Intelligence and achievement - Research Paper Example

? Intelligence and Achievement Intelligence and Achievement Intelligence is the difference between two individuals in their abilities to understand complex ideas, learning from experiences, adapting well to the environment, engaging in varied forms of reasoning, and overcoming challenges by taking thought. Human beings have developed different kinds of information-processing abilities, referred to as intelligences. These intelligences allow us to solve problems among other functions. Assessment of intelligence is the use of specifically researched and developed tests that measure various attributes and mental abilities which includes character traits, academic achievement, intellectual functioning and attention. Intelligence assessment began in 19th century where it was the key contributor in Psychology. Currently, Intelligence assessment methods have highly been acknowledged and used in almost all counties, in the world. However, there are some countries which develop these methods according to their cultures and beliefs (Buros, 1974). Many psychologists regard intelligence as the highest level of various mental functions. For example, reasoning and abstract thinking, perception, memory and problem solving as well as control and integrative processes related to decision-making such as planning, choosing strategies, and their enactment. Although there are many diverse definitions and theories regarding intelligence, almost all of them show the existence of compound processes (Buros, 1974). These processes and their exclusive features create a complex intelligence task such as a problem solving program. The creation of the program depends on how it relates to subsystem of intelligence. Although these subsystems may differ in their scale of coverage or independence, specialists suggest that each piece operates differently through distinctive underlying principles. For instance, in a family each person has unique characteristics. However, to understand the working of individual, it is vital to study about the family structure. Likewise, to understand comprehensive intelligence functioning, one must understand the performance of individual mechanism as well as their integrated functioning. Theory of intelligence Louis L. Thurstone theory of primary mental abilities views intelligence as a general ability that forms several other abilities such as verbal comprehension, word fluency, spatial visualization, associative memory, perpetual speed, reasoning and numerical ability. Furthermore, when he examined mental test data from people with similar Intelligent Quotient scores, he found they had different mental abilities (Cherry, 2012). The test supported this theory giving it a wide acceptance world-wide. However, this theory and intelligence agree that complex mental process such as reasoning is a revelation of intellectual capacities of the human mind. Intelligence tests and their Application According to Reynolds (2006), the commonly employed intelligence test is “Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children”, Fourth Edition. Practical surveys of education psychologists and other evaluation personnel have consistently regarded Wechsler scales as the most fashionable intelligence test. The experienced professionals in psychological assessment have, therefore, administered Wechsler scales in order to make it accurate. Psychologists use Wechsler scale test in medical and school settings among children. “Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children” is among the longest intellectual assessment tests taking almost 3 hours to oversee and score. “Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children” involves a number of subset. The first one is arithmetic subset where learners solve arithmetic problems mentally and also orally. The second subset is block design where a student reproduces a chain of geometric patterns by means of red- and -white blocks. Therefore, this sub-set examines the ability to study and produce conceptual visual stimuli, theory organization and nonverbal concept formation. The third subset is the cancellation in which a student scans a series of visual stimuli and identifies target forms. The subset, therefore, seeks to examine visual attention, vigilance and processing speed. The fourth subset is coding where a student copies and matches related symbols. The examiner thus, measures mental flexibility, processing speed, attention, motivation and temporary visual memory. The fifth subset is comprehension where a learner answers questions on daily challenges. It is a gauge of verbal reasoning comprehension and capacity to apply practical information. The sixth one is digit span where students repeat an oral presentation of a series of numbers in either ascending or descending order. Digit span tests attention, mental manipulation and temporary auditory memory. The seventh subset is information where a student answers oral questions from various disciplines to examine the student level of general knowledge (Reynolds, 2006). The eighth subset is letter-number sequencing where a student use numbers in a numeric order and letters in an alphabetical order. This subset tests sequencing, attention and mental manipulation. The ninth subset is picture completion where a student studies a number of pictures and identifies the missing parts. The tenth subset is picture concept where a student examines objects and selects those that go together in order to test non verbal reasoning and categorization. Finally, we have reasoning which requires a student to identify common concepts, which examine the way of thinking. Information, cancellation, word reasoning, arithmetic and picture completion are supplemental subsets, which relate to the main subsets mentioned. The running of supplemental subsets is not compulsory, but they might be used to replace a core subset if the core subset is inappropriate for a given student, for example, due to physical restrictions. A supplemental subset may replace a core one if invalidated, that is, if there is an interruption of administration. The “Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children” IV is designed for application to ages of 6 to 16 years, but, as for early childhood evaluation, the Wechsler kindergarten and Primary Scale Intelligence 3rd edition is presented and is suitable for children aged 2-7 years. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd edition suits the age bracket 16-89 years (Cherry, 2012). Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales is another test used to assess intelligence that encompasses a pre-named supplemental memory test for persons within 3-94 years (Reynolds, 2006). It is desirable due to its ability to obtain a valid and reliable measure of intellectual capacity that comprises both non-verbal and verbal abilities in a short period, usually 20-25 minutes as opposed to other tests that take a considerable duration. The supplemental memory test take close to 10 minutes to administer so a clinical test can evaluate both intelligence and memory in roughly 30 minutes. Normative procedure for intelligence test and their biasness According to Reynolds (2006), teachers should be adequately trained to interpret individual and group intelligence achievement tests in schools. School psychologists and other experts with specialized training in administering and unraveling clinical and diagnostic tests, also manage and deduce the individual tests. Reliability and validity measures of intelligence There are a number of reasons for the use of intelligence test in schools. The first one is that it evaluates ability regardless of the subjective decision of the observer or others irrelevant factors. The second one is that it helps guide the student and parents in vocational and educational planning. The third one is that it provides other measures of cognitive abilities, to provide information not reflected in standard achievement school grades or tests. The fourth one is that, it helps in identifying the student’s talent oriented programs. The fifth one is that it helps in assessing how school experiences can profit students. Finally, it aid teachers in coming up with standards that meets the student’s exclusive pattern of cognitive weaknesses and strengths (Buros, 1974). Assessment of Intelligence and achievement The Binet-Simon scale on achievement test contains issues arranged in their order of complexity and assesses a wide range of abilities. The assessment entails some sensory-perpetual tests, but with emphasis on verbal matters assessing reasoning, and judgment. Binet-Simon scales have gained acceptance world-wide especially in the United State in evaluating recruits in the army. However, Scholastic Aptitude Test, a conglomerate measure of accomplishment and intelligence has with time overtaken the Binet-Simon scale method. This is because it emphasizes on oral and quantitative abilities, visual-spatial and problem solving techniques. Research has exposed, with considerable steadiness that modern intelligence tests are excellent predictors of academic success. Therefore, bearing in mind that this is the precise aim of establishing the tests, the prediction is a success. In addition, research has shown that Intelligence Quotient is more stable than Scholastic Aptitude Test in predicting of scholarly accomplishment (Buros, 1974). Nevertheless, with time these tests became controversial due to the often disturbing debate over the significance of intelligence. Therefore, in an attempt to try and avoid possible misinterpretation of intelligence, test publishers adopted other neutral words, among them, “mental ability,” “scholastic ability,” or simply “ability.” Ethical considerations associated with achievement and intelligence tests in education. Intelligence and achievement tests have a number of unethical issues; first, they have demanding psychometric and interrelated measurement issues and thus abandoned for decades although many education textbooks and psychological material have addressed intelligence tests. The second limitation is that they may not give the right prediction since the tests follow standardized directions, for taking and scoring, which may affect people differently. Thirdly, intelligence tests reflect inborn qualities only as opposed to reflecting a diverse range of measures, such as, nutrition and early stimulation. Finally, proper explanation of intelligence tests requires facts of examinee’s history, setting exposure and the situation of examinee’s life, which is time consuming (Reynolds, 2006). Comparison and contrast of intellectual and achievement methods From the above discussion, the intellectual methods and achievement methods differ in the durations they take to administer and generate results. The former is considerably time consuming while the results of the latter are obtained within 10-20 minutes and results interpreted. The methods also vary significantly depending on the persons subject to them. For instance, “Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children” and “Wechsler Adult Intelligence”. However, their common goal is to reveal the working of the human intellectual capacity while still maintaining their individual goals of explaining the differences in intellectual capacity and measuring performance for intelligence and assessment tests respectively. The main purpose of giving the two different tests is to capture the changes associated with performance and achievement at different ages (Buros. 1974). In conclusion, this paper critically analyses the definition of intelligence, a theory of intelligence and the relationship between the two. In addition, the paper examines measures of intelligence, their reliability, validity and biases. The paper has also focused on Intelligence and achievement assessment goals, and their use. Finally, the paper presents a view of ethical use of intelligence tests. References Reynolds, C. (2006). Intelligence Testing. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/intelligence-testing/ Buros, K. O. (1974). The Third Mental Measurements Yearbook. New York, NY: The Gryphon Press. Cherry, K. (2012). Theories of Intelligence. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/intelligence.htm Read More