People are immersed in comparative, competitive education from a young age, leading to a lot of discussion about whether skill, which can be learned, or aptitude, which is based on genetics or chance, play a larger role in educational success. Families, educators, and scientists alike are interested in this topic, and research into this topic may allow for the development of educational programs better suited to help students at all levels of competence.
In 2018, the Hammill Institute on Disabilities conducted a study which examined whether programs that sorted students by aptitude or by skill were more successful in helping students learn new words. Researchers looked at reading ability as the skill and short-term and working memory as the aptitudes. Short-term memory refers to the temporary storage space where memories go before being added to long term memory, and working memory is the part of cognitive processing that sorts and processes the material in short-term memory. They work together to allow a student to understand and remember new words. The size and duration of short term memory, as well as the speed of working memory, may partially depend on a child’s brain and cannot be learned, thus making them a form of mental aptitude.
To test if aptitude or skill had a greater effect, the researchers studied a group of fourth- and fifth-grade students from Minnesota. First, short-term memory and working memory were tested by having the students remember groups of simple words. Aptitude was then calculated based on the number of words a student was able to recall. Students’ reading skills were tested using a standardized test in which they had to identify words and letters. After the skill and aptitude factors were measured, each student learned sets of words and was then tested on recall. From the number of words each student got right, the acquisition rate (AR), defined as the amount of new information remembered, was calculated. Researchers compared the ARs of students to their memory and reading skill levels and were able to draw conclusions about which factors correlated with a better AR.
Image source: Marc Romanelli
Researchers discovered that both reading skill and short-term memory had a significant correlation with a student’s AR. However, the variation in reading skill accounted for more of the variability in the AR than did short-term memory. From this, researchers concluded that level of skill mastery, rather than natural-born aptitude, better predicted how well a student would be able to recall words. These conclusions are important for both scientists and educators, as they can provide insight into how to better help children learn. Rather than segregating students based on test scores, this research suggests that identifying crucial skills for learners and reinforcing them in struggling students may allow children to perform better in school and later, in life.
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