Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Learning Abilities Test'

The Structure-of-Intellect - Learning Abilities Test (SOI-LA) (Meeker, 1975) has an enthusiastic following in the USA, but is little-known in Australia. It is based on the Structure-of-Intellect model of J P Guilford, and through a series of up to 26 subtests, purports to identify 14 general learning abilities. Forms are designed to cater for students from Kindergarten to adult. In NSW, classroom teachers can have support for students with learning difficulties through the Support Teacher program; this support often falls far short of need, as there is a paucity of time and material resources. There is a need for a tool which can identify areas of both strength and weakness efficiently and suggest effective strategies to cater for the identified weaknesses; the Meeker paradigm is purported to address this need with a diagnostic approach which identifies learning disabilities which underlie and serve to maintain school-based learning difficulties, and prescribes materials and approaches for remediation. This study explores the first part of the Meeker paradigm, the diagnostic approach of the Structure-of-Intellect - Learning Abilities Test. This exploration is undertaken in the context of four rural Support Teachers and their student with learning difficulties from Grades 2-6. Rather than consider questions of the Test's validity, this study was designed to explore the Test's utility in the Support Teacher context, by giving the Support Teachers a working knowledge of the concepts of SOI-LA, and to compare the application of their knowledge with the information about their students' learning disabilities from the Test results. Problems are evident with the Support Teachers' knowledge and understanding of their students' disabilities; whist they felt comfortable about the approach which the Test takes, they felt they did not know their students well enough to make informed judgements about their disabilities. It was apparent from the study that the Support Teachers' understanding of the concepts of the Test was comparatively superficial, despite their impression that they did understand well. Several difficulties with the instrument itself are highlighted by this study; the assumptions underlying the derivation of the general ability scores are questioned, and the suitability of Test Forms for a learning disabled population of this age is open to criticism. The Structure-of-Intellect - Learning Abilities Test may have utility as an instrument for gaining information about a student's disability on an individual basis, and may be best in the hands of the School Counsellor.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship, among gifted students, between scores obtained on the Structure of Intellect-Learning Abilities (SOI-LA) test and two measures of achievement: teacher assigned grades and scores obtained on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). This study was based on the assertion that academic abilities should be linked to specific cognitive abilities measured by the SOI-LA subtests. Significant, positive relationships between academic abilities and SOI-LA subtest scores would imply that curricula based on the Structure of Intellect theory, in areas identified as deficient by the SOI-LA tests, may increase achievement among the gifted population. One hundred fifty-seven academically gifted students enrolled in grades 5 through 7 during the 1984-1985 school year were selected for this study. All of the participants qualified for admittance into the Gifted and Talented (GAT) program in a south central Kentucky school district. The SOI-LA and CTBS were administered between November 1984 and April 1985 by one of two GAT teachers; classroom teachers additionally provided grades in reading, language arts, and mathematics. Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that: Convergent Production of Semantic Systems (NSS) alone was the best predictor model for teacher assigned math grades. Cognition of Semantic Relations (CMR) and Divergent Production of Semantic Units (DMU) together provided the best predictor model for teacher assigned reading grades. None of the SOI-LA test variables proved significant predictors of teacher assigned language arts grades. The combination of Evaluation of Symbolic Classes (ESC), Cognition of Semantic Relations (CMR), Convergent Production of Figural Units (NFU), Memory of Symbolic Implications (MSI), Convergent Production of Symbolic Systems (NSS), and Cognition of Symbolic Relations (CSR) provided the best predictor model for CTBS math scores. The combination of CMR and CMU was shown to be the best predictor model for CTBS reading scores. The best predictor model for CTBS language scores was Convergent Production of Symbolic Transformations (NST), ESC, Memory of Symbolic Units-Visual (MSU-V), DMU, MSI, CMR, and NFU. Pearson product-moment coefficients were additionally calculated to facilitate the interpretation of the multiple regression analyses. An explanation for the SOI-LA test's relatively poor predictive power for teacher assigned grades, compared to standardized test scores, may be the subjective nature of the assigned grades rather than the validity of the SOI-LA test.

This essay presents an interventional field study that aims to refine practice in the English classroom in Swedish upper-secondary school by implementing imitation pedagogy. Imitation pedagogy is essentially learning to analyze and imitate texts’ internal structure for developing one’s own production. The focus on my first research question was on examining if imitation pedagogy with political mentor texts develop students’ language awareness, language control, and argumentative abilities in reading and writing. My second research question was focused on investigating if political mentor texts could be used to prepare students for future participation in civic discussions and debates. My initial hypothesis was that mentor texts with political topics in imitation pedagogy could be used to develop students’ argumentative abilities; the learners could through this pedagogy be taught to recognize linguistic features in political texts that aim to persuade audiences, and the learners could learn to imitate these mentor texts to produce own successful argumentative writing. To answer my research questions and to see if my hypothesis was accurate, I conducted an interventional field study that followed a lesson study model. The findings from my study indicate that imitation pedagogy does develop and enhance learners’ language awareness, argumentative abilities, and ability to provide stronger contributions to discussions in different social and democratic contexts. Imitation pedagogy enhances the learners’ confidence and improve their writing capabilities, specifically the ability to compose stronger argumentations in writing in different situations varying from smaller everyday issues to larger societal and political issues. Moreover, imitation pedagogy promotes the development of language control and critical language awareness. The learners practiced writing in new patterns, which forced the students to use their linguistic knowledge to produce sentences with language accuracy, fluency, and coherency. In addition, the students learned in this interventional study to recognize different linguistic and grammatical features that can add power to written compositions in different social and democratic contexts. By being able to recognize these features, the learners can be more aware of manipulative language in political texts and more effectively counter them.

This study examined the relationships between and among: (a) Processing Speed (PS) Cluster and Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Total to reading ability; (b) measures of RAN and PS to irregular word, non-word, and word reading; and (c) the relationships among irregular word, non-word, and word reading. The word reading measures were predicted by using multiple cognitive abilities including Phonological Awareness (PA), RAN, PS, and Working Memory (WM). Sixty participants, 39 students who were average readers and 21 students with reading difficulties in Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 were recruited.Correlational designs testing predictive relationships were used to conduct this study. The results indicated that the PS Cluster had the strongest correlation with irregular word reading, whereas the RAN Total had the strongest correlation with both word reading and non-word reading ability. Reading performance was best predicted by RAN-Letters. In addition, the Woodcock-Johnson III Visual Matching test had the strongest predictive power of reading ability among all of the PS measures.High correlations were found among the reading variables within normally distributed data, whereas there was no significant correlation between irregular and nonword reading within the group of students with Reading Difficulties. These findings provide support for the dual-route theory. Among the 21 students with RD, 10 students presented problems in both non-word reading and irregular word reading; 9 students presented problems just in non-word reading; and 2 students presented problems just in irregular word reading. A model consisting of RAN, PA, and PS, as included in the study measures, provided the most powerful prediction of all reading skills. These findings also lend more support to the double-deficit model and indicate that PA and naming speed problems contribute independently to variance in reading.This study provides direction for the assessment of specific reading disability and the cognitive underpinnings of this disorder. These findings support the need to assess PA, RAN, and PS, as well as various types of word reading skills, when making a reading disability diagnosis. Further research may cross validate the results of this study, or add other aspects of reading (eg., reading fluency or comprehension) to this line of research.

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The assessment of cognitive abilities of children who have learning disabilities (slow learners) is a major topic in psychology research. This doctorate thesis investigates the cognitive abilities of schoolchildren who have difficulty learning. Two different groups of informants were analyzed. The first group comprised 60 7- and 8-year-old schoolchildren of both genders 30 slow learners and 30 fast learners from two state schools in the State of S?o Paulo, Brazil. The second group comprised 8 primary school teachers also from two state schools in the State of S?o Paulo. We used Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III) composed of 10 tests, a questionnaire filled out by the teachers and an analysis of the pupils marks in Portuguese, Math and Science. The results from the Multivariate and Univariate Analysis of Variance showed significant differences between the group of slow learners and the group of fast learners. The Pearson Assessments showed the children s performance improved as they moved to higher grades. The children s marks were consistent with the results from the WJ-III. Therefore we concluded that the cognitive abilities are significantly different between fast and slow learners and that WJ-III can be used to analyze learning disabilities.
A avalia??o das habilidades cognitivas de crian?as que apresentam dificuldades de aprendizagem constitui-se um importante campo de investiga??o psicol?gica. Este estudo objetivou investigar as habilidades cognitivas de crian?as com e sem dificuldades de aprendizagem pela Bateria Woodcock-Johnson. Duas amostras foram compostas: a primeira amostra por 60 crian?as de ambos os sexos, sendo 30 participantes sem indica??o de dificuldades de aprendizagem e 30 com indica??o de dificuldades de aprendizagem, que freq?entavam a primeira e segunda s?rie do Ensino Fundamental de duas escolas p?blicas do interior do estado de S?o Paulo. A segunda amostra foi composta por oito professores de primeira e segunda s?ries de duas escolas p?blicas do interior do estado de S?o Paulo. Utilizou-se a Bateria de habilidades cognitivas Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III), composta por 10 testes, um question?rio escolar preenchido pelos professores e as notas escolares obtidas em Portugu?s, Matem?tica e Ci?ncias. As An?lises da Vari?ncia Multivariada e Univariada apontaram os efeitos significativos no tipo de grupo e de s?rie escolar das habilidades cognitivas avaliadas pela WJ III. A correla??o de Pearson mostrou a rela??o entre as habilidades cognitivas e os indicadores de dificuldades de aprendizagem, apontados pelo professor, sobre as crian?as com e sem dificuldades de aprendizagem. As notas escolares tamb?m se associaram significativamente aos resultados da WJ III. Desta forma, concluiu-se que existem diferen?as significativas nas habilidades cognitivas entre crian?as com dificuldades e crian?as sem dificuldades de aprendizagem, e que a WJ III ? uma medida v?lida para avaliar tais dificuldades.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka och följa matematiklärares resonemang kring ämnesplanens förmågor, genom problematisering av nationella provuppgifter.   Matematikundervisningen både på grundskolan och gymnasiet har visat sig vara begränsad när det gäller målstyrning av undervisningen som bygger på medvetenhet och kunskap om förmågorna. En förutsättning för att undervisningen ska kunna vara målstyrd med avseende på förmågorna ser vi är lärares kunskap och medvetenhet om desamma. Avsikten med studien är därför att ur ett utvecklingsperspektiv hitta sätt att för lärare ge ämnesplanens förmågor innebörd. De nationella proven konkretiserar flera av förmågorna, och skulle därför kunna fungera som vägledare i lärares kompetensutveckling kring förmågornas innebörd.  Undersökningen baseras på två filmade fokusgruppsdiskussioner i vilka gymnasielärare i matematik deltar. Diskussionerna utgår från nationella provuppgifter i matematik, med stegvis introducering av skolverkets definitioner av förmågorna och senare också av skolverkets bedömning av desamma.  Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgörs av ett kollegialt lärandeperspektiv och ett multimodalt och socialsemiotiskt perspektiv, som också används i den kvalitativa videoanalysen.   Studien visar att lärarnas resonemang förändras under diskussionen utan Skolverkets definitioner, så till vida att en slags överenskommelse görs, av på vilket sätt förmågorna kan tolkas. Skolverkets definitioner visade sig ha marginell inverkan på resonemangets utveckling i riktning mot Skolverkets intentioner. Skolverkets bedömning tillsammans med definitionerna fungerade däremot som utmanare till lärarnas egen tolkning och skapade genom det ett ökat resonemang. Resonemanget visade dock inte på ökad kunskap och medvetenhet kring förmågornas innebörd, som är förenligt med Skolverkets intentioner. Med stöd av forskning kring kollegialt lärande, skulle ledning av expertis på området kunnat möjliggöra ett resonemang i riktning mot intentionerna.
The aim of this study is to investigate and to monitor teachers of mathematics when they reason on the abilities as expressed in the curriculum, through problematisation of Swedish national test questions.   Teaching mathematics in Sweden has shown itself to be limited when it comes to setting objectives when based on awareness and knowledge of the abilities. One condition for the teaching to be manageable is that the teachers are aware of the abilities. The intention of this study is to find a way for the teachers through a perspective of development, where the abilities are given meaning. The national tests define many of the abilities and therefore the tests could be a guide in the teachers’ development of the reasoning of the abilities.   The investigation is based on two videotaped focus discussions by high school teachers of mathematics. These discussions are based on national test questions, where the teachers are gradually introduced to the national educational agency’s (henceforth Skolverket) definitions of the abilities and assessments that are given by Skolverket. The theoretical framework of the study is based on collegial teaching perspective and a multimodal- and social semiotic perspective, which is also being used in the qualitative video analysis.   The study shows that the teachers’ reasoning changes during the discussions without Skolverket’s definitions, and the teachers reach a consensus on how the abilities should be interpreted. Skolverket’s definitions had only marginal effects on the teachers’ reasoning regarding the intentions of the abilities. However, the teachers’ interpretations were challenged by the assessments which resulted in an increase in the teachers’ reasoning and interpretations. But the outcome of the study has not given any convincing evidence that an actual increase in knowledge nor awareness of the abilities has occurred. According to research into collegial learning, experts in this field would have been able to support more developed reasoning in line with the intentions.

Researchers have hypothesized that for people with autism, the deficits in learning certain tasks may be a function of deficits in learning the prerequisite auditory, visual and motor discriminations. The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) Test is a useful tool by which these discriminations are assessed. This study investigated whether performance on ABLA Level 6, an auditory-visual discrimination, predicts performance on a receptive language task with children with autism. Participants included five children who passed ABLA Level 6, four children who passed ABLA Level 4 but failed ABLA Level 6, and one child who passed ABLA Level 3 but failed ABLA Level 4. Standardized prompting and reinforcement procedures were used to attempt to teach each participant to respond correctly on ten name-recognition tasks. During a task pictures of two objects were placed in randomly alternated left-right positions, and a child was required to point to the picture that was named. Training on a task continued until either a pass or a fail criterion was met, whichever came first. Three of the Level 4 participants passed all ten of the picture name recognition tasks, and one passed eight of the ten tasks. The Level 3 participant passed two of the ten tasks. All five of the Level 6 participants passed all picture name recognition tasks. The difference in performance between children at ABLA Level 4 and Level 6 was not significant at the .05 level. These results suggest that children with autism at ABLA Level 4 or 6 are approximately equally capable of learning receptive name recognition tasks.

Title: Coordination abilities' level of primary school children Author: Petra Vlčková Department: Department of Physical Education Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Zdeňka Engelthalerová Abstract: This thesis is devided into two parts. The theoretical part includes theoretical knowledge, which relates to motoric abilities, especially their definition and structuring in relation to primary school children. There is also a description of coordination abilities and their possibile recognising and development in detail. In the practical part there is a description of testing procedure which finds out the level of space orientation, balance and rhythm coordination abilities by pupils in the forth form at primary school. The tests results are statistically analysed and annotated. Obtained data are compiled in charts and diagrams. There is a supplement to the practical part containing the compendium of activities for coordination development. Key words: coordination abilities, primary school age, motor learning, motor tests

This master thesis focuses on the influence that artistic gymnastics has on the coordination abilities of young school age girls. The purpose of this thesis was to use motor tests in the field to compare the level of coordination abilities of young school age artistic gymnasts with that of non-sporting girls. The tests results were subsequently statistically evaluated and commented upon. Another aim of the thesis was to compare the coordination abilities of artistic gymnasts aged 6 - 8 years with those of artistic gymnasts aged 9 - 11 years whilst they were undertaking particular tests. From the tests results it can be seen that artistic gymnastics has a positive effect on the level of the childrens coordination abilities. This finding is supported by the fact that in all tests the artistic gymnasts succeeded better than the non-sporting girls. Of the two groups the older girls (9 - 11 years) were more succesful than the younger group (6 - 8 years). The theoretical part of the thesis describes the Child's Motor Development, emphasizing the relationship between coordination abilities and young school age. It discusses the environment of the branch of sport called "women's artistic gymnastics" and the need for the children's sports training.

The first objective of this research was to investigate the predictive validity of the learning potential as measured by Ability, Processing of Information and Learning Potential Short Version (APIL SV) in predicting work performance. The second objective was to investigate the predictive validity of personality as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire Ipsative (OPQ32i) in predicting work performance. The sample consisted of 104 employees of a public sector department. Learning potential and personality were the predictor/independent variables; work performance as measured by supervisory rating was the only criterion/dependent variable of the study. The results revealed that both the APIL SV and the OPQ 32i dimensions did not correlate significantly with work performance as measured by supervisor rating.
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Cette étude introduit un nouvel outil d’évaluation des troubles liés à la perception et la mémoire de la musique pour les enfants âgés entre six et huit ans. La batterie d’évaluation proposée est une adaptation de la batterie de Montréal de l'évaluation de l’amusie (MBEA) afin qu’elle puisse être utilisée chez les enfants, et ce, peu importe leur langue maternelle et leur culture. Dans l'expérience 1, la batterie, qui évalue les composantes musicales suivantes : la tonalité, le contour, l’intervalle, le rythme ainsi que la mémoire incidente, a été administrée auprès de 258 enfants à Montréal et 91 à Pékin. Dans l'expérience 2, une version abrégée de la batterie a été administrée à 86 enfants à Montréal. Les deux versions ont démontré une sensibilité aux différences individuelles et à la formation musicale. Il ne semble pas y avoir une influence de l'apprentissage de la lecture et de l’écriture sur les performances, mais plutôt un effet de la culture. Effectivement, les enfants qui ont comme langue maternelle le Mandarin (une langue tonale) ont obtenu de meilleurs résultats aux tâches de discrimination liées à la composante mélodique en comparaison à leurs homologues canadiens. Pour les deux groupes d’enfants, ceux qui ont été identifiés comme potentiellement amusiques ont principalement, mais pas exclusivement, des difficultés à percevoir de fines variations de hauteurs. Le caractère prédominant du déficit lié au traitement mélodique est moins distinctif avec la version abrégée. Par ailleurs, les résultats suggèrent différentes trajectoires de développement pour le traitement de la mélodie, du rythme et de la mémoire. De ce fait, la version de la MBEA adaptée à l’enfant, renommée la batterie de Montréal d'évaluation du potentiel musical (MBEMP), est un nouvel outil qui permet d’identifier les troubles liés au traitement musical chez les enfants tout en permettant d'examiner le développement typique et atypique des habiletés musicales et leur relation présumée à d'autres fonctions cognitives.
The present study introduces a novel tool for the comprehensive assessment of musical disorders and potential in 6- to 8-year-old children. The tool is an adaptation of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) for use with children from a range of language and cultural backgrounds. In Experiment 1, the battery, comprising tests of memory and of scale, contour, interval and rhythm discrimination, was administered to 258 children in Montreal and 91 in Bejing. In Experiment 2, an abbreviated version of the battery was administered to 86 Montreal children. Both versions were sensitive to individual differences and to musical education. There was little apparent influence of literacy, but there was an effect of culture. Children who spoke Mandarin (a tone language) showed enhanced melodic pitch discrimination relative to their Canadian counterparts, who mostly spoke French (a non-tone language). In both cultures, children designated as amusic were impaired primarily but not exclusively in musical pitch processing. The results also suggest distinctive developmental trajectories for melody, rhythm and memory processing. Thus, the child version of the MBEA, which should be renamed the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Potential (MBEMP), provides a means of identifying musical disorders in childhood as well as a means of examining the typical and atypical developmental course of musical abilities and their putative relation to other cognitive functions.

Text in English
The literature review indicated similarities between education and chess playing and possible transfer of knowledge between these two different domains. A link was then suggested between some aspects of intellectual abilities and chess instruction in children, but not in adults (Frydman & Lynn, 1992; Waters, Doll & Mayr, 1987). In this research study the aim was to explore the relationship between chess playing and cognitive and intellectual development in Grade R learners at Garsieland. Therefore the positive influence that chess playing brings to bear on the intelligence of 64 Grade R learners (as measured on intelligence scales) was investigated. The data was collected through short biographical questionnaires and psychometric tests and the participants in both groups were assessed on two occasions. The study suggested that chess instruction exerted a positive (small) effect on Performance intelligence and subsequently on the Global scale of the Junior South African Intelligence Scales. The children in both groups also exhibited improved cognitive development after the 40 week period during 2009.
Psychology
M.A. (Psychology)