Measuring Intelligence

Presentation by:

Michelle Daigneault, Eileen Brazer,

& Amanda Gauvin

History of Standardized Tests

l Began after 1950

l In some schools they were the basis for selection in numerous educational programs and grade levels

l Before 1965, the tests were not used that often in early grades since these years were considered “special” and a time for natural growth and development

l Serious testing programs usually began in grades 4 and 5

l Testing increased tremendously after 1965 and these were quickly seen as inexpensive and easy-to-use measures for meeting requirements

l In the 1970s the tests became the definers of standards in almost all curricular areas

l Yearly testing, beginning in grade 3, became the norm as well as annual fall and spring testing

l By the late 1970s testing started to invade the earlier primary grades

l By the end of the 1980s, testing of young children became commonplace

l 16 states in the US and districts in 21 other states now require children to take a standardized test before entering kindergarten

l Districts in at least 42 states require students to pass a standardized test before “graduating” from kindergarten

l By the 1990's however, numerous reports suggested that the increased emphasis placed on standardized testing resulted in an increase emphasis on basic skill instruction, drill and recitation to ensure student success

What are Standardized Tests?

l Tools designed to allow the measure of student performance relative to all others taking the same test

• They provide a systematic procedure for describing behaviors, whether in terms of numbers or categories.

• They include specified procedures for administration and scoring.

• The test items are derived from experience, either by experiment or observation, rather than theory.

• They have an established format and set of materials.

• They present the same tasks and require the same response modes from all test takers.

What Do They Measure?

l The tests generally fall into two categories:

• Achievement/Performance Tests - measure subject-specific knowledge

• Aptitude Tests - predict the child’s ability to learn by measuring his/her mastery of school-success skills, such as reasoning or problem-solving

l Many Purposes!

l Determine eligibility for a variety of enrichment programs, special classes, foreign language instruction, etc.

• Eligibility for gifted and talented programs or special tutoring

l Determine a student’s academic level

l become the basis for early tracking and then ongoing tracking.

l Recently, determine whether a child will move onto the next grade.

Limitations of Standardized Tests

l Several factors can affect a child’s performance:

• The conditions in the testing room

• How well the school curriculum fits the material

• Whether the child had a good night’s sleep

• His/her test-taking ability

Standardized Tests (Achievement Tests) vs. Intelligence Tests

¡Intelligence tests

• Broader in coverage than achievement tests and sample from a wider range of experiences

• More valid in predicting future performance because they test learning in a variety of life experiences

• Stress ability to apply information in new and different ways

¡Achievement tests (reading or math tests)

• heavily dependent on formal learning acquired in school or at home

• More culture-bound

• Sample more specific skills

• stress mastery of factual information

IQ

l Intelligence Quotient (IQ): indicates the extent to which the raw score (# of items passed) deviates from the typical performance of same-age individuals. A test is given to a large, representative sample of individuals.

l Researchers have proven that mental test scores may predict future IQ after age because once children enter school, greater similarity exits between daily learning activities and test items.

l Childhood IQ predicts adult occupation attainment

Original Intelligence Tests

l Two individual tests which are used to identify highly intelligent children and diagnose those with learning problems

l Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

- For individuals 2 years through adulthood

- Measures general intelligence and four factors:

1) verbal reasoning, 2) quantitative reasoning,

3) abstract/visual (spatial) reasoning

4 ) short-term memory

l The Wechsler Intelligence Scale of Children

-test used for 6 through 16 year olds

- measures general intelligence and a variety of verbal and performance scores

-require the child to arrange the materials rather than talk to the examiner

- Critics disagree with the test as many items on the test emphasize response speed and many children do not understand the importance of working quickly

Intelligence Testing (Pros and Cons)

l Pros:

l 1) Has a large collection of correlatives predictive of success

l 2) Primary leveler in preventing the classes from hardening into castes

l 3) Has revealed unsuspected talents in many individuals and has improved educational opportunity

l 4) Provide standardized ways of comparing a child’s performance with that or other children observed in the same situations represented by test items

l 5) Viewed as a measure of the child’s ability to compete in our society in ways that have economic and social consequences

l 6) Provide a profile of strengths and weaknesses

l 7) Excellent predictors of scholastic achievement

l 8) Measure the effects of changes associated with special programs, treatment, and training

l 9) Assess individual differences and provide useful reflections of cultural and biological differences among individuals

l 10) Valuable tools in working with handicapped children

l Cons:

l 1) Limit our understanding of intelligence and sample only a limited number of conditions under which intelligent behavior is revealed

l 2) Sort children into stereotyped categories and limit their freedom to choose fields of study

l 3) Knowledge of their IQ may inhibit children’s level of aspiration and affect their self-concept

l 4) Fail to measure the processes underlying the child’s responses

l 5) Misused as measures of innate capacity

l 6) Single IQ does not consider the multidimensional nature of intelligence

l 7) Limited in predicting occupational success

l 8) The standard question format cannot capture the complexity of real-life situations

l 9) Culturally biases against ethnic minorities

l 10) Non-conventional (original) responses are penalized.

EQ (Emotional Quotient Intelligence)

l Social Intelligence

l A set of abilities that included:

l accurately perceiving emotions,

l expressing emotion appropriately,

l understanding the causes and consequences of emotions

l managing one’s own and others’ feelings to facilitate thinking and social interaction

l Few tests of emotional intelligence are available for young children

Sample Items from the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale

1) Perceiving emotions

l Eight photos of faces are shown, each followed by six emotion labels: happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust and surprise. The test-taker answers on a 5-point scale whether the given emotion is “definitely not present” (1) or “definitely present” (5)

2) Assimilating emotions into cognitive processes

l “Imagine that Jonathon is one of your relatives. He is a tall, muscular person. Jonathon said something to you that made you feel both guilty and afraid. Feeling both guilty and afraid, how does he seem?” Ability to assimilate present mood into judgments assessed by having the test-taker rate the following emotions on a 5-point scale, from “definitely does not describe” (1) to “definitely does describe” (5): sad, trusting, tense, cynical, aggressive, hasty, and controlling

3) Understanding emotion

l “Optimism most closely combines which of the two emotions? (a) pleasure and anticipation, (b) acceptance and joy, (c) surprise and joy, (d) pleasure and joy”

4) Managing (regulating) emotion

l “You have been dating the same person for several months and feel very comfortable. Lately, you are thinking that this relationship may be the one. The last thing you expected was the phone call you received saying that the relationship is over…” The test taker rates emotion-management response from “extremely ineffective” (1) to extremely effective (5). One such response would be to “block it out and.. throw yourself into your work.

Piaget and Intelligence

l Piaget believed that intelligence was a form of biological adaptation of the individual to the environment. The individual is constantly interacting with the environment, trying to maintain a balance between his or her own needs and the demands that the environment makes.

l hierarchical model of intelligence

l intellectual development is divided into 4 major periods which is characterized by stages. These stages represent a form of biological adaptation.

Piagetian vs. Psychometric Approaches

l Psychometric evaluation of intelligence

- Valuable in documenting the degree of delay of handicapped children, in predicting school success and in assessing brain injury

l Piagetian approach

- Valuable in diagnosing learning difficulties and in designing educational interventions

- Children who achieve high scores on psychometric tests of intelligence are not merely “good test takers”; they have excellent levels of cognitive development in a variety of areas

Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

l Gardener believes that children’s intellectual competencies can be assessed through planned observations

l Infants can be taught patterns and then tested to see whether they remember the patterns

l Preschool students can be given blocks, puzzles, games and other tasks. Their block constructions may provide information about spatial and kinesthetic intelligence

l Different assessment strategies are required for children of different ages. Testing for spatial ability might include hiding an object from a 1-year old and giving a jigsaw puzzle to a six year old.