Intellectual Development of Elementary Schoolchildren and Their Performance on the Vygotsky-Sakharov Method

An attempt was made to reproduce L.S. Vygotsky’s study on development of concepts, in order to identify ways that contemporary 7- and 9-year-olds use to solve the task of the Vygotsky’s cubes (double stimulation technique). The assumption about the relationship between the dominant method of abstraction used by elementary schoolchildren and their level of intellectual development was tested. For the purposes of the study 197 children enrolled in 1st (n = 102) and 3rd classes (n = 95) were tested. Our results partially coincide with those obtained by other authors, and the differences and similarities are discussed. Qualitative differences in performance on the double stimulation technique were also found between the children scoring high versus low scores on the Raven’s SPM test, showing different thinking processes between those groups. We discuss the significance for further research of obtained relationship between the elementary schoolchildren approach to the double stimulation technique and the level of their intellectual development.

1. Vygotskii L.S. Myshlenie i rech’: psikhologicheskie issledovaniya [Thought and Language: psychological research]. Obukhova L.F (ed.). Moscow: Publ. «Natsional’noe obrazovanie», 2016. 368 p. (In Russ.).
2. Gavrilova E.V. Individual’nye razlichiya v lingvisticheskikh sposobnostyakh i ikh svyaz’ s flyuidnym i kristallizovannym intellektom [Elektronnyi resurs] [Individual differences in foreign language aptitude and its relation to fluid and crystalizied intelligence]. Sovremennaya zarubezhnaya psikhologiya [Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology], 2018. Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 16—27. DOI:10.17759/jmfp.2018070202 (In Russ.).
3. Gromyko Yu.V. Rol’ vzaimoponimaniya pri reshenii uchebnykh zadach v sovmestnoi deyatel’nosti : dissertatsiya ... kand. psikhol. nauk. [The role of understanding while solving educational problems during joint activities. Ph.D. (Psychology) Thesis]. Moscow, 1985. 168 p. (In Russ.).
4. Zhulanova I.V. Produktivnoe deistvie v postroenii iskusstvennykh ponyatii : dissertatsiya ... kand. psikhol. nauk. [Productive action in the construction of artificial concepts. Ph.D. (Psychology) Thesis]. Volgograd, 1998. 162 s. (In Russ.).
5. Raven Dzh.K. Rukovodstvo k progressivnym matritsam Ravena i slovarnym shkalam. Razd.1. Obshchaya chast’ rukovodstva [Manual for Raven’s progressive matrices and vocabulary scales. Section 1. General part]. Dzh.K.Raven, Dzh.Kh.Kurt, Dzh.Raven (eds.). Moscow: Kogito-Tsentr, 1997. 82 p. (In Russ.)
6. Sakharov L.S. O metodakh issledovaniya ponyatii [Methods for investigating concepts]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2006, no. 2, pp. 32—47. (In Russ.).
7. Tousi P.M. Issleduya „bat“, „dek“, „rots“ i „mup“ v novom tysyachiletii [Exploring “cev, “”bik”, “mur”, and “lag” in New Millennium]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2007, no. 4, pp. 96—100. DOI:10.17759/chp.2007030411 (In Russ.).
8. Yudina E.G. Eksperiment L.S. Vygotskogo— L.S. Sakharova: kul’turno-istoricheskaya retrospektiva [The experiment of L.S Vygotsky and L.S. Sakharov: a cultural-historical retrospective]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2006, no. 2, pp. 48—59. (In Russ.).
9. Yudina E.G. Rol’ sinkretov i kompleksov v myshlenii detei doshkol’nogo vozrasta : avtoref. diss. ... kand. psikhol. nauk. [The role of syncretes and complexes in the thinking of preschool children. Ph. D. (Psychology) Thesis]. Moscow, 1989. 232 p. (In Russ.).
10. Banks C., Sinha U. An item-analysis of the Progressive Matrices test. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology. 1951. Vol. 4, pp. 91—94.
11. Bui M., Birney D.P. Learning and individual differences in Gf processes and Raven’s. Learning and Individual Differences. 2014. Vol. 32, pp. 104—113. DOI: https://doi. org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.03.008
12. Burke H.R. Raven’s Progressive Matrices: A review and critical evaluation. The Journal of Genetic Psychology. 1958. Vol. 93, Р. 199—228.
13. Bürkner P.C. Analysing Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM-LS) with Bayesian Item Response Models. J. Intelligence. 2020. Vol. 8, DOI:10.3390/jintelligence8010005
14. Carpenter P.A., Just M.A., Shell P. What one intelligence test measures: a theoretical account of the processing in the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Psychological review. 1990. Vol. 97, pp. 404—431. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.97.3.404
15. Flynn J.R. Requiem for nutrition as the cause of IQ gains: Raven’s gains in Britain 1938—2008. Economics and Human Biology, 2009. Vol. 7, pp. 18—27, DOI: 10.1016/j. ehb.2009.01.009
16. Hanfmann E., Kasanin J. A method for the study of concept formation. Journal of Psychology, 1937. Vol. 3, pp. 521—540. DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1937.9917519
17. Horn J.L. Measurement of intellectual capabilities: A review of theory. Woodcock-Johnson technical manual, 1991. pp. 197—232.
18. Ivić I., Ignjatović-Savić N., Rosandić P. Priručnik za vežbe iz razvojne psihologije. Beograd: Centar za primenjenu psihologiju, 1997. 123 p.
19. Mata S., van Geert P., van der Aalsvoort G. Scaffolding Young Children: The Utility of Mediation in a Classification Test. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology. 2017. Vol. 15, pp. 441—466. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14204/ ejrep.42.16117
20. Precursors of logical reasoning in preverbal human infants / Cesana-Arlotti, N. [et al.]. Science. 2018. Vol. 359, no. 6381, pp. 1263—1266. DOI: 10.1126/science.aao3539
21. Raven J.C. The comparative assessment of intellectual ability. British Journal of Psychology, 1948. Vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 12—19.
22. Raven J. Raven progressive matrices. Handbook of nonverbal assessment. Springer, Boston, MA, 2003. pp. 223— 237. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4615-0153-4_11
23. Semeоnoff B., Laird A. The Vigotsky Test as a Measure of Intelligence. British Journal of Psychology, 1952. Vol. 43, pp. 94—102.
24. Sigel I. E. How intelligence tests limit understanding of intelligence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly of Behavior and Development. 1963. Vol. 9, pp. 39—56.
25. Sun S., Schweizer, K., Ren, X. Item-Position Effect in Raven’s Matrices: A Developmental Perspective. Journal of Cognition and Development. 2019. Vol. 20, pp. 370—379. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2019.1581205