In the purest test of reasoning, pupils were shown a pendulum and asked how to find out what affects the rate at which it swings.
Another reason for skepticism is a weakness in the Jaeggi study's design: it included only a single test of reasoning to measure gains in intelligence.
In the Jaeggi study, the researchers began by having participants complete a test of reasoning to measure their "fluid" intelligence — the ability to draw connections between things, solve novel problems and adapt to new situations.
Raven's progressive matrices are a nonverbal test of reasoning ability on the basis of figural stimuli that measure the ability to form comparisons, reason by analogy, and organize spatial perceptions into systematically related wholes.
At the 5-year follow-up point, a trained research worker administered to each child the RCPM, a widely used age-adjusted nonverbal test of reasoning ability and intelligence based on figural materials or patterns (Raven et al. 1998).
No matter who is hosting, the questions abruptly escalate from common-sense gimmes to obscure tests of deductive reasoning.
Girls, in turn, edge out boys on tests of verbal reasoning.
The researchers repeated the experiment, only this time with tests of logical reasoning and grammar.
For instance, while Chinese students, on average, have twice the number of instructional hours as Americans, both countries have identical scores on tests of scientific reasoning.
