How to assess students like astronauts

When NASA wants to uncover how their astronauts learn best so they can tailor and optimise their learning they turn to Mindprint.

The  online learning assessment and platform identifies how a student learns and provides recommendations about how to deliver content and instruct in a format that is best for each student.

Mindprint says it has the first computerised cognitive test that can be completed in the comfort of a child’s home where they are most relaxed. The assessment’s  reliability has been documented in NIH-sponsored studies and peer-reviewed journal articles.

Mindprint’s cognitive battery was developed by neuroscientists in the Brain Behaviour Laboratory at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Known as the Penn Computerised Neurocognitive Battery (CNB) it is a series of computerised tests that measure accuracy and speed of performance in major domains of cognition.

The CNB has been tested in over 100,000 subjects worldwide including more than 10,000 children and 50,000 members of the armed services and has been normed by age. If the test is administered correctly, it delivers a good understanding of a student’s cognitive strengths and needs relative to same-aged peers.

Mindprint’s Online screener can be completed in an hour and measures complex reasoning, memory, processing speed and executive functions, including attention.

There are three steps to the Mindprint assessment, first cognitive strengths and needs are evaluated, then a learner profile is developed to identify insight where a student is strong and where they need help and then action is taken with a Mindprint evidence-based personalised learning plan.

The Assessment includes a series of nine  short modules. Unlike school achievement tests, there are no reading passages and no math computations. Students who have taken the Assessment have described it as a series of puzzles and surprisingly fun.

Results arrive within five business days and document learning strengths and needs on ten skills across the core domains of speed, executive functions, complex reasoning and memory.

The student’s learner profile includes detailed performance as well as specific recommendations to build on strengths and address any specific needs.

Personalised learning plans are included in every student’s Mindprint Toolbox and provide the most beneficial instructional and study strategies.