PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Currently, there is no scientific talent test for preschool age. In the "Kleine BegInNa – Kleine begabt in Naturwissenschaften [small ones gifted in science]" project, such a test instrument was developed. It aims to determine scientific talent in pre-school. This is of particular relevance since subsequent support and promotion along with individual competences identified by this test can have a long-term positive effect on the later school performance of the children. Here, our test instrument structure is examined and checked in a comparative study with comparative tests of already validated intelligence instruments in a sample of 69 children aged between four and a half and six and a half years (nmale= 31; nfemale = 38) in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Almost all paired subtests (i.e., test pairs from the scientific talent test and equivalent subtests of existing intelligence diagnostics) positively correlate with each other. This indicates the validity of our scientific talent test. An exploratory factor analysis did not reveal any separation of individual competences areas from the scientific talent test subtests with respect to the internal structure, but all subtests load on the factor general scientific talent, with a variance clarification of 41.17%. Further studies are needed to confirm the test structure with a bigger and more inclusive sample.