MOHANA A/P MUTHAIAH (G1817160)

EDP 6101 THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

FINAL EXAM

Question 1

(a)

Intelligence tests are excellent predictors of academic achievement and provide an

outline of a person's mental strengths and weaknesses. Many times the scores have
revealed talents in many people, which have led to an improvement in their educational
opportunities. Absolutely, a quality intelligence tests not only determines overall ability,
also it can pinpoint specific learning disabilities or weaknesses that need to be addressed.

Many children are not well-served by the standard educational system, because a
significant weakness in one area can prevent them from advancing or having access to
areas in which they could excel. An intelligence tests, especially the kind administered by
a psychologist, trained test administrator or educators is an extremely valuable diagnostic
tool. It doesn’t give just a single number, it gives scores in 10 or more subtests and can
give significant insights into a student’s strengths and challenges.

Intelligence tests can measure potential for academic achievement, or their strengths
and weaknesses, according to Mind Disorders.com. Most intelligence tests have a
vocabulary section, a mathematical reasoning section and a spatial abilities section. Some
intelligence tests measure both verbal and nonverbal intelligence, others measure one
selected intelligence, such as mathematical reasoning. The advantage of intelligence tests,
according to the University of Michigan, is that teachers and psychologists have the
ability to compare students of the same age and determine areas of need.

In the world of education, quantity is not always quality. However, educators require
multiple measures to ensure that they gain an accurate picture of a student’s performance
compared with others at the same grade level. This process is essential, because a student
might not do well on a specific assessment due to performance anxiety or a learning
disability, but an alternate measure might demonstrate that the student can function at
grade level given certain conditions. For example, some students perform poorly on
standardized tests but do well in authentic assessments such as hand-on projects.
 The purpose of a comprehensive intelligence test and evaluation is to accurately
identify a student's patterns of strengths and needs. The term assessment is used in many
different contexts for a variety of purposes in educational settings including individual
and group, standardized and informal, and formative and summative. Educators should
keep up-to-date about legislation, research, and education that impact their level of
involvement in such areas as data collection, intelligence test, and evaluation components.
An individual professional growth plan developed in collaboration with appropriate
education personnel may be useful.

(b)

Intelligence forms the juncture at which cognition and emotion meet, it facilitates our
capacity for resilience, motivation, empathy, reasoning, stress management,
communication, and our ability to read and navigate a plethora of social situations and
conflicts. Intelligence matters and if cultivated affords one the opportunity to realize a
more fulfilled and happy life.

One general strategy for attacking social policies such as poverty, crime and fairness
is to devise and provide opportunities for poor people to extricate themselves from it, and
then ensure that those opportunities are used. Those opportunities for employment
training and employment, education, improving life skills, support for change and
support in transition, and creating social networks and connectedness, can come from a
number of sources. They benefit the community, as well as those they affect directly,
both economically and socially.

Successful programs and initiatives are usually those that involve participants from
the beginning, focus on their real needs, treat them with respect, and provide ongoing
support. Regardless of the design and implementation of programs, however, no
opportunities are likely to be available without powerful and persistent advocacy for
them. The approach to policy makers, funders, and the public for support and resources
is what will ultimately determine whether opportunities for the poor will exist or not.
Question 3

A) The formal operational stage begins around the age of 11 and lasts until adulthood.
Hence, during this period, a person develops the ability to think regards to abstract concepts.
Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning are some of the
skills which are developed during this stage. There are a few types of reasoning such as
abstract as well as hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Abstract reasoning means to think in
abstract, being idealistic and in a logical way. Hypothetical-deductive reasoning means the
ability to solve problems and to come up with a conclusion. Piaget’s formal operational stage
also describe about the adolescent egocentrism where it means increase in self-consciousness
as well personal uniqueness.

Based on the Piaget’s formal operational stage, it is necessary for an individual to consider it
when it comes to graduating from college or university in Malaysia. Piaget and his colleagues
have conducted experiments to assess formal operational thought. One of the experiments is
where Piaget evaluated the cognitive capabilities of children of different ages through the use
of a scale and varying weights. In conclusion, only the children between the age of 13 and 14
who are in early adolescence successfully implement their hypothesis in getting the
relationship between weight and distance correctly.

This shows that the formal operation is an important aspect in balancing and emerging their
thoughts and skills which is important in tertiary education settings. Mostly the syllabus in
the tertiary education setting requires higher order thinking skills (HOTS) and without these
basic skills it would be difficult for a student to complete their assessments such as tests,
exams, assignments, projects or researches. Not only that, this is when a student need to use
their reasoning skills such as abstract as well as hypothetical-deductive reasoning to ensure
that they will be able not only to work on their assessment but also to understand the course
content so that they will be able to apply it during their working period.

The curriculum developed in universities is usually to match the cognitive level according to
the age of students. Usually the basic subjects of a particular course will be given the first
year of the students as a introduction to the students as moving on the syllabus will get
intensified and during the final year the students usually will be tested on the cognitive ability
of the studied subjects in a general subjects such as project paper or research. For an example,
project paper subject has been introduced in a smaller scale during school days in the name of
projects or assignments and the content is as per their level of cognitive as well as the
reasoning of what their age availability could take. In this case, a Standard 6 student who is
12 years old will be given task to write about history of Malaysia and the student need only to
write the general factual information of history rather than a college students in Malaysia
Studies need to come up with a research on finding out more facts and in some cases statistics
on the same topic given. This is to encourage the ability of thinking and to exercise the
reasoning skills which contribute towards the formal operational level of Piaget’s theory.

Another example will be the mathematics and science subjects. It requires the concepts and
hypothetical situations thinking and during the earlier stages, the primary students only need
to use the trial-and-error method to solve the problems whereas when they enter secondary,
they need to solve the problem in a logical and methodical manner.

Be it based on a scientific research or through biological evidences such as evaluating the

brain chemicals of an adult or adolescents, it clearly shows that there are several differences
in thinking level. The biological evidences says that the adolescents actions are more to
emotions and less by the logics whereas brain of an adult fluctuate less and results in more
longer emotional baseline and forming habits whether it is good or bad. For instance, it is
easier for an adolescent to change his habits or daily life style compared to an adult as they
are much more used to it and the chemicals in the brain has to allow the changes which may
take longer time. Said that, Piaget believes that the thinking of an adult and adolescents are in
the same manner but the level of knowledge and qualitative thinking is more prominent in an
adult. Adolescents are likely to act on impulse, get into risky or dangerous behaviour and
involve in accidents or fights. Adults usually pause and think before they act as they consider
the consequences of their actions and usually avoid the risky or dangerous behaviour. This is
when the Piaget’s belief comes into picture where he says that deductive reasoning is
necessary in the formal operational stage. This is because deductive logic takes the
consequences of an action into account where it exist in to the adults compared to the
adolescents. In general, it can be said that the three differences of the thinking of an adult
with an adolescents is in the way they behave, decision making as well problem solving.

Based on the Piaget’s belief that adults has advance manner of qualitative thinking as well
able to make decision based on knowledge, it shows that adults are capable of post formal
reasoning. Post formal reasoning meaning that the thinking is absolute and able to make
decision based on logic, experience and reality. It can be said that post formal reasoning is
more complex where the decision making will take into account the circumstances and the
outcomes as well the consequences integrating the emotions. Adults are mostly in the
working people category where they are exposed to more real life situations and they deal
with many level and types of people. So for instance, a 20 years’ experience doctor will be
able to narrow down the possible issue of a patient according to the symptoms and experience
dealing with similar issues compared to a final year medical students who is knowledgeable
on the medical sciences. This is due to the adult in this case the experienced doctor not only
makes his decision through his experience but also logic by considering the symptoms as well
trying to rule out the unnecessary options using dialectics and flexibility compared to the
students who only uses his knowledge in making the decision.

B) Secondly, I also believe that adults are more capable of post formal reasoning as
adolescents are more emotion driven compared to adults who are more logical, realistic and
practical. An adolescents may get emotional when did not get the results as expected as they
“thinks” that they have answered the exam as per the facts required. This makes the
adolescents emotionally break down and being defensive in accepting the truth. However,
when an adult failed in the exam, they will be more accepting as they have the capacity of
understanding the complexities of the situation by acknowledge the mistakes which can result
to a failure and they will be trying to correct the mistake in future.

As a conclusion, the level of thinking among the adolescent and adults though are in the same
level, however the influence of post formal reasoning can make an adult to think more
matured.