Unit 2: All By Myself! School Readiness and Intelligence

School Readiness

What is School Readiness? School Readiness involves Children Families Early Environments (family care and child care) Schools Communities (Maxwell & Clifford, 2004)

Question… What are specific factors that you believe affect school readiness?

Characteristics of Ready Schools Smooth transition from home to school Continuity between early care and elementary school Make sense of the world Commitment to every child Use effective teaching practices Change practices when needed Function as a community Take responsibility Provide leadership (Maxwell & Clifford, 2004)

Question… What is your opinion on delaying school entry?

School Readiness Assessment Assessment of young children around school entry-right before kindergarten, at kindergarten entry, or very early in the kindergarten year. 1.Improve learning 2.Identify children with special needs 3.Evaluate programs 4.Monitor trends over time 5.Use for high-stakes accountability (Maxwell & Clifford, 2004)

Question… What part does assessment play in identifying students with special needs? Explain the importance of early intervention.

Types of Assessment Naturalistic –Assessment that occurs in the natural setting and provides opportunities for children to perform skills from various domains –Observations, work samples, checklists, anecdotal records Standardized, norm referenced –Assessment that is formal with a set of standard questions and results that are based on comparisons to other children

Question… What do you see as advantages or disadvantages of naturalistic assessment?

Question… What do you see as advantages or disadvantages of standardized, norm referenced assessment?

Intelligence

Question… How would you define intelligence?

Intelligence Psychologists don’t all agree about the nature of intelligence. However, it’s the term that most use to talk about the extent to which a person can consistently learn and perform effectively in a wide variety of situations.

Defining Intelligence It is adaptive (can be used flexibly and in a variety of situations) It involves learning ability It involves the use of prior knowledge It involves many different mental processes It is culture-specific (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Definition of Intelligence Ability to apply past knowledge and experiences flexibly to accomplish challenging new tasks (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Question… Why do you think past knowledge and experiences are relevant to understanding intelligence?

Theoretical Perspectives of Intelligence Spearman’s g Cattell’s Fluid and Crystallized Intelligences Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Distributed Intelligence (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Spearman’s g Charles Spearman (1904,1927) Proposed that intelligence comprises both –A single, pervasive reasoning ability (general factor) that is used on a wide variety of tasks –A number of narrow abilities (specific factors) involved in executing particular tasks Information Processing Speed (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Cattell’s Fluid and Crystallized Intelligences Raymond Cattell (1963,1987) Fluid Intelligence (g f ) – abililty to acquire knowledge quickly and adapt to new situations effectively (influenced by biological factors) Crystallized Intelligence (g c ) – the knowledge and skills they have accumulated from their experiences, schooling, and culture (influenced by environmental factors) (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence People who are quite skilled in one are but may be seemingly average in others Multiple Intelligence may take someone different forms in different cultures –For example, a farming community would emphasize the naturalist intelligence because they depend on natural patterns for their sustenance. Offers the possibility that the great majority of children are intelligent in one way or another (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Gardner’s 8 Multiply Intelligence Linguistic Logical-Mathematical Spatial Musical Bodily-Kinesthetic Interpersonal Intrapersonal Naturalist What are your strengths?

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Intelligent behavior involves: 1. Cognitive Processes Interpreting new situations Concentration Identifying important information Problem solving Finding relationships between different ideas Using feedback Applying cognitive and metacognitive processes (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Intelligent behavior involves: 2. Prior Experience Using prior experience to deal with new information and situations Dealing with familiar situations quickly and effectively 3. Environmental Context Adapting information to fit the environment Adapting the environment to fit personal needs Selecting an environment (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Distributed Intelligence Intelligent behavior depends on physical, social, and cultural support mechanisms Children and Adolescents can “distribute” their thinking in at least three ways –They can use physical objects, and especially technology, to handle and manipulate large amounts of information –They can work with others to explore ideas and solve problems –They can represent and think about the situations they encounter using the various symbolic tools their culture provides (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Measuring Intelligence Alfred Binet Identifying students who would have exceptional difficulty in regular classrooms and would be in need of special education services Intelligence Test: general measure of current cognitive functioning, used primarily to predict academic achievement over the short term. (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Test of General Intelligence General Intelligence Test –Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed) –Standford-Binet Intelligence Scales (fluid reasoning, knowledge, working memory, visual-spatial processing, quantitative reasoning) –Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test IQ Scores (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2007)

Validity and Reliability Validity of an intelligence test is the extent to which it actually measures intelligence Reliability of an intelligence test is the extent to which it yields consistent, dependable scores.

Group Differences in Intelligence Gender Socioeconomic Ethnic and Racial

Question… What do you see as the pros and cons of using intelligence tests?

Effects of Heredity and Environment Heredity Twin Studies Adoption Studies Environmental Influences Twin Studies and Adoption Studies Early Nutrition Toxic Substances Home Environment Early Intervention Formal Schooling Flynn Effect: gradual increase in intelligence test performance observed in many industrialized countries over the past several decades

Question… Do you believe that both nature and nurture affect intelligence? Do you believe one is more influential than the other? Explain.

Exceptionalities in Intelligence Giftedness: Unusually high ability in one or more areas, to the point where children require special educational services to help them meet their full potential Mental Retardation: Disability marked by significantly below- average general intelligence and deficits in adaptive behavior

Case Study: Fresh Vegetables Steven (12 years old) No known genetic problems Labeled with mental retardation Schooling: one year of first grade Not permitted to go to school or go out to play; limited to his apartment Sent back to school and teacher began to suspect that his issue was a lack of background experience rather than mental retardation? Students had to bring “fresh” vegetables to class; Steven brought a can of beans Steven said they were fresh because he got them off the shelf that morning By high school, Steven was in regular classes and maintaining a GPA of 3.5

Case Study: Fresh Vegetables 1)Did Steven have mental retardation? Why or Why Not? 2)The school psychologist recommended that Steven be placed in a special class for students with special needs. Was such a class an appropriate placement for Steven? Why or Why Not?

Reminders for the Unit Complete reading – Chapter 8 and Web Resources Post your answer to our discussion board question and respond to your classmates’ posts 2 Classmate Responses are Required per Question word Responses Add value to the conversation – Don’t Just Say, “I agree or I like what you said” Attend Seminar OR complete Option 2