Measuring Learning Ability by Dynamic Testing.

摘要

A criticism of traditional ability tests is that they are static, rather than dynamic, measures of intelligence. That is, they measure what the person has learned, but not necessarily the capacity to learn. This project developed two tests of learning ability, spatial learning ability and mathematical learning ability, based on cognitive theory. In these tests which consist of a pretest and two posttests, learning ability is the modifiability of a person's performance under conditions that change the cognitive load of the task, such as strategy training or cues. To solve some psychometric problems in measuring change (i.e., the inequivalencies of raw change at different initial performance levels and the unreliability of change scores), the multidimensional Rasch model for learning and change (Embretson, 1987; 1989A;1989b) was used to estimate learning abilities. Further, the tests were counterbalanced for the stimulus features that influence processing difficulty to assure cognitive equivalency and to observe the impact of strategy training and cues on the mental models used in the tasks. Three goals were accomplished for each tests: 1) large sample data was obtained to calibrate the tests by the multidimensional Rasch model for learning and change, 2) the construct validity of the learning ability measurements was examined and 3) the cognitive theory underlying the tasks in each test was extended. Although the results on mathematical learning ability were not particulary strong, the measurement of spatial learning ability was strongly supported. (SDW)