The objective of this study was to explore whether dynamic testing of indigenous and ethnic minority children could provide information concerning changes in their strategy use during testing. It was hypothesized that dynamic testing with graduated prompting and trial-by-trial-assessment could reveal the development of children’s strategy use while tested. The participants were indigenous Dutch and ethnic minority children. Trial-by-trial-testing provided information of how strategy use developed during training. Experimental-group children showed significant changes towards more advanced strategies. Ethnic minority children showed most strategy changes during training, initially needing more prompting but progressively requiring less. The study provided insight into strategy use during and after training. Pretest strategy level was found to be the first predictor of posttest strategy level, followed by condition and ethnicity. Age, gender, and intelligence test scores did not change this order. The relatively short dynamic intervention provides insights into children’s strategy use and their response to prompting, particularly for ethnic minority children.
The study investigated geometric analogical reasoning in 8-year-old children by microgenetically examining the (transfer) effects of self- and other-scaffolding and memory capacity on progression and variation in children’s analogy performance. Participants were 54 children, divided over three conditions, and followed for 5 weeks. Children’s initial performances showed a wide strategy repertoire. A number of children profited from repeated self-scaffolding and increased their strategy use considerably. A 20-minute graduated-prompts other-scaffolding procedure promoted strategy use beyond the effects of self-scaffolding, inducing either continuation of gradual change or a rapid change in analogical reasoning. Distinct change trajectories showed individual differences regarding timing and rate of change. There was evidence of transfer of analogy strategies between geometric and verbal tasks. Children with a larger memory capacity remained at higher levels of geometric analogical reasoning. Children with smaller memory capacities fully caught up with their peers with a larger memory capacity after other-scaffolding.
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