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THE PURPOSE AND VALUE OF SOI TESTING |
The purpose of abilities testing is to evaluate "horsepower" or innate ability to perform apart from previous learning. The difficulty in achieving this purpose is that it is quite impossible to measure abilities apart from the knowledge base that results from earlier learning. It would also be highly desirable to have a test that looked at abilites from a broader and more accurate perspective than the traditional IQ has afforded. Since all of us are multi-dimensional in our mental abilities, it would be useful to have an instrument that measured a variety of abilities rather than just one. This is to say that intelligence comprises several dimensions, not just one. Learning and other intellectual performance result from a combination of different abilities. We have all heard the now humorous stories about well known scientists, inventors, or artists of the past who did not fit well in the contex of typical public education early in life. The problem was that the criteria used to define intelligence in their childhood did not account for other abilities that were undoubtedly present early but showed up later on. If early testing could accurately measure students in several dimensions of ability, we could provide guidance and counseling in a much more efficient and profitable way.
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That is the unique advantage offered by the Structure of Intellect (SOI) testing that is now available. SOI is based on an intellegence theory that came out of work initially begun by Dr. J.P. Guilford and later refocused by Dr. Mary N. Meeker and Dr. Robert J. Meeker. The test they developed not only assesses thinking abilities, but also helps to develop and enhance areas of deficiency as well as giftedness. Dr. Guilford achieved startling success with his work in differentiating mental abilities for the Army Air Corps in World War II, creating tests that decreased the failure rate in the training of pilots, navigators, and bonbardiers from 33% to approximately 3%. He continued his research at the University of Southern California following the war, bringing final shape to the paradigm in 1959. Since 1962, the Meekers have continued to refine Dr. Guilford's work by applying 26 SOI abilities to training and learning processes and by developing an assessment and training program for developing each thinking ability. The success of the test itself and the progress demonstrated by students who subsequently use the learning modules as directed provide clear evidence that intelligence can be taught -- there is hope even for seriously impaired students.
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The intelligence paradigm established by SOI consists of three divisions referred to as the operations, contents, and products of thinking. There are five operations: congnition, the ability to perceive and understand new information quickly; memory, the ability to retain and retrieve information in any form; evaluation, the ability to make decisions and to judge correctness, suitability, adequacy, or desirability of information; convergent production (sometimes called problem solving), the ability to synthesize new information from given information to arrive at what is normally accepted as the best answer or outcome; and divergent production (somtimes referred to as creativity), the ability to generate new information from given information, emphasizing the variety and quality of answers.
The second dimension in the paradigm, the contents of thinking, delineates three types of information. The first of these is figual, a category that includes concrete information. It is what we can see, hear, and touch directly. It could be a photograph, a sound, or a gesture. It may be visiual, auditory, or kinesthetic. A child whose figual abilities are high would be able to manipulate figures mentally or manually and would have good spacial perception and judgment.
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The second content of information is symbolic, a category that includes information in symbolic form. A symbol is an arbitrary sign that has no significance in itself, only that meaning which society ascribes to it. Examples include numeric codes, alphabetic characters, musical notes, mathematical signs, and other such symbols. Persons having high symbolic abilitties do well with numbers or letters, and are often good with music.
The third content is semantic or verbal information. It includes the meanings society attaches to words. It is reading or writing, listening or speaking. A student high in semantic abilities is good with words and ideas and will frequently do well in formal educational settings.
The third major dimension in the paradigm, the products of thinking, delineate or define the complexity of the above three contents of thinking. The six levels of complexity of information beginning with the simplest and proceeding to the more complex include units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications.
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The SOI test, then, is first diagnostic: it calculates performance and ability in each segment of all three major dimensions within the paradigm and diagnoses rather specifically the large variety of strengths and weaknesses in all learning abilities. Learning problems occur when students are not equipped with adequate abilities to benefit from the instruction that has been given to them. The answer to the problem is not slower and louder classroom instruction. Although we are usually ready to provide this, it is rarely helpful precisely because the student is simply not prepared to receive it. Certain sets of abilities are required for reading readiness, others for reading comprehension; certain sets of abilities are required for arithmetic, and others for mathematics; certain abilities are needed for comprehension, and others for judgement and evaluation. We must identify the abilities that have not been developed that will facilitate learning.
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Second, SOI is prescriptive. After we have diagnosed the problems, we must find remediation. SOI provides this as well by teaching abilities that are low. Once the student's individual profile of abilities is known, that profile can be compared with the profile required by the learning task itself to identify the specific point for remediatioin. The development of learning abilities is accomplished through a series of focused training exercises. These exercises do not involve normal curricular content and so are to be distinguished from teaching in the usual sense. An SOI treatment program may be thought of as a weight room -- a way to build mental muscle in specifically needed areas. So each student is given an individual exercise plan that includes specific activities that assist the building/learning process. In some cases, games not usually associated in our thinking with the development of learning skills, may be employed as well.
At the completion of the treatment program, students usually begin to benefit from regular classroom instruction within a short period of time and are frequently ready to return to normal curricular programs and schedules. The promise of this kind of help for a struggling student is one of the most exiting developments in education today. Families and school systems throughout the country are now beginning to recognize the potential and are taking advantage of the benefits of this unique learning innovation. We are pleased that we can provide information on how your family can utilize this resource. Contact us today.
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