Effectiveness of a learning potential procedure in improving problem-solving skills of retarded and nonretarded children.

In this study we sought to determine the effectiveness of learning potential training on improving children's probelm-solving skills on Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. A sample of 553 retarded and nonretarded students were pretested, randomly assigned to trained or nontrained groups, and posttested. Analyses of variance on factor scores derived from a varimax rotation of item responses revealed that learning potential training was effective in increasing the ability to reason by analogy of both retarded and nonretarded children. The learning potential procedure provided learning experiences related to reasoning skills that may not have been previously acquired in school.