Abstract
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)
This research inquiry employs the Rasch model of measurement to assess the contemporary quality of the items that constitute an intelligence test developed in South Africa during the 1980s. The Rasch model of measurement will be used as an analytical tool for exploring the quality of items constituting the performance scales of a translated version of the Junior South African Intelligence Scales (JSAIS). The JSAIS was translated into Sesotho and was used to assess grade 1 Sesotho home language learners. This study is part of the Soweto Panel Research Programme (SPRP), which aims to investigate the development of children in a specific Soweto school from preschool (grade R, age 5 and 6) to the end of the Foundation Phase (grade 3). Within this school, the research projects include the assessment of cognitive abilities, numeracy, literacy and the households of the children. I am involved in assessing the cognitive abilities of these children and work in collaboration with three Educational Psychology Master’s students from the University of Johannesburg.
The cognitive abilities project aims to assess and track the cognitive development of young children from grade R to grade 3 over a period of four years. Cognitive development focuses on how children learn, process information and attain a veridical view of the world (Gopnik & Meltzoff, 1997), it entails the development of the thinking and organizing systems of the mind, and is composed of language, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and memory development (Oakley, 2004).