Intelligence within the educational sphere

Question 1

What was the Porteus Maze test used for?

Answer 1

• to have an intelligence test that was culture free and non-verbal to identify mentally retarded individuals
• some argue that no test can be culture-free

Question 2

What are the most commonly used choice of criteria for academic achievement?

Answer 2

• school marks (grades)

- no. of years of formal education

Question 3

Which subjects tend to have high correlations with Gf? Gc?

Answer 3

The correlations with intelligence tend to depend on the type of subject course.

• Gf: maths and science subjects
• Gc and verbal abilities: histories and english with measures (also show correlations with Gf but tend to be lower)
• this is illustrated in Gustaffsen & Balke’s (1994) study:
• there are notable higher correlations with Gf for science/maths (.41) and higher correlations with Gc for languages and social sciences (.72 and .40 respectively)

Question 4

How are intelligence levels and YFE (years of formal education) correlated?

Answer 4

• similar to that obtained with school marks e.g. scores on intelligence tests and no. of years of schooling correlate between .30 and .65
• when SES is accounted for in these interpretations, measures of intelligence are better predictors of the amount of education one receives.

Question 5

What are the results for ppl with higher and lower intelligence?

Answer 5

• higher intelligence has shown that this increases years of formal education
• measures of intelligence are better predictors of the amount of education one receives than measures of SES such as father’s education or any other predictors of educational achievement that have been used to date.

Question 6

Intelligence tests are well-known predictors of educational
achievement. Describe briefly main findings focusing on
grades as a criteria of academic achievements.

Answer 6

The predicted value of intelligence tests for education achievement depending on the type of course, such that:
- marks in subjects like History and English tend to have higher correlations with Gc
(they also have correlations with Gf but they’re lower)
- marks in subjects like Maths and Science tend to have higher correlations with Gf.
Gustaffson and Balke illustrate these findings as well:
- Gf was more highly correlated with maths/science (.41)
- Gc was more highly correlated with languages/social sciences (.71 and 0.40 respectively).

Question 7

There is a view that efforts to use educational means to improve performance on cognitive tests are ineffective. What is your position? And why?

Answer 7

Based on the evidence thus far, educational efforts to improve cognitive ability have been small but not entirely ineffective. Overall, the evidence is mixed, and there is little evidence that suggest educational efforts during preschool years will create enduring changes on tests of intelligence.

• The HeadStart program showed increases of 6-7 IQ points for this in the interventional group (aimed at providing an enriching educational environment). however, these were not enduring changes found.
• Practice: this has participants given the same task on many occasions and their performance on each occasion is recorded - this showed insignificant changes in performance on typical tests of intelligence.
• Coaching: a large meta-analyses found changes of only 2 IQ points, proving not to be very effective
• Training: Kvashchev’s experiment examined the use of creative training and found improvements of both Gf and Gc - and this was also seen in an improvement of 8 IQ points.

Therefore, the best option for improving training on cognitive tests is due to training (creative training) as they have significant changes on cognitive tests.