College 6: Intelligence & Dynamic testing

• An IQ test measures:

  • Obtained knowledge and skills
  • A snapshot of these knowledge and skills
• IQ tests do not take into account:

  • Past learning experiences: ability to learn?
  • Adaptive instruction
  • Assumes equal learning opportunities
• Intelligence testing bias

  • Limited relationship between scores and instruction
  • Emphasis on the outcome (scores) instead of on the psychological processes involved
• Test bias

  • Underestimation of intelligence potential
  • Intelligence scores related to SES
• What is dynamic testing

  • A form of testing in which feedback and instruction have been integrated into the testing process
  • Individualised feedback/instruction
  • Vygotsky: zone of proximal development (ZPD)
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

  The difference between solving a problem independently and solving the problem with the help of others
• Scaffolding

  A metaphor to describe "a process that enables a child or novice to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted efforts"
• Model of a dynamic test

  Pretest:

  • static
  • independent

  Intervention

  • dynamic
  • help from a mediator, parent, teacher
  • Instructional need

  Posttest

  • dynamic
  • independent
  • progression and task approach

  Transfer

  • Learning potential
• Learning potential measures

  • The number and type of steps of help that the child needed during the intervention: Fewer steps = a larger learning potential
  • Progression from pretest to posttest
  • Performance after a (training) intervention
  • The ability to transfer newly acquired knowledge/skills to a different (but related) domain
• Differences in learning potential

  1. Some children progress significantly after only minimal help. Repeating instructions or general prompting seems sufficient

  2. Some children need only minimal help, but then also show minimal progress

  3. Other children need a lot of help while progressing only minimally. They need lots of extra instruction and practice

  4. Other children progress significantly but need a lot of help
• Dynamic testing and Inclusive Education

  • Teaching cognitive strategies: Domain-specific or independent
  • Better prediction of future performance than IQ tests only: Minority groups
  • Insight into the unique manner in which every individual learns and reasons: Didactic intervention