It's a bit more complicated than "debunked/retracted", as that second document explains:
> Dehnadi, to his credit, stuck to his guns and did the meta-analysis that showed that he’d discovered a phenomenon and that his test was a worthwhile predictor.
The original paper contained several linked claims: that there is an ability to make consistent mental models, that it's intrinsic and fixed, that it predicts ability to program, and that few people have it, and hence few people can learn to program. AIUI, the debunked/retracted claims are that it's intrinsic and fixed, and that few people have it. It looks like the ability exists, but it can be learned, and it is linked to programming ability.
Which i think does line up with wcarey's point:
> The more I've taught math, the more convinced I am that getting people to "think about what they mean", and to think about what mathematical words mean is 90% of the project. [...] The answers they wrote didn't matter; what mattered was whether their answers evinced consistent meaning applied to terms and operations.
I won't go back and edit my comment, but what you say is true. There really is an interesting thing going on here, even if the original paper was an over-reach.
> Dehnadi, to his credit, stuck to his guns and did the meta-analysis that showed that he’d discovered a phenomenon and that his test was a worthwhile predictor.
The original paper contained several linked claims: that there is an ability to make consistent mental models, that it's intrinsic and fixed, that it predicts ability to program, and that few people have it, and hence few people can learn to program. AIUI, the debunked/retracted claims are that it's intrinsic and fixed, and that few people have it. It looks like the ability exists, but it can be learned, and it is linked to programming ability.
Which i think does line up with wcarey's point:
> The more I've taught math, the more convinced I am that getting people to "think about what they mean", and to think about what mathematical words mean is 90% of the project. [...] The answers they wrote didn't matter; what mattered was whether their answers evinced consistent meaning applied to terms and operations.