Many people agree that standardized tests are a reasonable evaluation of a student’s capability. Standardized tests originated in the mid-1800s, in the American education system. W. James Popham defines standardized testing by “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner” (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). After the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) came about in the early 2000s, the use of standardized testing became popular. NCLB required yearly testing for specific grades and subjects. If schools did not demonstrate adequate improvement, they were either closed or run by the state. This was done so the state and the tax payers of the schools knew that students were learning and knowing the material. Tax payers especially wanted to make sure their money was going to good use (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). High scores on standardized tests can result in funding for the school, along with bonuses to the facility and staff of the school.
Intelligence is commonly measured through the use of a number of scales and quantitative measures, like the Intelligence Quotient (IQ), developed by Alfred Binet in early 20th century to identify which French children needed more attention from their educators. The use of IQ tests progressively spread to all parts of the world. The use of these tests has raised controversy among psychologists and educators, with supporters of IQ tests assuming that the tests produce measure of genetically transmitted intelligence. On the other hand, critics of the tests have pointed out that IQ test provides a measure that defines intelligence through the use of cultural deterministic concepts. The ethnocentrism embedded in the assumptions of many commentators, has generated into a justification for a number of theoretical approaches, like those by Charles Murray and others (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/850358.stm).
We first need to know who created the Cognitive Development Theory. Jean Piaget was born in
How are Learning Disabilities Diagnosed? – A child is often diagnosed with a Learning Disability when they e...
Lewis Terman created the IQ tests that many schools used to test student’s intellect capacity. This test caused many students to only be taught how to work in factories rather than learning material that could get them into better careers.
In Howard Gardner’s Frames of Mind, he proposes that there are seven main areas in which all people have special skills; he calls them intelligences. His research at Harvard University was in response to the work that Alfred Binet had done in France around 1900. Binet’s work led to the formation of an intelligence test; we are all familiar with the “intelligence quotient,” or “IQ,” the way that intelligence is measured on his test.
John B. Watson at a very young age showed his potential. He was enrolled at Furman University at the age of sixteen, he received his master’s degree there. After receiving his masters at Furman University he transferred to University of Chicago getting his Ph.D. He became an instructor there at the University of Chicago for four years and then becoming a professor at The Johns Hopkins University. Later on Watson became chairman of a well-known journal called Psychological Review. “In this paper, Watson rejected the introspective techniques of the school of structuralism and declared that psychology must become the science Mentalistic concept must be replaced by empirical study of observable behavior only” (Evans, 2). Soon enough Watson was
Alfred Binet was born on July 11, 1857 in Nice, France. He was an only child to artist mother and a physician father. ("Alfred Binet") His parents separated when Binet was young, and Binet stayed living with his mother. At the age of fifteen, Binet moved to Paris, France with his mother to begin law school. ("Role of Intelligence Testing in Society") In 1884, Binet married Laure Balbiani and had two daughters. Interested by Jean-Marin Charcot and his studies and work on hypnosis, in 1887, Binet abandoned his law school education. He decided to change to scientific studies at a hospital in Paris, France, where he stayed until 1891. After his journey and work at the hospital, Binet later became involved at a research laboratory at Sorbonne in 1891, and he was the director of the lab from 1895 until his death on October 18th, 1911. In a span of 21 years, Binet published over 200 books, articles, and reviews on psychology. (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica)
Similar to Sternberg, Binet came to the conclusion that intelligence is the sum of mental processes (Flangan, Harrison, 2005). He developed the first intelligence test in order to categorize how much children benefitted from school education. The Binet-Simon scale, keeping in mind that Binet believed in intelligence consisting of different components, thus included language component, auditory processing, learning and memory, as well as judgement and problem solving (Kamin, 1974). The results were supposed to identify the student’s mental age. Lewis Terman introduced the Binet-Simon test to America and adapted it to sort army recruits in World War I (Comer et al., 2013). The Stanford-Binet test, developed by Terman in 1916, aimed to be an improved version that was able to measure mental age more appropriately (Kamin, 1974). He was convinced that intelligence is the ability to form concepts and to think abstract (Comer et al., 2013). The Stanford-Binet test has been described by Maud Minton to be superior to other intelligence tests of that time because it was very precise, it had detailed guidelines, it measured the IQ which became the standard marking system (Flangan, Harrison,
Due to the wealth of the Binet family, it wasn't important for him to study law and therefore he begun reading about psychology during his free time. After publishing his first psychology article, Binet begun working with hypnosis in the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. Eventually in 1884 Binet married the daughter of a French embryologist and had two daughters.. Even before making the decision to become involved in the testing, Alfred Binet was already researching cognitive processes with his daughters. Because of his observations of his two daughters and their differences, Binet was able to conclude that there had to be several different categories of intelligence.
One of the most well-known scientists of the 19th century was a German scientist named Franz Joseph Gall. Claimed as the founder of Phrenology, Gall was a pioneer in his fields of neuroanatomy, and physics, and also widely known for his theories and concepts of the localized functions of the brain and phrenology. His primary goal in his studies was to develop a functional anatomy and physiology of the brain as well as a revised psychology of personality. (http://grants.hhp.coe.uh.edu/clayne/HistoryofMC/HistoryMC/Gall.htm) This influential psychologist made many influential contributions, yet controversial at the time, to the study of psychology and the human brain.
Alfred Binet, born in Nice, France, on the eleventh of July, whose mother was an
Around the turn of the century, the French psychologist Alfred Binet performed several experiments with handwriting analysis as a device for testing personality. Binet claimed that handwriting experts could distinguish successful from unsuccessful persons with high accuracy. The German school of handwriting analysis, led by Ludwig Klages, developed a subjective and esoteric approach to graphology, and apparently never even attempted experimental verification of its claims.
The era of discovery in psychology was a fast-paced and debatable one as some of the unlikeliest individuals entered into the realm of the new science. Some by accident because of their close work with other fields of science and others with the direct intent to create a new school of thought. During its inception and much of its history, deliberation over how psychology should be defined and what it should encompass filled most of the scholarly printings and closed-door discussions. As a result, in 1894 Lightner Witmer set out to define an applied psychology where help could be given to children with learning disabilities.
(2016). THE IMPORTANCE OF INSTRUMENT MAKERS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: THE CASE OF ALFRED BINET AT THE SORBONNE LABORATORY. Journal Of The History Of The Behavioral Sciences, 52(3), 231-257. doi:10.1002/jhbs.21790