Teaching for Successful Intelligence

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Teaching for Successful Intelligence

• Robert J. Sternberg
• Yale University

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Contact Information

• Robert J. Sternberg, Director
• PACE Center
• Department of Psychology
• Yale University
• Box 208358
• New Haven, CT 06520-8358 USA
• E-mail robert.sternberg_at_yale.edu

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Collaborators

• John Antonakis, Cynthia Berg, Donald Bundy,
  Anna Cianciolo, Pamela Clinkenbeard, Janet
  Davidson, Martin Dennis, Michel Ferrari, P.
  Wenzel Geissler, George Forsythe, Peter Frensch,
  Michael Gardner, Joyce Gastel, Guillermo Gil,
  Elena Grigorenko, Martin Guyote, Pamela Hartman,
  Jennifer Hedlund, Joseph Horvath, Linda Jarvin,
  Jennifer Jordan, James Kaufman, Daniel Kaye,
  Smaragda Kazi, Jonna Kwiatkowski, Jacqueline
  Leighton, Delci Lev, Jerry Lipka,Todd Lubart,
  Gerry Mohatt, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Diana Marr,
  Timothy McNamara, Akundaeli Mbise, Adam Naples,
  Tina Newman, Damaris Ngorosho, Wei-Hua Niu,
  Catherine Nokes, Linda OHara, Renate Otterbach,
  Lynn Okagaki, Frederick Okatcha, Janet Powell,
  Jean Pretz, Ruth Prince, Judy Randi, Carol
  Rashotte, Scott Snook, Robert Sternberg, Erasto
  Tuntufye, Sheldon Tetewsky, Bruce Torff, Margaret
  Turner, Richard Wagner, Wendy Williams, Shih-Ying
  Yang, Wen-tao Yuan

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Acknowledgments

• The research described in this presentation
  was supported under the Javits Act Program, as
  administered by the Office of Educational
  Research and Improvement of the U. S. Department
  of Education the National Science Foundation
  the U. S. Army Research Institute the
  Partnership for Child Development, which is
  funded in part by the James C. McDonnell
  Foundation the National Council for Eurasian and
  Eastern European Studies the National Center for
  Educational Statistics the U. S. National
  Science Foundation and the World Bank. This
  presentation does not necessarily represent the
  positions or policies of these supporting
  agencies.

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A Problem with Traditional Education

• Traditional education tends to shine the
  spotlight on certain children almost all of the
  time, and on other children almost none of the
  time.
• The result is that some children are placed in a
  much better position to achieve than are others.

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But

• The children who are not placed in an optimal
  position to achieve may be just as able to
  achieve at high levels as the students placed in
  a position to achieve. Moreover, the advantaged
  children will not necessarily be more successful
  later in life.

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A Problem with Traditional Education

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecies The Vicious Cycle
• Low Expectations
• Low Achievement
• Reward

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Global Mission of Presentation

• To demonstrate how to teach and assess students
  using the theory of successful intelligenceto
  help all children achieve at an optimal level.

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The Concept of Successful Intelligence

• We need a concept of intelligence that is
  broader than the conventional concept.
  Successful intelligence is such a concept.

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The Concept of Successful Intelligence

• Successful intelligence is
• the ability to achieve success in life, given
  ones personal standards, within ones
  sociocultural context
• in order to adapt to, shape, and select
  environments

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The Concept of Successful Intelligence

• Successful intelligence is
• via recognition of and capitalization on
  strengths and remediation of or compensation for
  weaknesses
• through a balance of analytical, creative, and
  practical abilities.

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Motivation for Triarchy of Abilities

• Alice
• A student high in analytical abilities
• Barbara
• A student high in creative abilities

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Motivation for Triarchy of Abilities

• Celia
• A student high in practical abilities
• Paul
• A student high in analytical and creative
  abilities but low in practical abilities

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The Triarchic View of Intelligence

• There are three aspects of intelligence
• analytical
• creative
• practical

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The Concept of Successful Intelligence

• Conventional (Analytical)
• Intelligence
• Creative Practical
• Intelligence Intelligence

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Thought Question

• Think of a learning experience that was really
  valuable to you. What made it valuable?

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Instructional and Assessment Techniques

• Balanced use of instruction and assessment that
  is
• Memory-Based
• Analytically-Based
• Creatively-Based
• Practically-Based

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Teaching/Assessing for Memory-Based Learning

• Remember
• Recall
• Recognize

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Teaching/Assessing for Memory-Based Learning

• Remember
• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?

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An Example from My Classroom

• The cerebellum is in the
• A. hindbrain
• B. midbrain
• C. left brain
• D. right brain

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Thought Exercise

• What would be some examples of teaching/assessing
  for memory in your classroom?

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The Triarchic View of Intelligence

• Analytical intelligence is evoked when we
• analyze
• compare and contrast
• evaluate
• explain
• judge
• critique

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Analytical
• ANALYZE (a literary plot, a theory in the
  sciences, a mathematical problem)
• COMPARE AND CONTRAST (two characters in a novel,
  two systems of government, the styles of two
  artists)

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Analytical
• EVALUATE (a poem, a cultural custom, a strategy
  in tennis)
• EXPLAIN (the use of grammar in a sentence, your
  interpretation of an historical event, the
  solution to a scientific problem)

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Outcomes of Teaching for Analytical Intelligence

• Analytical instruction and assessment should
  enable students to
• Identify the existence of problems
• Define the problems
• Allocate resources for solving the problems

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Outcomes of Teaching for Analytical Intelligence

• Mentally represent the problems
• Formulate strategies for solving the problems
• Monitor their strategies while problem solving
• Evaluate their solutions after they are done

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Evaluation of Analytical Products

• To what extent is the product
• Informed?
• Logical?
• Organized?
• Balanced?

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An Example from My Classroom

• Critique the ethics behind Stanley Milgrams
  studies of obedience, discussing why you believe
  that the benefits did or did not outweigh the
  costs of the research.

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Thought Exercise

• What would be some examples of teaching/assessing
  for analytical thinking in your classroom?

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The Triarchic View of Intelligence

• Creative intelligence is evoked when we
• create
• design
• invent
• imagine
• suppose

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Creative
• CREATE (a poem, a sculpture, a new game)
• DESIGN (a new system of government for the
  classroom, a scientific investigation, a
  comfortable home)

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Creative
• IMAGINE (what life would be like in another
  country, what it would be like to be president of
  a country, how bees communicate with each other)
• SUPPOSE (worldwide temperatures increased 5
  degrees on average, people were paid to inform
  on neighbors who do not support the political
  party in power, the ozone layer were completely
  depleted)

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Outcomes of Teaching for Creative Intelligence

• Creative instruction and assessment should enable
  students to
• Redefine problems
• Ensure that they are solving good problems and
  have good solutions
• Sell their ideas
• Realize that knowledge is a double-edged sword

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Outcomes of Teaching for Creative Intelligence

• Creative instruction and assessment should enable
  students to
• Attain self-efficacy
• Persevere to surmount obstacles
• Tolerate ambiguity

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Outcomes of Teaching for Creative Intelligence

• Creative instruction and assessment should enable
  students to
• Continue to grow
• Develop a sense of perspective on themselves and
  their work
• Defy the crowd

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Evaluation of Creative Products

• To what extent is the product
• Informed?
• Novel?
• Compelling?
• Task-appropriate?

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An Example from My Classroom

• Suppose you gave the Wechsler Intelligence Scale
  for Children (WISC-III) to children growing up in
  a remote African village in Kenya (whose school
  language, but not home language, is English).
  What kinds of results might you expect in
  comparison with results from a large
  middle-American U.S. city such as Minneapolis?
  Why?

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Thought Exercise

• What would be some examples of teaching/assessing
  for creative thinking in your classroom?

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The Triarchic View of Intelligence

• Practical intelligence is involved when we
• Use
• Apply
• Implement
• Employ
• Contextualize

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Practical
• USE (a lesson that a literary character learned
  in your life, a mathematical lesson in the
  supermarket, a lesson learned on the playing
  field in everyday life)

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Practical
• APPLY (what you learned in a foreign-language
  class to an interaction with a foreigner, a
  lesson from history to the present, a scientific
  principle to everyday life)

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Outcomes of Teaching for Practical Intelligence

• Practical instruction and assessment should
  enable students to
• Use what they learn
• Put problems in real-world context

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Evaluation of Practical Products

• To what extent is the product
• Informed?
• Feasible with respect to time and place?
• Feasible with respect to human resources?
• Feasible with respect to material resources?

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An Example from My Classroom

• How do gambling casinos employ reinforcement
  techniques to keep people gambling at slot
  machines?

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Thought Exercise

• What would be some examples of teaching/assessing
  for practical thinking in your classroom?

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Principles of Teaching for Successful Intelligence

• The goal of instruction is the development of
  expertise through the creation of a well and
  flexibly organized, easily retrievable knowledge
  base

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Principles of Teaching for Successful Intelligence

• Instruction should involve teaching for
  analytical, creative, and practical thinking as
  well as for memory learning
• Assessment should also involve analytical,
  creative, and practical as well as memory
  components

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Principles of Teaching for Successful Intelligence

• Instruction and assessment should enable students
  to
• Identify and capitalize on strengths
• Identify and correct or compensate for weaknesses

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Sample Course Requirements

• Examinations
• Multiple-choice or short-answer items
• Choice of 2 out of 3 (or 4 out of 6) essays
  (which are, respectively, primarily analytical,
  creative, or practical)

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Sample Course Requirements

• Examinations
• Term paper/project (assigned or unassigned topic)
• Oral presentation (assigned or unassigned topic)

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Advantages of Triarchic Teaching
• Enables students to capitalize on strengths and
  remediate or compensate for weaknesses
• Enables students to encode learning material more
  deeply
• Enables students to encode learning material more
  elaborately

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence Triarchic Teaching

• Advantages of Triarchic Teaching
• Enables students to encode learning material in
  multiple ways
• Motivates students more strongly
• Prepares students better for actual job
  requirements

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Potential Objections to Teaching for Successful
Intelligence

• Test scores will suffer
• It does not fit current standards
• Its just another fad
• Its too hard to do

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Potential Objections to Teaching for SI

• It takes too much time
• It is only for gifted students
• It is only for weak students
• Teachers should teach only in ways that are
  comfortable for them
• Its for other teachers

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence

• When we teach for successful intelligence,
  student achievement increases

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The Triarchic Aptitude-Instruction Interaction
Study

• When high-school students are taught in a way
  that matches their pattern of strengths at least
  some of the time, they perform better than when
  they are not so taught

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The Triarchic Science-Social Studies Main-Effects
Study

• Students (in grades 3 and 8) who are taught
  triarchically (for social studies and science)
  outperform students who are taught either
  primarily for critical thinking or primarily for
  memory, regardless of how the students are
  assessed (I.e., for memory or for analytical,
  creative, or practical achievement)

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The Triarchic Reading Study

• When working-class middle school and high school
  students are taught reading across the
  curriculum, triarchically taught students
  outperform students taught conventionally in
  vocabulary and reading-comprehension measures,
  regardless of the form of assessment used

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The Triarchic Mathematics Study

• When Alaskan Yupik (Native American) high school
  students are taught geometry concepts
  triarchically, they outperform students who are
  taught the same concepts conventionally,
  regardless of the form of assessment used

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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence

• Successful intelligence can be developed
• Analytical
• The Learning-from-Context Studies
• Creative
• The Insight-Training Study
• Practical
• The Practical-Intelligence-for-Schools Study

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A Caveat

• People can be intelligent, or even successfully
  intelligent, but foolish
• The egocentrism fallacy
• The omniscience fallacy
• The omnipotence fallacy
• The invulnerability fallacy

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For Further Information

• Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful
  intelligence. New York Plume.
• Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L. (2000).
  Teaching for successful intelligence. Arlington
  Heights, IL Skylight

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For Further Information

• Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful
  intelligence. New York Plume.
• Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L. (2000).
  Teaching for successful intelligence. Arlington
  Heights, IL Skylight

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For Further Information

• Sternberg, R. J., Spear-Swerling, L. (1996).
  Teaching for thinking. Washington, DC American
  Psychological Association

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Web Sites

• www.yale.edu/pace
• www.yale.edu/rjsternberg

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Final Conclusion

• Individuals are better recognized for and are
  better able to make use of their talents
• Schools teach and assess children better with
  better results
• Society utilizes rather than wastes the talents
  of its members

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Invitation to Collaborate

• We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with
  individuals and institutions all over the world.
  If you are interested in collaborating with us in
  one of our ongoing projects or in a new project,
  please contact me at
• robert.sternberg_at_yale.edu