Development and Validation of a Working Memory Capacity Test for High School Students

摘要

The aim of this study is to develop a working memory capacity (WM) test as one of the subtests for the new intelligence test (TISS, or Tes Inteligensi Siswa SMA). The WM test would be used as a reference in consideration of selecting a specialization for high school students in Indonesia. The construction of the WM test is based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory, which is the most comprehensive and contemporary theory of intelligence. The testing of the WM test was conducted on 97 first-year high school students in the Jakarta region, including students from natural science and social science specializations. Based on the item analyses, the WM test had good items with a varying item difficulty and good item discrimination. Reliability testing using the Cronbach Alpha method showed that the WM test had a good internal consistency. Validity testing using correlations with other test methods showed that WM test was a valid test for measuring working memory capacity. Based on the results, the WM test is a promising new test in Indonesia for measuring one type of intelligence: that is, working memory capacity based on the CHC theory.