Model parameters of measurement invariance tests.

Problem-solving is an important skill that is associated with reasoning abilities, action control and academic success. Nevertheless, empirical evidence on cognitive correlates of problem-solving performance in childhood is limited. Appropriate assessment tools are scarce and existing analog tasks require extensive coding. Thus, we developed and validated new tablet-based versions of existing analog tasks assessing technical problem-solving with gear construction tasks. To validate these tasks, 215 children (6–8 years) performed the problem-solving tasks in both modalities (analog, digital). To investigate whether performances in both modalities were correlated with other cognitive abilities, participants performed three additional tasks assessing language, reasoning and problem-solving. Structural equation modelling showed that performance was substantially correlated across modalities and also correlated with language, reasoning and another problem-solving task, showing the convergent validity of the digital tasks. We also found scalar measurement invariance across task modalities indicating that both task versions can be used interchangeably. We conclude that both versions (analog and digital) draw on similar cognitive resources and abilities. The analog tasks were thus successfully transferred to a digital platform. The new tasks offer the immense benefits of digital data collection, provide a valid measuring tool advancing problem-solving research in childhood and facilitate the application in the field, e.g., in the classroom.

问题解决是一项与推理能力、行动控制及学业成就紧密关联的重要技能。然而，目前针对儿童期问题解决表现的认知关联因素的实证证据仍较为匮乏，合适的评估工具稀缺，且现有的类比任务（analog）需要大量编码工作。为此，本研究基于现有类比任务（analog）开发并验证了平板端版本，该类任务以齿轮建构任务为范式，用于评估技术问题解决能力。为验证这些任务的有效性，共招募215名6至8岁儿童，让其完成两种呈现形式下的问题解决任务：类比任务（analog）与数字任务（digital）。为探究两种呈现方式下的任务表现是否与其他认知能力存在关联，受试者还完成了三项额外任务，分别用于评估语言能力、推理能力与问题解决能力。结构方程模型分析结果显示，不同呈现方式下的任务表现存在显著相关，且该表现与语言能力、推理能力及另一项问题解决任务的得分均存在关联，验证了数字任务（digital）的聚合效度。本研究同时发现，不同任务呈现方式间存在标度测量不变性（scalar measurement invariance），说明两种任务版本可互换使用。研究结果表明，两种任务版本（类比任务与数字任务）均依赖于相似的认知资源与能力，由此可见，原有的类比任务已成功迁移至数字平台。新型任务兼具数字化数据采集的诸多优势，可为儿童期问题解决研究提供有效的评估工具，同时也便于在实际场景（如课堂教学中）推广应用。