Ramp task levels are ordered by difficulty: performance declines as the number of variables to set increases¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · design r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Levels were accurately ordered with subsequent levels more difficult (Ht = .84, strong ordering). → Joep van der Graaf 2015 q2 i? Correctly designed experiments decreased significantly with level, with Level 1 easiest and Levels 3 and 4 not differing significantly. → Joep van der Graaf 2015 (2)

Evidence¶

Joep van der Graaf 2015¶

Joep van der Graaf, Eliane Segers, Ludo Verhoeven. (2015). Scientific reasoning abilities in kindergarten: dynamic assessment of the control of variables strategy. Instr Sci 43:381–400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-015-9344-y

q2 · i? · design · r2

Mokken scale analysis using the manifest invariant item ordering method on per-level scores of 45 kindergartners showed the levels ordered accurately by difficulty, with the item-ordering coefficient indicating "strong ordering" (Ht = .84).

"the levels were shown to be ordered accurately and subsequent levels to be more difficult, Ht = .84. The item-ordering coefficient indicated strong ordering."

Joep van der Graaf 2015 (2)¶

Joep van der Graaf, Eliane Segers, Ludo Verhoeven. (2015). Scientific reasoning abilities in kindergarten: dynamic assessment of the control of variables strategy. Instr Sci 43:381–400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-015-9344-y

q2 · i? · design · r2

Repeated-measures ANOVA with Level as within-subjects factor and gender as between-subjects factor on experiment correct scores; gender had no effect. Post-hoc analyses showed performance higher on Level 1 than any other level and higher on Level 2 than Levels 3 and 4, while Levels 3 and 4 did not differ significantly.

"There was a significant main effect of Level, F(2.07, 89.05) = 80.46, p\ .001. Note that sphericity could not be assumed, Mauchly's W(5) = .40, p\ .001."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Younger and older adults select study items in an easy-to-difficult order, consistent with the region of proximal learning model — related
• High school teachers' rankings of algebra problem difficulty were uncorrelated with student performance, while middle school teachers' rankings were accurate — related
• Younger students solve letter equations less accurately than number equations, but this difference disappears by age 16–17 — related
• Dynamic assessment can teach kindergartners the CVS within a single session — related
• Mokken scale analysis establishes content validity of the ramp task as a unidimensional measure of CVS use — a broader claim this one bears on