IQ testing
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:55:53 +0000
Another way people can change:19 October 2011 Last updated at 13:05 ET
IQ 'can change in teenage years'
By David Shukman Environment & science correspondent, BBC News
The mental ability of teenagers can improve or decline on a far greater scale than previously thought, according to new research. Until now the assumption has been that intellectual capacity, as measured by IQ, stays quite static during life. But tests conducted on teenagers at an average age of 14 and then repeated when their average age was nearly 18 found improvements - and deterioration.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
They have implications for how pupils are assessed, and the age at which decisions about their futures are made. The paper suggests that the results could be "encouraging to those whose intellectual potential may improve and… a warning that early achievers may not maintain their potential".
Professor Cathy Price of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London ... said: "We have a tendency to assess children and determine the course of their education relatively early in life. But here we have shown that their intelligence is likely to be still developing. We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers at an early age when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few more years."
[This entry was originally posted as http://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/476535.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Another way people can change:19 October 2011 Last updated at 13:05 ET
IQ 'can change in teenage years'
By David Shukman Environment & science correspondent, BBC News
The mental ability of teenagers can improve or decline on a far greater scale than previously thought, according to new research. Until now the assumption has been that intellectual capacity, as measured by IQ, stays quite static during life. But tests conducted on teenagers at an average age of 14 and then repeated when their average age was nearly 18 found improvements - and deterioration.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
They have implications for how pupils are assessed, and the age at which decisions about their futures are made. The paper suggests that the results could be "encouraging to those whose intellectual potential may improve and… a warning that early achievers may not maintain their potential".
Professor Cathy Price of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London ... said: "We have a tendency to assess children and determine the course of their education relatively early in life. But here we have shown that their intelligence is likely to be still developing. We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers at an early age when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few more years."
[This entry was originally posted as http://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/476535.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]