The first aspect is characterized by the use of three-dimensional test materials that contain gamelike features rather than the two-dimensional features of the paper-and-pencil instruments used in other systems of static assessment and DA (i.e., the LPAD). The gamelike materials were found to be potent in attracting and maintaining the child's attention and motivating him or her toward exploratory task-intrinsic behavior. The examiner allows the child to manipulate the test's components, change the answer parts, and rearrange them until he or she reaches convenience level and is satisfied with the answer. Experience shows that despite the gamelike nature of the instruments, the "naive" and simple look of the problems, and the concrete operations stage of the child, the problems presented require a high level of abstraction and thinking. 63 D. Tzuriel, Dynamic Assessment of Young Children
A sample of 116 children (M=6 years 7 months) in Grade 1 was randomly assigned to experimental (n=60) and control (n=56) groups, with equal numbers of boys and girls in each group. The experimental group received a program aimed at improving representation and transformation of visuospatial information, whereas the control group received a substitute program. All children were administered mental rotation tests before and after an intervention program and a Global-Local Processing Strategies test before the intervention. The results revealed that initial gender differences in spatial ability disappeared following treatment in the experimental but not in the control group. Gender differences were moderated by strategies used to process visuospatial information. Intervention and processing strategies were essential in reducing gender differences in spatial abilities.
The focus of this article is on the effects of mediated learning experience (MLE) interactions on children’s cognitive modifiability. In this article, I discuss the MLE theory, and selected research findings demonstrating the impact of MLE strategies in facilita ting cognitive modifiability. Research findings derive from mother–child interactions, peer-mediation and cognitive education programs. Mediation for transcendence (expanding) was found consistently as the most powerful strategy predicting cognitive modifiability and distal factors in samples of children with learning difficulties directly predict cognitive modifiability. Findings of peer-mediation studies indicate that children in experimental groups participating in the Peer Mediation with Young Children program showed better mediational teaching style and higher cognitive modifiability than children in control groups. Application of dynamic assessment as a central evaluation method reveals that the contribution of the cognitive education program was not simply supporting the development of a particular skill practiced during the program; it also involved teaching children how to benefit from mediation in a different setting and consequently improve their cognitive performance across other domains.
The objectives of the current study were (a) to develop a measure of children's analogical thinking modifiability (CATM) based on the Feuerstein, Rand, and Hoffman (1979) theory of dynamic assessment of cognitive modifiability, (b) to compare the performance of groups assumed to be differentially modified by intervention, (c) to compare CATM performance with performance on a conventional test, and (d) to study qualitative changes after a learning process. Subjects were disadvantaged, regular, and special education kindergarten children (N = 140), and mentally retarded children (N = 20). The CATM was administered together with the Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM) in a balanced order. Disadvantaged and regular children achieved higher gain scores than other groups in both none-or-all and partial credit methods (p less than .01). The MR and the special education groups showed small gains according to the none-or-all credit method; however, according to the partial credit method, the MR group showed high gains and the special education group a performance decrease. Performance scores on the CATM were higher than on the RCPM, especially in comparison to the B8-B12 items--differences reach a peak of 61% and 67% for the disadvantaged and regular groups, respectively. Qualitative analysis indicated that form mistakes were most resistant to change, whereas color mistakes were most easy to modify. Results were explained within Feuerstein's theoretical framework of cognitive modifiability. Impaired cognitive functions as well as analytic versus synthetic processes were suggested to explain group differences.
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