, this research had an experimental pretest-training-posttest design with two groups—dyslexic and non-dyslexic—as well as two conditions—training and no-training. The participants were children in primary school between the ages of 7 and 9. The study consisted of two sessions: a preliminary investigation and a dynamic test. The dynamic test used was the EPALE-NL. It consists of four subtests: phonemic awareness, prosodic awareness, sounds and verbs, and context words. A significant difference was found between the group that was trained and the group that was not trained, in specific for the subtest prosodic awareness, with the trained group showing more improvement in accuracy. For the performance on the posttest by the dyslexic group and non-dyslexic group, no significant difference was found between the groups. No significant relationship was found between the gain score and fluid and crystallised intelligence. Dynamic testing of reading and writing has shown potential to be used in the classroom for its previously discovered benefits, as well as its ability to teach both dyslexics and non-dyslexics of varying intelligence.Show less
Reading and writing are important skills in life. However, children with dyslexia, a neurodevelopmental learning disorder with a genetic basis, have difficulty with these skills. Dynamic assessment...Show moreReading and writing are important skills in life. However, children with dyslexia, a neurodevelopmental learning disorder with a genetic basis, have difficulty with these skills. Dynamic assessment might be a better predictor of children’s cognitive abilities and reading and writing skills than static tests. Dynamic assessment is based on the idea that learning is a social proces and uses feedback. This study investigated the effectiveness of dynamic assessment on reading and writing performance, specifically phonemic awareness, prosodic awareness and spelling, and whether there were group differences between dyslexic and non dyslexic children, and boys and girls. The participants included 91 children aged seven to nine, with 45.1% diagnosed with dyslexia. The participants were divided in an experimental condition with a pretest-training-posttest design, and a control condition with a pretestposttest-training design. It was found that the children in the experimental condition improved more over time than the children in the control condition on prosodic awareness. No group differences were found in the effectiveness of the dynamic test. These results show that the dynamic test can be an effective tool in education for increasing the reading and writing skills in children and examining their learning potential.Show less
This study examined evidence-based coaching, based on the REGROW model, as a tool to improve career counselling in vocational education. Specifically, it was investigated whether teacher...Show moreThis study examined evidence-based coaching, based on the REGROW model, as a tool to improve career counselling in vocational education. Specifically, it was investigated whether teacher administered coaching was more effective in improving student wellbeing and motivation for career counselling sessions, from pre- to post-test, than only receiving regular career advice conversations. In addition, teacher and student evaluations of coaching and career advice conversations were investigated. The participants were 114 vocational education students between the ages of 16 and 27. Of those, 71 students received coaching and career advice conversations and 43 students received only career advice conversations. Additionally, 16 teachers provided coaching and career advice conversations to the experimental group and 9 teachers provided career advice conversations to the control condition. It was found that motivation, perceived choice, and experienced usefulness of the sessions increased over time, regardless of condition. This study did not find coaching to be more effective in increasing wellbeing and motivation for sessions compared to the academic career advice conversations. Neither condition appeared to contribute to a significant increase in student wellbeing. Furthermore, student and teacher evaluations of the coaching/career advice sessions did not differ for the coaching and career advice group. Teacher and student evaluations were positively correlated, indicating that students and teachers were overall in alignment with their evaluation of the coaching/academic career advice conversations. In addition, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research were discussed.Show less
The current study aims to investigate the relation between trauma, cognitive flexibility and potential for analogical reasoning among Syrian refugee children between 9 and 18 years old, residing no...Show moreThe current study aims to investigate the relation between trauma, cognitive flexibility and potential for analogical reasoning among Syrian refugee children between 9 and 18 years old, residing no longer than three years in the Netherlands. The sample included 33 children who were recruited among Dutch schools, using a non-probability sampling technique based on non-random criteria. A computerised dynamic test of analogical reasoning was conducted, utilizing a pre-test-training-post-test design, in which children received a graduated prompts training or practice tasks in between pre-test and post-test. Furthermore, the CPSS was conducted to screen PTSD symptoms and assess the severity and the computerised cue context reversal task was conducted to measure cognitive flexibility. It was investigated whether trained children with high PTSD symptoms would show a higher progression from pre-test to post-test than untrained children, whether severity of PTSD symptoms was related to the dynamic test score and if the level of cognitive flexibility could predict PTSD severity and instructional needs. The results indicated an overall improvement for trained and untrained children from pre-test to post-test and a slightly higher progression for trained children. Suggesting that refugee children, who experience PTSD symptoms, seem to have the ability to learn and excel but possibly depend on instructions adapted to their needs to be able to unfold their potential. In addition, it was found that increased cognitive flexibility indicates increased severity of PTSD. Suggesting that refugee children, who experience PTSD symptoms, are possibly able to compensate for deficits in cognitive flexibility which enables them to learn.Show less
Dynamic testing is a tool to measure learning potential in individuals. Previous research has found that dynamic testing of analogical reasoning abilities can provide relevant information about the...Show moreDynamic testing is a tool to measure learning potential in individuals. Previous research has found that dynamic testing of analogical reasoning abilities can provide relevant information about the manner in which children of various abilities and backgrounds learn. The response of a sample of young Syrian refugees (ages 10-18) on a dynamic test of analogical reasoning was tested in a test-training-test design with two conditions (training and practice). The Child PTSD Symptom Scale was used to measure the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the participants. The participants in the training group showed more progress from pre-test to post-test, however this difference was not significant. Contrary to what was hypothesized, no relation between posttraumatic stress symptoms was found and age did not seem to play a significant role in this. These findings should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. Further research with larger samples could confirm or reject the idea that posttraumatic stress symptoms do not seem to influence performance on a dynamic test of analogical reasoning.Show less
One of the difficulties that refugees face is the impact of exposure to traumatic events over long periods of time, which can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This study aimed to...Show moreOne of the difficulties that refugees face is the impact of exposure to traumatic events over long periods of time, which can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This study aimed to examine the impact of PTSD on cognitive learning potential in refugee adolescents. The 13 participants (mean age = 13.15, 53.85% male) and their parents were recruited through language schools in the Zuid-Holland province in the Netherlands. Cognitive learning potential was measured with a new promising measure, the computerized dynamic test of analogical reasoning. The study was of an experimental pre-test-training-post-test design with two conditions, training and control. The participants completed exercises of analogical reasoning pre-test, then the experimental condition received graduated prompts training. Both groups completed exercises post-test. The effectiveness of the training was examined, but no significant results were found, although both the training and control groups significantly improved from pre-test to post-test. No significant relationship was found between PTSD symptoms and learning potential. Then, anxiety and cognitive empathy were investigated as mediators in the relationship between PTSD symptoms and learning potential. No significant relationships were found. Although the present study has no direct contribution to research, implications for future studies are discussed.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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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 ...Show moreThis 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.Show less
This study investigated the effect of a dynamic test in reading and writing compared to a static test for 87 children in elementary schools in the Netherlands (aged 7-9 years old). Static tests...Show moreThis study investigated the effect of a dynamic test in reading and writing compared to a static test for 87 children in elementary schools in the Netherlands (aged 7-9 years old). Static tests measure the knowledge a child already has at the moment of testing, while on the other hand in a dynamic test children are provided with feedback, prompts or training in order to demonstrate more of their learning potential. Dynamic tests are especially useful for children with intellectual disabilities or learning impairments. Children with and without the diagnosis of dyslexia were allocated to either the experimental or the control condition. Children in the experimental condition of this study received a training in between pretest and posttest, whereas those in the control condition received the training after the posttest. Results showed a positive effect of training on the subtests prosodic awareness, spelling sounds and verbs and context dependent spelling, meaning that the group who received the dynamic test showed more progress from pretest to posttest in these subtests than the group who received the static test. This difference in progress did not apply to the subtest phonemic awareness. No significant gender differences and differences in performance between the dyslexic and the non-dyslexic children were found.Show less
Trauma, cognitive flexibility, and empathy are widely studied constructs in psychology. However, inconsistent results are found regarding the aftermath of trauma. In the current study, it was...Show moreTrauma, cognitive flexibility, and empathy are widely studied constructs in psychology. However, inconsistent results are found regarding the aftermath of trauma. In the current study, it was expected that Syrian refugee children with higher severity of trauma symptoms scored significantly higher on cognitive flexibility and empathy tests than children with lower severity of trauma symptoms. To investigate these hypotheses, a quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted with a between-subjects design. The participants were asked to complete three questionnaires and two computer tasks to measure their cognitive flexibility, empathy, and trauma symptoms. Linear regression analyses showed that trauma was not a significant predictor of cognitive flexibility or empathy. If future studies could find this relationship in a larger sample, it possibly has implications for actively using cognitive flexibility and empathy as resilience factors during education for mental health professionals, therapeutic treatments of trauma, and in educational settings.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a newly developed dynamic test for phonological and prosodic awareness in children with and without dyslexia. Additionally, the impact of...Show moreThis study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a newly developed dynamic test for phonological and prosodic awareness in children with and without dyslexia. Additionally, the impact of reading self-concept was investigated. 30 children with dyslexia and 48 without dyslexia (Mage = 10.55) were included. The study consisted of two sessions: In the first session, all children completed a reading self-concept questionnaire. In the second session, the children were randomized into an experimental or control condition for a test-training-test design. Children in the experimental condition received a dynamic training between pre-test and post-test, the control condition did not. Results indicated that trained children had improved more on prosodic awareness than non-trained children. This effect was not found for phonemic awareness. Dyslexia diagnosis did not influence improvement. Furthermore, children with dyslexia had lower reading self-concept compared to children without dyslexia. However, reading self-concept was not related to improvement during a dynamic test, and dyslexia diagnosis did not moderate this relationship.Show less
Objective: The present study examined coaching’s impact on students’ mental health wellness, perception of inclusion, and attitudes to learning. Design: In a pretest-intervention-posttest control...Show moreObjective: The present study examined coaching’s impact on students’ mental health wellness, perception of inclusion, and attitudes to learning. Design: In a pretest-intervention-posttest control group design, 102 students (mean age 18.2 years) participated in either coaching or a regular tutoring period at an institution of vocational education in the Netherlands. Method: Students were randomly assigned to the experimental or control condition. Questionnaires of wellbeing, perceptive inclusion, and attitudes to learning were completed pretest and posttest, while coached students completed an additional two questionnaires of coach and coaching perception. Results: There was a statistical trend in gains of mental health wellness in the experimental group compared to the control group, while the effect of coaching on perceptive inclusion and learning attitudes were not significant. The perception of coaching could predict gains in learning attitudes and perceptive inclusion, and a statistical trend showed perception of coach could predict learning attitudes. Conclusion: Evidence-based coaching methods can be implemented into educational institutions as an intervention to promote mental health wellness, while further research should investigate the importance of coachee perceptions of the experience and their coach to achieve coaching benefits.Show less
