Intellectual
ability of underachievers
N. Murakawa |
In
order to examine the characteristics of thinking procedure of underachievers,
three tests, Grid, Objective Sorting and dumber Strategy were given
tob4pairs of achievers and under-achievers of 5th-, Eth- and 7th-
grades in public schools in Austin, Texas, U.S.A. The subjects were
matched in sex, age school year, IQ level and parents' socioeconomical
status. Differences between achievers and underachievers in Grid
were not found m the answers themselves, but were quite significant
with regard to the processes through which the answers were derived.
Object Sorting 'Test, given individually by using 33 subjects, revealed
the differences between underachievers and achievers in the three
scores-abstract and concrete behavior, differentiation on sorting,
and average number of objects assorted as a group. The differences
were that achievers sort the objects with snore integrated, differentiated
and abstract concepts than Underachievers do. Results of Number Strategy
Test, given as a group test, explain that achievers treat numbers
conceptually while underachievers do symbolically or sensorially.
Froze the results of the three tests mentioned above, the author
has came to the following conclusions: Underachievers are low in
abstract thinking and their concept is concrete, personal and empirical,
while achievers' concept is, abstract, impersonal and general. The
former tend to solve problems by trial and error method based on
their sensory impression, and, therefore, they seem to use their
spatial and perceptual ability for solving the complicated problems.
On the contrary, the latter use their reasoning ability for problem,
solving with hypothetico-deductive attitude. Future problems have
been proposed for the establishment of appropriate teaching methods
based on the characteristics of underachievers' intellectual ability
thus found.
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