An Evaluation of a School Programme for the Development of Thinking Skills through the CASE@KS1 Approach

Abstract

This study explored the effects of a cognitive intervention programme, Cognitive Acceleration in Science at Key Stage 1 (CASE@KS1), on both the thinking skills and motivation of a rural population in the United Kingdom. It used a quasi‐experimental design and measures of both near and far transfer in order to replicate the evaluation of this programme by Adey and colleagues with an urban population. In general, support was found for the positive findings of Adey and colleagues, with some significant findings on a near‐transfer task but more inconclusive findings on a far‐transfer task. The motivational measure used in this study identified some issues of interest, including gender difference in response, suggesting the value of motivational assessment in evaluation of the CASE@KS1 intervention programme.