Rabab Ibrahim Al Gharib, a researcher at the Department of Graduate Studied at Arabian Gulf University (AGU) has won the Shaikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani Prize for Educational Research.
She achieved third place in the category of postgraduate students for her research entitled, “Predictive value of working memory and Discrepancy Criterion in the identification of learning disabilities in fifth grade primary students in the State of Kuwait.”

The Shaikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani Award for Educational Research, an annual award for excellence in scientific research by academic researchers, teachers, professional practitioners and university students in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, was awarded at a recently held ceremony at the Qatar Convention Center under the patronage of the President of Qatar University, Member of the Board of Trustees of AGU Dr Hassan Al-Derham, in the presence of the deans of colleges of GCC universities.

The study aimed to uncover the predictive value of working memory in identifying learning disabilities in order to find alternative ways to detect the differences in the detection of learning difficulties, in order to find alternatives to the Discrepancy Criterion, without the need to devote a waiting mechanism for academic attainment.

The study was applied to a sample of 110 students from fifth in the State of Kuwait, 55 of them with learning disabilities and 55 students without, according to diagnostic procedures derived from the Discrepancy Criterion, using a number of research tools, including Raven’s progressive matrices, diagnostic assessment measures for learning difficulties and working memory tests to find statistically significant differences between people with learning difficulties and people with normal working memories.

Equations were found to predict learning difficulties through the working memory, and differences in some dimensions of the working memory between the different groups with learning disabilities, and those without.

The award, in its second edition, aims to enhance the movement of research activity and the production of educational knowledge, improving educational practices and educational policies.

The award also contributes to the development of the spirit of scientific research and its skills in the participants, according to a rigorous scientific approach.

It encourages their creative energies and works to develop it, giving them the chance to express themselves, their creativity and innovation, applying them in many fields by presenting their scientific research and leading research plans.