Using Complex Problem Solving Simulations for General Cognitive Ability Assessment: the Genetics Lab Framework

This paper presents the conception and operation of “the Genetics Lab,” a research platform
designed for general intelligence measurement. This tool has been developed and refined to
measure cognitive skills of students in Luxembourg, Thanks to its generic and clear architecture, “the Genetics Lab” makes a major contribution by addressing technical weaknesses and flaws met with tools previously used to assess intelligence. This new platform can be used as groundwork for other evaluation solutions. In this paper, we explore in depth the main fields of e-assessment such as instructions, localized and multilingual content production and display, traces, and scoring. We also describe how the platform was put into action to create complex simulations and to make data collection resulting from the user’s test a flawless process. This paper is a continuation and extension of earlier work.