1. Dynamic
Assessment
of Young
Children
(DAYC)
Revealing Hidden
Learning Potential
of Children
What is Dynamic Assessment (DA)?
Dynamic assessment (DA) refers to an
assessment, by an active teaching pro-
cess, of a child’s perception, learning,
thinking, and problem solving. The pro-
cess is aimed at modifying an individu-
al’s cognitive functioning and observing
subsequent changes in learning and
problem-solving patterns within the test-
ing situation.
What is the Information We Get from
DA ?
DA can provide accurate information
about the individual's learning ability,
specific deficient cognitive functions,
change processes, and mediation strate-
gies that are responsible for cognitive
modifiability or learning-how-to-learn.
DA was found as a much better predictor
of children’s future educational perfor-
mance than static test scores. Research
findings support the conception of DA as
an effective approach for revealing a
“hidden” intellectual potential of special
needs students.
Criticism of Standardized Tests
They are biased towards minority groups
and children with special needs and do
not reflect their true ability.
They are characterized many times by
selective administration procedures and
selective interpretation of results among
high-risk children.
Motivational, emotional, and personality
factors are not well taken as in DA which
is a holistic approach.
There is lack of information on learning
processes and metacognitive factors af-
fecting academic success.
Very frequently static tests provide inadequate
recommendations on specific remediation pro-
cesses, interventions strategies, and prescrip-
tive teaching.
What are the Goals of DA?
To examine the capacity of the child to grasp
the principle underlying an initial problem
presented to the child and solve it correctly.
To assess the specific deficient cognitive func-
tions (e.g., impulsivity, lack of systematic ex-
ploratory behavior) and the adequate cognitive
functions that are responsible for the child's
failures and successes, respectively.
To examine the nature and amount of invest-
ment required in order to teach the child a
given principle or modify a deficient cognitive
function.
To examine the extent to which the newly ac-
quired principle is successfully applied in solv-
ing problems that become progressively more
complex than the initial task (i.e., transfer of
learning).
To examine the differential preference of the
child for one or another modality of presenta-
tion of the problem (i.e., pictorial, linguistic,
numerical).
To examine the differential effects of different
training strategies given to the child to im-
prove his/her functioning.

2. Cognitive Modifiability Battery
(CMB): Assessment and Inter-
vention
The CMB is a comprehensive test
composed of 8 subtests, each tap-
ping different areas of cognitive
functioning: Seriation, Reproduc-
tion of Patterns, Analogies, Se-
quences (Levels I and II), Memory,
Mental Rotation, Spatial Working
Memory. The CMB is constructed
of 4 plates, 64 colored blocks, 36
wooden squares and a squared
cardboard with the "Windows" de-
sign. The cognitive functions
tapped are: spatial orientation,
systematic exploratory behavior,
analogical reasoning, needs for ac-
curacy and for pursuing logical
evidence, impulsivity, verbal tools,
working memory, spatial orienta-
tion, planning behavior and visual
transport. The validity and relia-
bility of the CMB as a diagnostic
and as an intervention instru-
ment was reported in several
studies. CMB Subtests predicted
Reading Comprehension and
Math. The CMB was found effec-
tive in assessing several cognitive
intervention programs.
Children’s Inferential
Thinking Modifiability
(CITM)
The CITM is aimed at assessing
young children's learning poten-
tial, cognitive functions, inferential
thinking, and mediated learning
strategies with 4-7 years old chil-
dren It is composed of four sets of
problems for Pre-Teaching, Teach-
ing, Post-Teaching, and Transfer
phases. The problems are com-
posed of a set of figural
"sentences," each presents infor-
mation about the possible location
of objects in houses with different
colored roofs. The task requires
systematic exploratory behavior,
control of impulsivity, spontane-
ous comparative behavior, plan-
ning, inferential‑hypothetical
("iffy") thinking, need for precision,
simultaneous consideration of sev-
eral sources of information and
“negation”. The test includes Clas-
Children’s Analogical Think-
ing Modifiability (CATM)
The CATM is aimed at assessing
learning potential, cognitive functions,
and required mediated learning strat-
egies with young 4-7 years old chil-
dren, using the operation of analogy.
The CATM is composed of 18 colored
(red, blue, yellow) blocks and three
sets of analogical problems for Pre-
Teaching, Teaching, and Post-
Teaching phases. Major cognitive
functions that may be identified are:
Impulsivity, considering several
sources of information, verbal tools
and systematic exploratory behavior.
Major cognitive operations are: Clas-
sification and analogical reasoning.
The CATM was used to evaluate cog-
nitive education programs. The validi-
ty of the CATM as well as its effective-
ness with different groups of children,
have been established both clinically
and empirically.

3. The Seria-Think Instrument –
Revised
The test is a novel DA instrument aimed
at assessing and teaching children plan-
ning and self-regulation behavior and a
variety of arithmetic skills based on the
operation of seriation and math. The Se-
ria-Think-Revised Instrument includes
also an Easy Version Test, a Transfer
Test and Mental Rotation Test. It is de-
signed for grades 1-3, but it can be used
with older children who have difficulties
in self-regulation. The problems require
cognitive functions (e.g., planning, self-
regulation, systematic exploratory behav-
ior, and simultaneous consideration of a
few sources of information). The instru-
ment is composed of two a wooden
blocks: Original and Transfer. Each
block has five rows of holes (5 in each), a
set of cylinders, and a measuring rod.
The tasks involve insertion of the cylin-
ders inside the holes so as to get lines of
cylinders with equal or increasing height.
The child is instructed insert the cylin-
ders with as less number of insertions as
possible.
Children’s Seriational Thinking
Modifiability-Revised (CSTM-R)
The CSTM-R is designed for 3-5 years
old children. It is based mainly on the
operation of seriation, although other
operations (e.g., comparison, quantita-
tive relations) are included as well. Se-
riation is considered as a prerequisite
for arithmetic skills and the operation
of transitivity. The child has to order
sets of cards cylinders and blocks ac-
cording to dimensions of number, size,
darkness, height and perimeter; each
represented in the problems, either by
itself or in combination with other di-
mensions. The CSTM-R has a transfer
section used mainly for intervention
and contains problems of psychological
and philosophical nature. The CSTM-R
has been used with different groups of
disadvantaged and advantaged children
and with special education children
with a variety of problems. Reliability
and validity have been reported in sev-
eral studies.
Children’s Conceptual and Per-
ceptual Analogical Modifiability
(CCPAM) Test
The CCPAM is composed of two ver-
sions: Closed and Construction Analo-
gies, each version is comprised of two
sets of analogical problems, conceptual
and perceptual. The test is designed for
3-5 years old children. Each closed
analogy is formatted in a 2 x 2 matrix
(A : B :: C : D) and presented in a picto-
rial colored modality. At the bottom of
the page there are four alternative an-
swers, only one is correct. In construc-
tion analogies each problem is present-
ed with 6 cards, in a mixed order, and
the child is asked to build an analogy
with only four cards formatted in a 2 x
2 pattern, sorting out two distractive
cards. Research findings with 5 years
old children showed that while percep-
tual training helped to improve only
perceptual analogies, conceptual analo-
gies helped to improve both conceptual
and perceptual analogies. CCPAM anal-
ogies were associated with emergent
literacy and improved analogical rea-
soning of children with intellectual dis-
ability.

4. In What Ways DA is Different
from Conventional-Standardized
Testing
Goals of Testing
Change in Nature of the Tasks
Change in Test Situation.
Change of Focus: From End Products to
Process Orientation
Change in Interpretation of Results
What are the Major Strategies of
Mediation in DA
Improvement of (deficient) cognitive
functions.
Preparing the child for complex tasks
by establishing pre-required think-
ing behaviors.
Self-regulation by planning and or-
ganization of the solution. En-
hancement of reflective, insightful,
and analytic processes.
Teaching of specific contents that are
related to the task-specific context.
Feedback on success or failure in the
learning process.
Development of basic communica-
tion skills and adequate response
style.Is DA Reliable and Valid?
There is plenty of research demon-
strating the reliability and validity of
DA. DA is used in various educational
settings, developmental research, cog-
nitive-intervention programs, and cog-
nitive rehabilitation. Validity refers to
objective scores, deficient cognitive
functions mediation strategies, and
non-intellective factors assessed dur-
ing the DA procedure.
The Windows Mental-Rotation
Dynamic Assessment (WMR-
DA)
Spatial ability has a vital role in
our daily interaction with envi-
ronment, such as navigation,
recognizing and manipulating
objects, mechanic performance,
academic tasks, and recalling
locations. The WMR-DA is de-
signed for students in grades 1
to 6 and to older children who
demonstrate learning difficulties
especially in visuo-spatial areas.
There are three levels of difficul-
ty, each level has Pre-teaching,
Teaching, and Post-teaching
phases. In all levels children are
presented with model figures of
‘‘houses with windows’’ ar-
ranged in a 3 x 3 patterns; some
windows are blackened whereas
others are “open”. On turned-
about houses, taking into ac-
count their rotation in space,
children are asked to mark the
identical closed windows.
Contact Us
Prof. David Tzuriel
School of Education
Bar Ilan University
Ramat-Gan, Israel 5290002
David.Tzuriel@biu.ac.il