Testing for intelligence ?


The manner of assessment of children in early years is very different from the assessment of older children and adults in several ways. This difference is in the way young children learn. They construct knowledge in experiential, interactive, concrete, and hands-on ways (Bredekamp and Rosegrant, 1992, 1995) rather than through abstract reasoning and paper and pencil activities alone. To learn,they must touch and manipulate objects, build and create in many media, listen and act out stories and everyday roles, talk and sing, and move and play in various ways and environments because of these  what young children know and can do would best be served in ways other than traditional paper and pencil assessments.

Unfortunately, this manner of assessment of young children is not the same in most schools in Nigeria. Assessment is done mostly by paper and pencils and it doesn't not do justice to the the measure of intelligence of children and especially leaves some children behind. I remember a particular situation in my class during the assessment period(which is generally called exams ) this little girl will not respond in writing or verbally to the assessment questions during that period but will after on answer the questions correctly on her in the company of her friends while at play. If this child would be assessed in the traditional manner she would be assessed wrongly.The paper and pencil only manner of assessment does not put into recognition children with learning disorders like Dyslexia who also have their intelligence that cannot be accessed only by Paper and Pencil.

Quality early childhood assessment must not only be about standardized tests but must be holistic and must leave no child behind!


Comments

  1. sophia chang10 December 2017 at 06:45

    Hi Anu,
    You bring up a valid concern that when kids are only assessed through paper and pencil, how are children with learning disorders evaluated when the only means are just the traditional route. Assessment also needs to pertain to the whole child in any sort of measurement that would leave no child left behind.

    ReplyDelete

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