Testing the cognitive abilities of children in educational settings is mostly done with static tests. Research has found that dynamic tests can provide additional information to static tests....Show moreTesting the cognitive abilities of children in educational settings is mostly done with static tests. Research has found that dynamic tests can provide additional information to static tests. Dynamic tests can determine the learning potential and need for instruction of children, which are suggested to be good predictors for future academic results. Moreover, these dynamic tests are less subject to bias. Unfortunately, dynamic tests are often labour-intensive and therefore hardly used in practice. This study aims to investigate the use of a shortened dynamic test, with a graduated-prompts procedure, to determine students’ need for instruction. Participants were 66 regular primary school children (M = 10.89 years, SD = .53 years). The shortened dynamic test was a geometric analogies task, appealing to inductive reasoning. Teachers were asked to estimate the individual need for instruction of their students, for both math and reading comprehension, in levels of ‘no help’, ‘meta-cognitive help’, ‘cognitive help’ and ‘modelling’. The Cito scores for math and reading comprehension were obtained for every student. Only a few students needed modelling help during the shortened dynamic test. Therefore, the cognitive help and modelling were combined for the sake of reliability and usability of this study. Teacher’s perspective could predict the Cito scores to a large extent, especially for math. The results of the shortened dynamic test added slightly to this explanation, but only for math. Reading comprehension requires more than just inductive reasoning, such as vocabulary, which was beyond the scope of the shortened dynamic test. Regardless of the limitations of this study, the shortened dynamic test show promise as an objective ‘check’. For instance, for unexperienced teachers who are uncertain about the need for instructions for a student. Finally, this study may prove to be a valuable stepping stone to future research in the field of shortened dynamic tests.Show less
Abstract Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of dynamic testing, using a graduated prompts method, to analyse the learning potential in gifted children. This paper outlines the...Show moreAbstract Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of dynamic testing, using a graduated prompts method, to analyse the learning potential in gifted children. This paper outlines the effect of the dynamic testing of analogic reasoning and the role of test anxiety and planning skills in relation to analogical reasoning and provided instructions. Sample. In this study participated 80 children (48 boys, 32 girls) from the western part of the Netherlands, their average age was 8.1 years (SD = 0.6). Method. An experimental group (41 children) which received the graduated prompts training, was compared in results of completing of analogic reasoning task with a control group (39 children). A pre-test-post-test-design with randomized blocking procedure was used to distinguish both groups. The computer program computerized dynamic testing of analogic reasoning was used to investigate analogic reasoning skills. The Children’s Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS), a self report, was used to measure test anxiety. The digital task named Tower of Hanoi was used to investigate the planning skills of the participants. Results. Dynamic testing of analogic reasoning proved to be successful in improving skills by offering a standardized training using the graduated prompts method. An influence of planning skills on provided hints was also found. Test anxiety did not seem related to dynamic testing of analogic reasoning. Conclusions. Dynamic testing is an effective method to analyse learning potential in analogical reasoning skills. Further research is necessary to investigate the role of planning skills and other metacognitive components. Although this study did not find any influence of test anxiety, further research may focus on more objective measurements of stress during test situations. The results of this study could be implemented in education and clinical assessments.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
Dynamic testing seems to provide insight into children’s potential for learning. The current study aimed to gain more insight into the effectiveness of group-administered computerized dynamic...Show moreDynamic testing seems to provide insight into children’s potential for learning. The current study aimed to gain more insight into the effectiveness of group-administered computerized dynamic testing in potentially gifted children (N = 48), to further investigate the relationship with test anxiety, and to gain more insight into the instructional needs of the children. All groups of children showed a significant increase in correctly solving the analogies from pretest to post-test. A difference in progression between the dynamic testing condition and the control condition was found. However, this difference appeared not to be significant. In addition, although visual differences were found in the progression lines of children with different levels of test anxiety and their instructional needs, no statistically significant differences were found. Implications of the findings were described in the discussion. In conclusion, the computerized group-administered dynamic test might have practical advantages for educational or clinical practice but first requires more research.Show less
