Role of intelligence in ESL classrooms docx sir arfan lodhi

1

Role of intelligence in ESL

Applied Linguistics

s

10/26/2013[presented to: Sir Arfan Lodhi

Presented by: Ajmal Dass( M.Phil Linguistics)

NCBA&E BUC 2nd Semester

Presented by : Ajmal Dass

2

Contents

Introduction

Types

Layers of mind


3

Introduction:


4


5

How to Explore Layers in the Mind and Live Beyond Them

The layers we build internally are a complex thing, but they are ultimately built by our own mind and therefore are something we can also deconstruct when we need to readjust our fears, sadness or worries.

While many day-to-day events normally aren't a problem, they can turn into enormous challenges if we don't recognize that these various layers have prompted us to react and protest to imagined threats or difficulties that are amplified beyond reality, imaginings which cause us to stress. Knowing yourself is the key to going beyond your troubles and unpacking the more unhelpful layers. Here's how to explore and live beyond them.

1Firstly familiarize yourself and examine the layers you make in the mind.These are usually the things you create to make an identity and to have something or an essence to identify with. For example, things such as "My name is ..., I live here, I work there, I like this, I don't like that, I do this, I don't do that, I like these people, but not these" and so on. To begin to get a grip on this subject, you primarily need to study and recognise these characteristics and their source before you can do anything with them.

Memories, experiences, peers and relatives, local town or city identity, personal values and views all are layers and can influence you so they can be internal and externally sourced. To find out every layer you might have, write down all the likes and dislikes and ideas and dreams you have contained in you. Thismight take a few days to fully get across, so be sure to give yourself ample time.


6

2 Look at your routines and rituals and the things you do regularly. These are things such as when and where you buy you groceries, when you prefer spending time with, the interests you pursue at precise times, etc. The goal is to look at how much of life is run through routine layers and how regularly you keep to them. Write these down too, as with the previous step.3Expand further to include all your past, present and future experiences, goals and projects or things you did to act on those desires. After you have done this, you pretty much have taken a snapshot of your life in the here and now, with a little taste of how the past experiences have flowed into making you thepresent person you are.4Look to see if these layers influence your vision and perception of the world.These layers might make you think that people are innately good, or innately bad, with the result that you would consequently view the world with this idea coloring your perspectives.5Try and work out how long it has taken you to build up the layers. You'll start to realize when you focus on the layers consciously that some layers took many years to form, while some just happened in a blink of an eye.

Think about why some layers formed quickly and others took years. Compare where the layers came from: from your family, culture,

religion, schooling, friends, or are there any that you made yourself?

Examine how many these layers operate out of a need or want, or just happen on their own. Find out how they work so that when something happens and you make a choice, you know whether these


7

layers influence your decisions, or whether they make the decisions for you.

6Try and prioritize these layers. What are the current benefits toyou of these layers? What are the drawbacks? Are there some routines you wouldn't break under any circumstances, some that you'd prefer not to change but would if you had to? What about those which you'd change any old time?

A simple example is a daily cup of tea or coffee. It can be a very low priority layer where you won't miss it or think twice about missing it, or it might be under the middle category that you'd prefer not to, but if you were running late, the coffee could wait for a later time. Some people might not be able to function without their "hit" of caffeine or the ritual of having a snack or reading a book with a hot drink. There are stronger layers that shape people so strongly that they wouldn't bend in the face of a choice, such as where a vegan would not bend at a meat meal, or similar strong examples.

2.

7Try and find out exactly how flexible or rigid the layers make you, as well as the advantages and disadvantages. For example, a firm set of ethics might make you a very humane, compassionate person, or it could make you a very strict,domineering and harsh person. It is not solely the ethics that makes a person, although they are a layer themselves, the difference lies in the fact that a humane person doesn't need to judge and force people to fit into their ethics, but follows themout of choice and understanding. The strict person alternatively


8

may still have a need such as social control, security, conformity, to prop up their self esteem, or to inflate their self esteem (such as the "holier than thou" characteristic) theseneeds are very dominant layers.

All these ultimately are due to the amount (or lack of) insight and understanding a person has.8

Ask yourself the key question - how far will you go to protect all or certain layers or your identity? Sometimes people will betray one characteristic (such as a personal ethic) in order to protect another, even if the consequences were simply not worth the price. The extent you will go, is often the same extent others will go. Will you kill to protect you identity, your beliefs and views? Others may do the same, sometimes over the most minor things which explains why so much of the world is often in war and strife.

The subtly important issue in regards to stress and how it forms is that if you judge, betray or condemn others by their actions or views formed from their layers, you are in effect condemning yourself when these same characteristics exist within you, or arepotential within you. Your mind is well aware of its characteristics and capabilities, even if you may not be. By learning how far you will go, how wild you may become, is essential to be able to understand this subject in regards to do anything beneficial with them and ultimately let go of stress.

Other good examples you can consider from literature is Othello [1], who killed Desdemona, the woman he loved, because hewas led to believe by his trusted friend Iago that she was cheating on him and so Othello was driven by his own feelings andideas to protect his honour (a very dominant layer). When he discovered the truth of her innocence he mentally chose to kill himself on realising the price of his actions was extreme. This


9

tragedy is fiction, but is a story of human nature and how our layers make us act, as well as how tragically easily we are controlled and can be controlled by others who know how to use them.

The philosophy of Karma is often structured entirely around the dynamic how your actions cause reactions, either positive or harmful and their equal results. But the key is that you can shape your actions and views to be beneficial or harmful and always had and will have the choice to do so.

3.


http://www.wikihow.com/Image:Explore-Layers-in-the-Mind-and-Live-Beyond-Them-Step-9.jpg

10

9In order to live beyond the layers, start to work out exactly howmuch power these layers have over you. Is this always a good thing?

Ask yourself if these layers are always correct, accurate and useful. Some of them might be practical in some cases, but harmful in others. Go as deep as you possibly can to find out. Dothese layers actually make you want things to happen, or things not to happen?

4.



11

10Then ask yourself the question: "Can I live without the layers?" You can try to actually live without certain layers, or just use this as a thought experiment. In order to actually try it, break things down into as many layers as you can, like a stack of cardsand then take each card off from the stack. What do you have leftover?

You might find that having no cards or layers left doesn't resultin complete anarchyor madness or a functionless or brainless "thing" at all and really leaves things much the same but subtly different. But try it in order to prove it. The advantage of thisis that as you feel a division, that while your current approach may be working well for you now, you'll realize that in future ifsomething was to happen and the layers prompt you to act in a harmful way, you can say "no thanks" and do things differently.


12

5.

11Consider the advantages of having very few needs and wants derived from these layers. Things become a lot easier as there isnowhere near as much to worry about, or that get in the way of seeing things as they really are. Remember, life shouldn't be that hard, so don't make it so complicated.



13

6.

12Make the choice if the layers you have now are of benefit, then how can they be used to make your and other people's lives better. For those layers that are harmful, ask yourself the benefit of them and find ways to let go of them or to avoid doingthem. It might make a huge change both to your way of living, outlook and peace of mind. Try it and see.



14

EditTipsThis is true that all our self defeating believes are rooted deep

into our subconscious. Enslaved by these self believes werestrict ourselves from exploring our real potential and

eventually restrict our own success. There is a theory called'slaves of conditioning'. I read a story on mental barriers that

basically become our enemy.

Role of intelligence in ESL classrooms

The Nine Types of IntelligenceBy Howard Gardner

1. Naturalist Intelligence (“Nature Smart”) Designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of thenatural world (clouds, rock configurations). This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanistor chef. It is also speculated that much of our consumer societyexploits the naturalist intelligences, which can be mobilized in the discrimination among cars, sneakers, kinds of makeup, and thelike. 2. Musical Intelligence (“Musical Smart”) Musical intelligence is the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone. This intelligence enables us to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music, as demonstrated by composers, conductors, musicians, vocalist, and sensitive listeners. Interestingly, there is often an affective connectionbetween music and the emotions; and mathematical and musical


15

intelligences may share common thinking processes. Young adults with this kind of intelligence are usually singing or drumming tothemselves. They are usually quite aware of sounds others may miss. 3. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart) Logical-mathematical intelligence is the ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations. It enables us to perceive relationships and connections and to use abstract, symbolic thought; sequential reasoning skills; and inductive and deductivethinking patterns. Logical intelligence is usually well developed in mathematicians, scientists, and detectives. Young adults with lots of logical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories, and relationships. They are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games and experiments. 4. Existential Intelligence Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here. 5. Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart”) Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand and interact effectively with others. It involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions among others, sensitivity to the moods and temperaments of others, and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives. Teachers, social workers, actors, and politicians all exhibit interpersonal intelligence. Young adults with this kind of intelligence are leaders among their peers, are good at communicating, and seem to understand others’ feelings and motives. 6. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (“Body Smart”)


16

Bodily kinesthetic intelligence is the capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills. This intelligence also involves a sense of timing and the perfection of skills through mind–body union. Athletes, dancers, surgeons, and craftspeople exhibit well-developed bodily kinesthetic intelligence. 7. Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart) Linguistic intelligence is the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. Linguistic intelligence allows us to understand the order and meaning of words and to apply meta-linguistic skills toreflect on our use of language. Linguistic intelligence is the most widely shared human competence and is evident in poets, novelists, journalists, and effective public speakers. Young adults with this kind of intelligence enjoy writing, reading, telling stories or doing crossword puzzles. 8. Intra-personal Intelligence (Self Smart”) Intra-personal intelligence is the capacity to understand oneselfand one’s thoughts and feelings, and to use such knowledge in planning and directioning one’s life. Intra-personal intelligence involves not only an appreciation of the self, but also of the human condition. It is evident in psychologist, spiritual leaders, and philosophers. These young adults may be shy. They are very aware of their own feelings and are self-motivated. 9. Spatial Intelligence (“Picture Smart”) Spatial intelligence is the ability to think in three dimensions. Core capacities include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination. Sailors, pilots, sculptors, painters, andarchitects all exhibit spatial intelligence. Young adults with


17

this kind of intelligence may be fascinated with mazes or jigsaw puzzles, or spend free time drawing or daydreaming.

Accommodating Multiple Intelligences of ESL Students

in a Mainstream Classroom

Now that we understand the theory of multipleintelligences as it relates, in general, to publiceducation, let's see how we can apply this theoryspecifically to teaching ESL students. First of all,why should you should take this theory into accountwhen teaching ESL students in your mainstreamclassroom? Well, because research shows thatintegrating specific, intelligence-based lessons forlanguage into a mainstream classroom curriculum has ahigh level of effectiveness in achieving results inteaching ESL students. Okay, so now you are probablywondering, “How can I adapt my classroom methodology toreflect the strengths and weaknesses of my ESLstudents, both collectively and individually?”Initially you will need to establish, throughobservation and communication, what types ofintelligences you have in your classroom. Eachintelligence is associated with a specific learningstyle, so being able to pinpoint what category (orcategories) of intelligence each student falls intowill help you to tailor your teaching methods andlesson plans to accommodate those learners and be themost effective you can be in teaching them. Below,under each intelligence are characteristics of learnersof that intelligence. This will help you determine whatand how many different intelligences you have in yourclassroom. You should then present lessons in at leasttwo or three different approaches based on the


18

preferred multiple intelligence learning styles andstrengths of your ESL students. Below, you will alsofind the teaching method associated with eachintelligence learning style, as well as examples,"lesson ideas," that you may be able to utilize in yourown classroom to suit ESL students in that intelligencecategory.

Effectively communicating with and teaching any studentrequires an understanding of multiple intelligences,but it is especially vital when dealing with ESLstudents in a mainstream classroom. Your ability as ateacher to tailor your teaching methods and lessonplans to accommodate the multiple intelligences of yourESL students is the determining factor of their successin your classroom. By recognizing that learners are infact different and therefore may need different typesof classroom activities and techniques in order tolearn, you will fully encourage your ESL learners totry harder, and at the same time, make the learningenvironment as meaningful and enjoyable as possible forall students involved.

Verbal / LinguisticCharacteristics of Verbal/Linguistic Learners: Possess the abilityto use language effectively both orally and in writing;need explanation and find understanding through the useof words; enjoy expressing themselves orally and inwriting; love wordplay, riddles, and listening tostories.

Teaching Method: Focuses on using language and plays aprimary role in learning English.

Lesson Ideas: Read a book aloud or tell a story, have thestudents debate a current issue, ask the students tomake a book (in any form that they choose, incorporate


19

journal writing into your curriculum.

Visual / SpatialCharacteristics of Visual/Spatial Learners: Possess the ability torecognize form, space, color, line, and shape and tographically represent visual and spatial ideas; needexplanation with and develop comprehension through theuse of pictures, graphs, maps, etc.; tend to think inpictures and mental images; enjoy illustrations,charts, tables and maps.

Teaching Method: Focuses on giving students visual cluesto help them to remember language; this is a veryeffective way for students to learn English.

Lesson Ideas: Show a video, ask the students to paint apicture or sketch a scene, have the students preparecharts or graphs, incorporate puzzles into yourcurriculum.

Body / KinestheticCharacteristics of Body/Kinesthetic Learners: Possess the abilityto use the body to express ideas and feelings and tosolve problems. experience learning best throughvarious kinds of movement.

Teaching Method: Combines physical actions/body movementswith linguistic responses to express ideas, accomplishtasks, create moods, etc.; uses dialogue simultaneouslywith role play; this is very helpful for tying languageto actions.

Lesson Ideas: Take your students on field trips, have themto do hand-on experiments like papier mache, teach alesson on telling time, do arts and crafts with yourstudents, incorporate physical education ideas into alesson.


20

InterpersonalCharacteristics of Interpersonal Learners: Possess the ability tounderstand another person's feelings, motivations, andintentions and to respond effectively. like to interactwith others to accomplish tasks and learn best ingroups or with a partner; they learn while speaking toothers in an “authentic’ setting; they develop Englishspeaking skills while reacting to others.

Teaching Method: Focuses on group learning to allowstudents to work with others to accomplish tasks andcomplete activities.

Lesson Ideas: Teach a lesson on social awareness,incorporate peer editing and peer teaching into thecurriculum, break the students into small groups andhave them discuss specific topics and then share theirgroup thoughts with the class.

Logical -MathematicalCharacteristics of Logical-Mathematical Learners: Possess theability to use numbers effectively and reason well;display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problemsolving.

Teaching Method: Focuses on using logic and mathematicalmodels to represent and help students work withconcepts and ideas.

Lesson Idea: Play logic games with the students, havethem complete a webquest that brings into play datacollecting, critical thinking, and problem solving,incorporate geometry and money into lessons where arelation can be made.


21

MusicalCharacteristics of Musical-Rhythmic Learners: Possess the abilityto recognize rhythm, pitch, and melody; learn bestthrough songs, patterns, rhythms and musicalrepresentations.

Teaching Method: Focuses on using melody, rhythm, andharmony to help students recognize things andcommunicate; this is often underestimated in classroomswith ESL students.

Teaching Idea: Play background music (like classical)when the students have free time, have the studentsconstruct a poem about something related to the lessonor class, teach your students a song that relates tothe topic being discussed in class that day.

IntrapersonalCharacteristics of Intrapersonal Learners: Possess the ability toknow about and understand themselves and recognizetheir similarities to and differences from others;learn through self-knowledge leading to understandingof motives, goals, strengths, and weaknesses;reflective and intuitive about how and what they learn;able to deal with underlying issues (this can improveor hamper English usage).

Teaching Method: Focuses on guiding students’ learningthrough self-knowledge which will lead to anunderstanding of motives, goals, strengths andweaknesses. This method is essential for long-termEnglish learning.

Lesson Idea: Set time aside each week for your

students to enjoy independent reading, allow thestudents to do a project of their choice to show theirundestanding of a concept or lesson, have the students


22

write down their personal goals, pick the one mostimportant to them, and display it somewhere in theroom.

Catering to Multiple Intelligences

A foreign-language lesson plan involving houses

By Rolf PalmbergDepartment of Teacher Education, Abo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland

Introduction

In 1983, Howard Gardner, the creator of the Multiple Intelligences (MI) Theory, suggested that all individuals have personal intelligence profiles that consist of combinations of seven different intelligence types. These intelligences were (Gardner 1983):

verbal-linguistic mathematical-logical visual-spatial bodily-kinaesthetic musical-rhythmic interpersonal intrapersonal

In 1997 Gardner added an eighth intelligence type to the list, that of naturalist intelligence, and two years later a ninth type, that of existentialist intelligence (Gardner 1999). To the best of my knowledge, Michael Berman was the first to extensivelyapply Gardner's MI Theory to foreign-language teaching (Berman 1998/2002).

The purpose of the paper is twofold: first, to demonstrate how teachers can cater optimally for learners with different


23

intelligence profiles during a foreign-language lesson, and second, to show that this can be easily achieved using everyday classroom activities and techniques.

A proposed foreign-language lesson

Phase 1: Share the goals of the lesson with the learners. Tell them that after the lesson, they will be able to recognise the names of common rooms and other words related to houses. Furthermore, they will be able to use most of the vocabulary items productively or, more precisely, to be able to describe houses and name the various rooms that houses may hold, to ask questions about houses, and to argue in favour of their own as well as against other people's opinions.

Next, invite them to suggest real-life situations in which they may have to discuss or describe houses in a foreign language.

Phase 2: Read out the text entitled "Our House" to the learners. Ask them to listen carefully and to pay special attention to the various types of rooms mentioned in the text. You could also invite one of the learners to do the reading.

Our House

I live in a big yellow house near the main road. Our house has eight windows and two balconies that overlook a big garden. On the ground floor there are a kitchen, a hall, a living-room with many paintings on the walls, a dining-room where we have all our meals, a bathroom, a toilet, a computer room with lots of books in a giant bookcase that fills the whole wall, and a garage. In front of the house there are a garden, a swimming-pool, and a large, green fountain with fish.

On the first floor there are three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small toilet. On the second floor there is an attic which has allkinds of old furniture. Behind the house there is a vegetable garden. We have a large basement too, with a cosy sitting-room and an open fireplace.


24

Phase 3: Divide the learners into pairs and ask them to list the different rooms mentioned in the text and to provide answers to the following questions:

How many floors were mentioned in the text? Which rooms were on which floors? Was there something in the house or the garden that you do

not normally find in an ordinary house or its garden?

Phase 4: Ask the learners to make individual lists of all the rooms they wish they had in their dream house. Also, ask them to specify whether their dream house is new or old, a single-family house or in a block of flats, located in a city or in the countryside, etc.

Play the song "Our House" (performed by Crosby, Stills and Nash) at a low volume in the background while the learners are working.

Phase 5: Divide the learners into groups of three and give each group a copy of the house plan shown below. Ask each group to agree among themselves as to which rooms there are in the house plan, and at the same time try to include as many elements as possible from every group member's individual dream house.


25

Phase 6: When the learners are finished, invite them to walk around in the classroom, discussing and comparing house plans. Ask them to make notes of the types of houses included in everybody else's individual house plans while walking around, andalso of the rooms found in the house plans agreed upon within thegroups.

Phase 7: Divide the learners into new groups of three and ask each group:

a. to decide among themselves which rooms were the most popularones, and

b. to categorise the existing house types into whatever number and kind of categories that they find appropriate

Phase 8: Play the background song "Our House" one more time (at ahigher volume) and ask the learners to concentrate specifically on the lyrics1. Next, ask them to decide what the text is all about and then share their thoughts with the learners sitting next to them.


26

Phase 9: As the final phase of the lesson, ask your learners to work with a computer program entitled "Our House". [You’ll find an alternative lesson plan involving this program here2. The program is downloadable free of charge from the author's CALL site3.] The program opens with a blank screen and the learners' task is to complete the program text by suggesting words to it. Each accepted word will appear on its correct line(s) and in its correct place(s) in relation to all visible words, but without any indication as to the number or place(s) of the missing words.Invite the learners to help one another but challenge them to complete the program text [which is in fact identical with the original text] without using the "Help" function of the program. Since the purpose of this phase is repetition, it could be a goodidea to postpone this phase until the following English lesson.

Characteristics of learners representing different intelligence types

According to Gardner (1983, 1993, 1999) and Berman (1998/2002), verbal-linguistic learners enjoy expressing themselves orally andin writing, and love wordplay, riddles and listening to stories. Mathematical-logical learners display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving, whereas visual-spatial learners tend to think in pictures and mental images, and enjoy illustrations, charts, tables and maps. Bodily-kinaesthetic learners experience learning best through various kinds of movement, while musical-rhythmic learners learn best through songs, patterns, rhythms and musical expression. Intrapersonal learners are reflective and intuitive about how and what they learn, whereas interpersonal learners like to interact with others and learn best in groups or with a partner. Naturalist learners love the outdoors and enjoy classifying and categorisingactivities. Existentialist learners, finally, are concerned with philosophical issues such as the status of mankind in relation touniversal existence.

Catering for the various intelligence types


27

The various intelligence types are catered for in particularly during the following phases of the proposed foreign-language lesson:

verbal-linguistic learners: all phases mathematical-logical learners: phases 3, 5, 7 & 9 visual-spatial learners: phases 5, 6 & 9 bodily-kinaesthetic learners: phase 6 musical-rhythmic learners: phases 4 & 8 interpersonal learners: phases 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 intrapersonal learners: phases 4, 8 & 9 naturalist learners: phase 7 existentialist learners: phases 1 & 8

Conclusion

From a teaching point of view, the important thing is not whetherteachers elect to base their teaching on specific coursebooks or whether they reserve the right to interpret, select and use the types of classroom activities that can cater for (or be designed to cater for) the intelligence profiles of their particular learner group. It is far more important for teachers to recognizethe fact that learners are in fact different and therefore may need different types of classroom activities and techniques in order to learn. Only in doing so can teachers fully encourage their learners to try harder and at the same time make the learning environment as meaningful and enjoyable as possible for all parties involved.

This report begins by summarizing current applications of ideas from artificial intelligence (AI) to education. It then uses thatsummary to project various future applications of AI -- and advanced technology in general -- to education, as well as highlighting problems that will confront the wide-scale implementation of these technologies in the classroom.

The earliest applications of AI in education developed intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). For the most part, ITS, like


28

CAI systems before them, have attempted to implement traditional methods of learning and teaching. Drill-and-practice, and other variants in which students solve relatively short problems chosen by the teacher, have a proven pedigree in the classroom. Perhaps more important, ITS using a drill-and-practice method have generally aimed at well-defined and well-accepted goals for learning. These typically include factual knowledge and proceduralskills, like algebra symbol manipulation, that are part of traditional school curricula, and that can be measured by existing standardized tests. Working with traditional methods of teaching and learning, and using traditional means of evaluating outcomes, the developers of ITS have tried to show that ITS can significantly improve the speed and quality of students learning.And, to some extent, they have been successful.

However a looming paradox undermines these successes. The technologies that make it possible to automate traditional methods of teaching and learning are also helping to create new methods, and to redefine valued educational goals. For example, new technologies can automate symbol-manipulation algebra and spelling correction, making these skills less important to learn,while increasing the importance of "higher-order" skills requiredto do creative mathematics and writing. As a result, attempts to use new technologies in education to further traditional learninggoals or traditional methods of teaching makes less and less sense.

This situation poses tremendous difficulties to the development of effective educational technology applications. Traditional goals and methods for learning are at least well understood and relatively well-defined. But new methods -- for example learning through inquiry, collaboration, or visualization -- and new goalsfor learning have not yet been agreed upon by the educational community at large, let alone fully operationalized. Crafting effective technologies for fixed learning goals and methods of teaching and learning is challenging enough. But is even more demanding when the target you are aiming at is moving.

Microworlds and interactive learning environments (ILEs) are one response to these changes in the educational landscape. Presented by : Ajmal Dass

29

Generally, they are trying to implement an inquiry-based method of teaching and learning, perhaps helping to bring this method into the classroom on a large scale for the first time. However, at the same time, ILEs are involved in a shift of educational goals as well as methods. Its not simply a matter of providing tools for new methods of learning skills now taught in many classrooms. In some cases, new educational goals focus on topics that are not part of traditional curricula, such as boolean networks and chaos, graph theory, and inquiry skills themselves. In other cases the focus is on traditional topics, like fractionsor polygons, but the intent is to foster a deeper conceptual understanding of ideas that are usually taught as simple procedures.

The movement from ITS to ILEs, and to mixed-initiative systems that represent a combination of both approaches, illustrates a general pattern in educational technology today. Virtually all important computer-based applications to education are not simplytrying to teach traditional skills more quickly, efficiently or less expensively. Rather, like ILEs, they are participating in anattempt to change methods of learning and teaching and to redefine valued educational goals and learning outcomes.

As a result, there is no reason to believe that the most effective uses of AI (or advanced technology in general) in education will happen quickly or without careful policy and planning. In the short-term, technologies resembling many ITS -- that aim at well-defined learning goals and that can be moved into classrooms with a minimum of disruption -- will provide the most statistically significant improvements in student outcomes. Policies that support research based on their ability to generatesuch results in "horse race" evaluations risk encouraging technology applications that miss longer-term benefits.

On the other hand, policies which simply give researchers free reign to develop software that focuses on new methods of teachingand new learning outcomes also run considerable risks. The problems in developing these systems and moving them into education on a broad scale are not simply technical ones. Our experience provides a case in point. When developing ITS for Presented by : Ajmal Dass

30

mathematics education, 75% our effort was spent on technical and research issues, but implementation required most of our time when we integrated ILEs into schools. As technology continues to transform the goals for student learning and to enlarge the rangeof methods for teaching and learning, implementation will requireproportionally more effort.

In general, implementation tasks must develop new curricula, assessment methods and instruments, teaching practices and professional standards, and teacher education. These tasks cannotall be effectively done by any single group of researchers. Rather, we believe that scaling up new technologies like ILEs will require a division of labor -- different groups or projects working in a coordinated fashion to put together the technology, curricula, assessment tools, professional standards, and teacher training pieces of a package of broad educational reform. However, today we see very little evidence of such coordination. Research in these areas is typically funded by disjoint government programs that provide few incentives or mechanisms necessary to engender needed cooperation. In the future it will be important to consider new policies that improve the communication between these groups. A variety of policy options are worth examining, including larger consortium-based projects that include expertise in software development as well as teachertraining and other key stakeholder groups, smaller separate projects that work together synergistically using new networking technologies, and incentives that bring high-tech companies into better cooperation with educational technology research and classroom practice.

Computer technologies are changing the practice of research and business, and -- very slowly -- the content and practice of education are beginning to follow suit. This paper discusses how work in artificial intelligence (AI) is contributing new approaches to education and learning. The hallmark of AI applications in education is that they attempt to explicitly represent some of the reasoning skills and knowledge of expert practitioners, and to exploit that expertise for teaching and learning. In business we see growing evidence that information


31

technologies are leading to substantial improvements in productivity by automating routine activities (Zuboff, 1988). Similarly, it seems that if we can impart basic cognitive skills of teachers to computers we might delegate some teaching to machines and thus improve educational outcomes. However, this paper will chronicle several ways in which such a theory vastly oversimplifies practice.

The main goal of this paper is to review past and present trends in the applications of AI in education, and to project from the successes and failures of those applications to possible future applications. The paper is a personal perspective in several senses. It selectively highlights a few important issues but makes no attempt to survey all key ideas in educational technology. Discussion is limited to two main applications of AI in education: intelligent tutoring systems and microworlds. Even more narrowly, the paper will compare these two approaches primarily in terms of their methods of learning and teaching -- the procedures, principles, and techniques they embody to facilitate learning -- and their learning outcomes or goals for learning -- the particular kinds of knowledge and learning they help students acquire, or try to help them acquire. The paper is also a personal perspective because it illustrates many of its main points with reference to our own research at RAND over the past several years. We also discuss other research to support general points, but many outstanding systems and studies are mentioned only in passing or not at all.

The organization of the paper is roughly chronological. The firstsection discusses the application of AI ideas in developing earlyintelligent tutoring systems, reviewing both their successes and limitations. These limitations motivate the relatively recent development of interactive learning environments and microworlds,which are discussed in the next main section. The paper concludeswith some general reflections on the current state-of-the-art, and with some speculations on possible future directions for AI in education.


32

Emotional Intelligence -- The Forgotten Key to Educational

Success

The movie, Waiting for "Superman", laid blame for our broken K-12 public school system with teacher unions. Secretary of Education,Arne Duncan suggested teachers should come from the top third of their graduating classes. President Obama in a recent speech at TechBoston called for more reform and more money. Theories aboundfor fixing our schools, but the debate ignores an underlying current. The root of our failing education system from K-12 all the way through college is a lack of one basic skill: the abilityto manage our emotions.According to Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence, emotional management, the ability to identify, appropriately express and manage our emotions, forms the foundation for learning and making decisions. It is the platform on which other essential skills, like reading, writing, math, even social skills are built. As it is a skill, it has to be taught and continually practiced.

Dr. Goleman's research has found that academic achievement scoresin students who learn key emotional skills improve by an average of 12 percent to 15 percent. These results underscore what literally happens in a brain distracted by emotions -- it has precious little cognitive ability available to take in new information or critically think.43

So why doesn't every school teach emotional management and why isit not taught every year of school and even through adulthood? The answer lies in our culture's general discomfort with feelings.


33

According to Carole Robin, a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in organizational behavior, our ability to be in touch with and express our feelings is slowly socialized out of us. She gives the example of a toddler who bumps his head: themother rushes to him and says "You're okay. You're okay." We're told to be okay even if we're not.

Then we enter school and we're told to be rational and not emotional. Later in the workplace, we're trained to put on armor.So over time, our ability to even access emotion gets thwarted; in her words, "our emotional muscles atrophy."

Though we're trained to tamp down our emotions, it's an illusion,because emotions don't go away unless addressed. "Human beings are leaky," Dr. Robin adds. Meaning, if you're not aware of your emotions you can't manage them and when you don't manage your emotions you encounter all manner of unintended results.

Some of which we can already see not only in poor student test scores and the escalating number of high school drop outs, but also in adults with enormous school debt and no jobs.

The reality is the circumstances of the lives of students and their teachers, for that matter, contain difficulties. But instead of facing them with key emotional skills, these difficulties become distractions that are felt in classrooms across the nation. Students and adults, alike, will only be able to learn more or be effective, if all of their faculties are focused on the task at hand, which is only possible if their emotional concerns are addressed and managed.

Dr. Robin's very popular class in inter-personal dynamics at Stanford, ironically dubbed "Touchy Feely" by students, offers a starting point. The class teaches future business leaders how


34

emotions underlie communication and behavior. Armed with the vocabulary of feelings, students practice identifying and appropriately expressing their emotions. Lack of this simple skill can impede a leader's success in her environment -- the workplace, much like it affects the workplace of students and teachers -- the classroom.

While there are organizations like the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) working to integrate self-awareness training into the curriculum of schools,there don't seem to be any organizations focused on educating thepublic. Frankly, CASEL and other organizations with similar goalswon't be successful at a scale to make a true difference unless our culture addresses the stigma attached to emotions.

We begin by understanding and addressing how emotions underlie everything we do. We may just find we're the superheroes.

Newer Views of Learning- Applications of EQ

EQ Educational Applications:

Although Goleman sprinkles suggestions for educational implementation throughout his book, in the latter portion of the work he specifically defends the need for schools to address emotional intelligence. Here he says:

. . . Emotional literacy implies an expanded mandate for schools,taking up the slack for failing families in socializing children.This daunting task requires two major changes: that teachers go beyond their traditional mission and that people in the communitybecome more involved with schools.

Whether there is a class explicitly devoted to emotional literacymay matter far less than how these lessons are taught. There is perhaps no subject where the quality of the teacher matters so


35

much, since how a teacher handles her class is in itself a model,a de facto lesson in emotional competence--or the lack thereof. Whenever a teacher responds to one student, twenty or thirty others learn a lesson.

There is a self selection in the kind of teacher such as these, because not everyone is suited by temperament. To begin with, teachers need to be comfortable talking about feelings, not everyteacher is at ease doing so or wants to be. . . . 279 (Goleman)

An example: The appendices of Goleman's book (starting on page 301) are rich with possibilities which could easily be incorporated into school programs. His collections of ideas include many thoughtful suggestions, all of which could either serve as a basis for powerful, affective curricula, or for some level of infusion into traditional content areas. Here is a sample of the type of things Goleman offers readers.

From the W.T. Grant Consortium: Active ingredients of prevention programs: ( Original source: Hawkins, J.D., et al (1992) Communities that care. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.)

Emotional skills:

1.Identify and label feelings

2.Expressing feelings

3.Assessing the intensity of feelings

4.Managing feelings

5.Delaying gratification

6.Controlling impulses

7.Reducing stress


36

8.Knowing the difference

Cognitive Skills:

1. Self-talk - conducting inner dialogue

2. Reading and interpreting social cues

3. Using steps for problem solving and decision making

Behavioral Skills:

1. Nonverbal - communicating through the body, being aware of themessages one is giving and receiving.

2. Verbal - making clear statements, responding appropriately, listening, empathetic responses, helping others, etc.

Teaching students to use their gifts.

In the context of all three intelligences--intrapersonal, interpersonal, and emotional -- here are some of my personal suggestions for implementation. (Hint: If you really want to knowwho is smart and in what areas, ask a little kid to tell you. Kids, ages three to seven, are very good at seeing through the adult masks and mazes of cultural and social mystic, and of affectation. After age seven children have a tendency to want to become adept as social animals and to want to glean acceptance from adults. Unfortunately, most are socialized into losing theiracute perceptive abilities of talent detection and people intuition.)

Wilson's Suggestions

1. Simply learn to recognize and affirm those children who are smart in different ways.

2. Discuss and educate peers, parents, and community members about new and different perceptions of intelligence.


37

3. Find opportunities to showcase children's multiple talents andabilities, and expand narrower definitions and criteria for "gifted and talented" programs so that they include other intelligences beyond the narrow limitations of verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligences.

4. Teach students about the multiple intelligences and other forms of intelligence, but be careful to also teach ways and techniques that aid students in using their strengths to create instructional bridges into areas of metacognitive weakness. Teachstudents how to explore and nurture their weaker talents through their strengths.

5. Teach students the arts of self-talk, internal dialoguing, self-affirmation, reflective analysis, and the art of apology.

6. Create opportunities whereby students affirm and actively listen to one another.

7. Identify faculty and staff who have intrapersonal, interpersonal, or emotional intelligences, and allow them to become role models for both faculty and students.

8. Use role-play as a teaching technique, but be sure you know what you are doing. This is one of the most powerful teaching tools, and if not done correctly, role playing can create more problems than it can solve. Study the technique first! Always debrief after role-plays.

9. Recognize and honor Carl Jung's temperament attributes of introversion and extraversion. Many people mistakenly think that attributes have to do with qualities of shyness and gregariousness. This is not true! These personality attributes have to do with where and how people draw energy, and what aspects of self they are willing to reveal to others, and how oneresponds to external stimulus. Educate yourself about what these attributes really mean, adjust teaching techniques so that the needs of both types of children are met and adjust, and revise teaching techniques so that they are representative of both typesof temperaments.


38

10. Emphasize the human connections, the dramas, the stories of struggle and triumph that permeate each academic discipline.

11. Give students the gift of time -- grant time for active reflection, introspection and conversation--times where students are allowed to become reflective, and then have opportunities to share their introspective reflections with others.

12. Introduce unfinished stories, scenarios, and problems that deal with moral and ethical actions, and the art of thinking of the human condition in metaphoric terms. These are all very powerful ways for students to begin to think about the ancient, affective side of humanity and the evolutionary state of human emotions and interactions.

13. Organize public service experiences. Extend the walls of the school to include the community.

14. Introduce students to members of older generations and let them listen to their stories.

15. All students need to experience the joy of committing random acts of kindness and beauty--give them opportunities to do so.

16. Learn and teach the power of laughter and beauty and their connections to emotional and physical well-being and healing.

17. Teach the arts of social discourse, how to read body language, conflict resolution techniques, and stress reduction.

18. Inclusive educational, employment, and social practices offerstudents opportunities to develop understanding of others, as well as caring and empathetic attitudes. Support, discuss and promote such initiatives.

18. And remember to experience, practice and model all of the above yourself -- "the medium is the message."


39

The Uses of Intelligence TestsLewis M. Terman (1916)

First published in The measurement of intelligence (chapter 1). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Intelligence tests of retarded school children. Numerous studies of the age-grade progress of school children have afforded convincing evidence of the magnitude and seriousness of the retardation problem. Statistics collected in hundreds of cities in the United States show that between a third and a half of the school children fail to progress through the grades at the expected rate; that from 10 to 15 per cent are retarded two yearsor more; and that from 5 to 8 per cent are retarded at least three years. More than 10 per cent of the $400,000,000 annually expended in the United States for school instruction is devoted to re-teaching children what they have already been taught but have failed to learn.

The first efforts at reform which resulted from these findings were based on the supposition that the evils which had been discovered could be remedied by the individualizing of instruction, by improved methods of promotion, by increased attention to children's health, and by other reforms in school administration. Although reforms along these lines have been productive of much good, they have nevertheless been in a measuredisappointing. The trouble was, they were too often based upon the assumption that under the right conditions all children wouldbe equally, or almost equally, capable of making satisfactory school progress. Psychological studies of school children by means of standardized intelligence tests have shown that this supposition is not in accord with the facts. It has been found that children do not fall into two well-defined groups, the "feeble-minded" and the "normal." Instead, there are many grades of intelligence, ranging from idiocy on the one hand to genius onthe other. Among those classed as normal, vast individual


40

differences have been found to exist in original mental endowment, differences which affect profoundly the capacity to profit from school instruction.

We are beginning to realize that the school must take into account, more seriously than it has yet done, the existence and significance of these differences in endowment. Instead of wasting energy in the vain attempt to hold mentally slow and defective children up to a level of progress which is normal to the average child, it will be wiser to take account of the inequalities of children in original endowment and to differentiate the course of study in such a way that each child will be allowed to progress at the rate which is normal to him, whether that rate be rapid or slow.

While we cannot hold all children to the same standard of school progress, we can at least prevent the kind of retardation which involves failure and the repetition of a school grade. It is wellenough recognized that children do not enter with very much zest upon school work in which they have once failed. Failure crushes self-confidence and destroys the spirit of work. It is a sad factthat a large proportion of children in the schools are acquiring the habit of failure. The remedy, of course, is to measure out the work for each child in proportion to his mental ability.

Before an engineer constructs a railroad bridge or trestle, he studies the materials to be used, and learns by means of tests exactly the amount of strain per unit of size his materials will be able to withstand. He does not work empirically, and count upon patching up the mistakes which may later appear under the stress of actual use. The educational engineer should emulate this example. Tests and forethought must take the place of failure and patchwork. Our efforts have been too long directed by"trial and error." It is time to leave off guessing and to acquire a scientific knowledge of the material with which we haveto deal. When instruction must be repeated, it means that the school, as well as the pupil, has failed.

Every child who fails in his school work or is in danger of failing should be given a mental examination. The examination


41

takes less than one hour, and the result will contribute more to a real understanding of the case than anything else that could bedone. It is necessary to determine whether a given child is unsuccessful in school because of poor native ability, or becauseof poor instruction, lack of interest, or some other removable cause.

It is not sufficient to establish any number of special classes, if they are to be made the dumping-ground for all kinds of troublesome cases -- the feeble-minded, the physically defective,the merely backward, the truants, the incorrigibles, etc. Withoutscientific diagnosis and classification of these children the educational work of the special class must blunder along in the dark. In such diagnosis and classification our main reliance mustalways be in mental tests, properly used and properly interpreted.

Intelligence tests of the feeble-minded. Thus far intelligence tests have found their chief application in the identification and grading of the feeble-minded. Their value for this purpose istwofold. In the first place, it is necessary to ascertain the degree of defect before it is possible to decide intelligently upon either the content or the method of instruction suited to the training of the backward child. In the second place, intelligence tests are rapidly extending our conception of "feeble-mindedness" to include milder degrees of defect than havegenerally been associated with this term. The earlier methods of diagnosis caused a majority of the higher grade defectives to be overlooked. Previous to the development of psychological methods the low-grade moron was about as high a type of defective as mostphysicians or even psychologists were able to identify as feeble-minded.

Wherever intelligence tests have been made in any considerable number in the schools, they have shown that not far from 2 per cent of the children enrolled have a grade of intelligence which,however long they live, will never develop beyond the level whichis normal to the average child of 11 or 12 years. The large majority of these belong to the moron grade; that is, their


42

mental development will stop somewhere between the 7-year and 12-year level of intelligence, more often between 9 and 12.

The more we learn about such children, the clearer it becomes that they must be looked upon as real defectives. They may be able to drag along to the fourth, fifth, or sixth grades, but even by the age of 16 or 18 years they are never able to cope successfully with the more abstract and difficult parts of the common-school course of study. They may master a certain amount of rote learning, such as that involved in reading and in the manipulation of number combinations, but they cannot be taught tomeet new conditions effectively or to think, reason, and judge asnormal persons do.

It is safe to predict that in the near future intelligence tests will bring tens of thousands of these high-grade defectives underthe surveillance and protection of society. This will ultimately result in curtailing the reproduction of feeble-mindedness and inthe elimination of an enormous amount of crime, pauperism, and industrial inefficiency. It is hardly necessary to emphasize thatthe high-grade cases, of the type now so frequently overlooked, are precisely the ones whose guardianship it is most important for the State to assume.

Intelligence tests of delinquents. One of the most important facts brought to light by the use of intelligence tests is the frequent association of delinquency and mental deficiency. Although it has long been recognized that the proportion of feeble-mindedness among offenders is rather large, the real amount has, until recently, been underestimated even by the most competent students of criminology.

The criminologists have been accustomed to give more attention tothe physical than to the mental correlates of crime. Thus, Lombroso and his followers subjected thousands of criminalsto observation and measurement with regard to such physical traits as size and shape of the skull, bilateral asymmetries, anomalies of the ear, eye, nose, palate, teeth, hands, fingers, hair, dermal sensitivity, etc. The search was for physical "stigmata" characteristic of the "criminal type."


43

Although such studies performed an important service in creating a scientific interest in criminology, the theories of Lombroso have been wholly discredited by the results of intelligence tests. Such tests have demonstrated, beyond any possibility of doubt, that the most important trait of at least 25 per cent of our criminals is mental weakness. The physical abnormalities which have been found so, common among prisoners are not the stigmata of criminality, but the physical accompaniments of feeble-mindedness. They have no diagnostic significance except inso far as they are indications of mental deficiency. Without exception, every study which has been made of the intelligence level of delinquents has furnished convincing testimony as to theclose relation existing between mental weakness and moral abnormality. Some of these findings are as follows:--

Miss Renz tested 100 girls of the Ohio State Reformatory and reported 36 per cent as certainly feeble-minded. In every one of these cases the commitment papers had given the pronouncement "intellect sound."

Under the direction of Dr. Goddard the Binet tests were given to 100 juvenile court cases, chosen at random, in Newark, New Jersey. Nearly half were classified as feeble-minded. One boy 17 years old had 9-year intelligence; another of l5½ had 8-year intelligence.

Of 56 delinquent girls 14 to 20 years of age tested by Hill and Goddard, almost half belonged either to the 9- or the 10-year level of intelligence.

Dr. G. G. Fernald's tests of 100 prisoners at the Massachusetts State Reformatory showed that at least 95 per cent were feebleminded.

Of 1186 girls tested by Miss Dewson at the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 28 per cent were found to have subnormal intelligence.

Dr. Katherine Bement Davis's report on 1000 cases entered in the Bedford Home for Women, New York, stated that there was no doubt


44

but that at least 157 were feeble-minded. Recently there has beenestablished at this institution one of the most important research laboratories of the kind in the United States, with a trained psychologist, Dr. Mabel Feniald, in charge.

Of 564 prostitutes investigated by Dr. Anna Dwyer in connection with the Municipal Court of Chicago, only 3 per cent had gone beyond the fifth grade in school. Mental tests were not made, butfrom the data given it is reasonably certain that half or more were feeble-minded.

Tests, by Dr. George Ordahl and Dr. Louise Ellison Ordahl, of cases in the Geneva School for Girls, Geneva, Illinois, showed that, on a conservative basis of classification, at least 18 per cent were feeble-minded. At the Joliet Prison, Illinois, the sameauthors found 50 per cent of the female prisoners feeble-minded, and 26 per cent of the male prisoners. At the St. Charles School for Boys 26 per cent were feeble-minded.

Tests, by Dr. J. Harold Williams, of 150 delinquents in the Whittier State School for Boys, Whittier, California, gave 28 percent feeble-minded and 25 per cent at or near the border-line. About 300 other juvenile delinquents tested by Mr. Williams gave approximately the same figures. As a result of these findings a research laboratory has been established at the Whittier School, with Dr. Williams in charge. In the girls' division of the Whittier School, Dr. Grace Fernald collected a large amount of psychological data on more than 100 delinquent girls. The findings of this investigation agree closely with those of Dr. Williams for the boys.

At the State Reformatory, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Dr. von Klein-Schmid, in an unusually thorough psychological study of 1000 young adult prisoners, finds the proportion of feeble-mindedness not far from 50 per cent.

But it is needless to multiply statistics. Those given are but samples. Tests are at present being made in most of the progressive prisons, reform schools, and juvenile courts throughout the country, and while there are minor discrepancies


45

in regard to the actual percentage who are feebleminded, there isno investigator who denies the fearful role played by mental deficiency in the production of vice, crime, and delinquency.[1]

Heredity studies of "degenerate" families have confirmed, in a striking way, the testimony secured by intelligence tests. Among the best known of such families are the "Kallikaks," the "Jukes,"the "Hiu Folk,"the Nams," the Zeros," and the "Ishmaelites."

The Kallikak family. Martin Kallikak was a youthful soldier in the Revolutionary War. At a tavern frequented by the militia he met afeeble-minded girl, by whom he became the father of a feeble-minded son. In 1912, there were 480 known direct descendants of this temporary union. It is known that 36 of these were illegitimates, that 33 were sexually immoral, that 24 were confirmed alcoholics, and that 8 kept houses of ill-fame. The explanation of so much immorality will be obvious when it is stated that of the 480 descendants, 143 were known to be feeble-minded, and that many of the others were of questionable mentality.

A few years after returning from the war this same Martin Kallikak married a respectable girl of good family. From this union 496 individuals have been traced in direct descent, and in this branch of the family there were no illegitimate children, noimmoral women, and only one man who was sexually loose. There were no criminals, no keepers of houses of ill-fame, and only twoconfirmed alcoholics. Again the explanation is clear when it is stated that this branch of the family did not contain a single feeble-minded individual. It was made up of doctors, lawyers, judges, educators, traders, and landholders.[2]

The Hill Folk. The Hill Folk are a New England family of which 709 persons have been traced. Of the married women, 24 per cent had given birth to illegitimate offspring, and 10 per cent were prostitutes. Criminal tendencies were clearly shown in 24 membersof the family, while alcoholism was still more common. The proportion of feeble-minded was 48 per cent. It was estimated that the Hill Folk have in the last sixty years cost the State ofMassachusetts, in charitable relief, care of feeble-minded,


46

epileptic, and insane, conviction and punishment for crime, prostitution, pauperism, etc., at least $500,000. [3]

The Nam family and the Jukes give equally dark pictures as regards criminality, licentiousness, and alcoholism, and althoughfeeble-mindedness was not as fully investigated in these familiesas in the Kallikaks and the Hill Folk, the evidence is strong that it was a leading trait. The 784 Nams who were traced included 187 alcoholics, 232 women and 199 men known to be licentious, and 40 who became prisoners. It is estimated that theNams have already cost the State nearly $1,500,000. [4]

Of 540 Jukes, practically one fifth were born out of wedlock, 37 were known to be syphilitic, 53 had been in the poorhouse, 76 hadbeen sentenced to prison, and of 229 women of marriageable age 128 were prostitutes. The economic damage inflicted upon the State of New York by the Jukes in seventy-five years was estimated at more than $1,300,000, to say nothing of diseases andother evil influences which they helped to spread.[5]

But why do the feeble-minded tend so strongly to become delinquent? The answer may be stated in simple terms. Morality depends upon two things: (a) the ability to foresee and to weigh the possible consequences for self and others of different kinds of behavior; and (b) upon the willingness and capacity to exercise self-restraint. That there are many intelligent criminals is due to the fact that (a) may exist without (b). On the other hand, (b) presupposes (a). In other words, not all criminals are feeble-minded, but all feeble-minded are at least potential criminals. That every feeble-minded woman is a potential prostitute would hardly be disputed by any one. Moral judgment, like business judgment, social judgment, or any other kind of higher thought process, is a function of intelligence. Morality cannot flower and fruit if intelligence remains infantile.

All of us in early childhood lacked moral responsibility. We wereas rank egoists as any criminal. Respect for the feelings, the property rights, or any other kind of rights, of others had to belaboriously acquired under the whip of discipline. But by degrees


47

we learned that only when instincts are curbed, and conduct is made to conform to principles established formally or accepted tacitly by our neighbors, does this become a livable world for any of us. Without the intelligence to generalize the particular,to foresee distant consequences of present acts, to weigh these foreseen consequences in the nice balance of imagination, morality cannot be learned. When the adult body, with its adult instincts, is coupled with the undeveloped intelligence and weak inhibitory powers of a 10-year-old child, the only possible outcome, except in those cases where constant guardianship is exercised by relatives or friends, is some form of delinquency.

Considering the tremendous cost of vice and crime, which in all probability amounts to not less than $500,000,000 per year in theUnited States alone, it is evident that psychological testing hasfound here one of its richest applications. Before offenders can be subjected to rational treatment a mental diagnosis is necessary, and while intelligence tests do not constitute a complete psychological diagnosis, they are, nevertheless, its most indispensable part.

Intelligence tests of superior children. The number of children with very superior ability is approximately as great as the number of feeble-minded. The future welfare of the country hinges, in no small degree, upon the right education of these superior children. Whether civilization moves on and up depends most on the advances made by creative thinkers and leaders in science, polities, art, morality, and religion. Moderate ability can follow, or imitate, but genius must show the way.

Through the leveling influences of the educational lockstep such children at present are often lost in the masses. It is a rare child who is able to break this lockstep by extra promotions. Taking the country over, the ratio of "accelerates" to "retardates" in the school is approximately 1 to 10. Through the handicapping influences of poverty, social neglect, physical defects, or educational maladjustments, many potential leaders inscience, art, government, and industry are denied the opportunityof a normal development. The use we have made of exceptional ability one of the primitive methods of surface mining.Presented by : Ajmal Dass

48

It is necessary to explore the nation's hidden resources of intelligence. The common saying that "genius will out" is one of those dangerous half-truths with which too many people rest content.

Psychological tests show that children of superior ability are very likely to be misunderstood in school. The writer has tested more than a hundred children who were as much above average intelligence as moron defectives are below. The large majority ofthese were found located below the school grade warranted by their intellectual level. One third had failed to reap any advantage whatever, in terms of promotion, from their very superior intelligence. Even genius languishes when kept over-longat tasks that are too easy.

Our data show that teachers sometimes fail entirely to recognize exceptional superiority in a pupil, and that the degree of such superiority is rarely estimated with anything like the accuracy which is possible to the psychologist after a one-hour examination. B. F., for example, was a little over 7½ years old whentested. He was in the third grade, and was therefore thought by his teacher to be accelerated in school. This boy's intelligence,however, was found to be above the 12-year level. There is no doubt that his mental ability would have enabled him, with a few months of individual instruction, to carry fifth or even sixth-grade work as easily as third, and without injury to body or mind. Nevertheless, the teacher and both the parents of this child had found nothing remarkable about him. In reality he belongs to a grade of genius not found oftener than once in several thousand cases.

Another illustration is that of a boy of 10½ years who tested at the "average adult" level. He was doing superior work in the sixth grade, but according to the testimony of the teacher had "no unusual ability." It was ascertained from the parents that this boy, at an age when most children, are reading fairy stories, had a passion for standard medical literature and textbooks in physical science. Yet, after more than a year of daily contact with this young genius (who is a relative


49

of Meyerbeer, the composer), the teacher had discovered no symptoms of unusual ability.[6]

Teachers should be better trained in detecting the signs of superior ability. Every child who consistently gets high marks inhis school work with apparent ease should be given a mental examination, and if his intelligence level warrants it he should either be given extra promotions, or placed in a special class for superior children where faster progress can be made. The latter is the better plan, because it obviates the necessity of skipping grades; it permits rapid but continuous progress.

The usual reluctance of teachers to give extra promotions probably rests upon three factors: (1) mere inertia; (2) a natural unwillingness to part with exceptionally satisfactory pupils; and (3) the traditional belief that precocious children should be held back for fear of dire physical or mental consequences.

In order to throw light on the question whether exceptionally bright children are specially likely to be one-sided, nervous, delicate, morally abnormal, socially unadaptable, or otherwise peculiar, the writer has secured rather extensive information regarding 31 children whose mental age was found by intelligence tests to be 25 per cent above the actual age. This degree of intelligence is possessed by about 2 children out of 100, and is nearly as far above average intelligence as high-grade feeble-mindedness is below. The supplementary information, which was furnished in most cases by the teachers, may be summarized as follows: --

1. Ability special or general. In the case of 20 out of 31 the ability is decidedly general, and with 2 it is mainly general. The talents of 5 are described as more or less special, but onlyin one case is it remarkably so. Doubtful 4.

2. Health. 15 are said to be perfectly healthy; 13 have one or more physical defects; 4 of the 13 are described as delicate; 4 have adenoids; 4 have eye-defects; 1 lisps; and 1 stutters. These figures are about the same as one finds inany group of ordinary children.


50

3. Studiousness. "Extremely studious," 15; "usually studious" or "fairly studious," 11; "not particularly studious," 5; "lazy," 0.

4. Moral traits. Favorable traits only, 19; one or more unfavorabletraits, 8; no answer, 4. The eight with unfavorable moral traits are described as follows: 2 are "very self-willed"; 1"needs close watching"; 1 is "cruel to animals"; 1 is "untruthful"; 1 is "unreliable"; 1 is "a bluffer"; 1 is "sexually abnormal," perverted," and "vicious." It will be noted that with the exception of the last child, the moral irregularities mentioned can hardly be regarded, from the psychological point of view, as essentially abnormal. It is perhaps a good rather than a bad sign for a child to be self-willed; most children "need close watching"; and a certain amount of untruthfulness in children is the rule and not the exception.

5. Social adaptability. Socially adaptable, 25; not adaptable, 2; doubtful, 4.

6. Attitude of other children. "Favorable," "friendly," "liked by everybody," "much admired," "popular," etc., 26; "not liked," 1; "inspires repugnance," 1; no answer, 1.

7. Is child a leader? "Yes," 14; "no," or "not particularly," 12; doubtful, 5.

8. Is play life normal? "Yes," 26; "no," 1; "hardly," 1; doubtful, 3.

9. 1s child spoiled or vain? "No," 22; "yes," 5; "somewhat," 2; no answer, 2.

According to the above data, exceptionally intelligent children are fully as likely to be healthy as ordinary children; their ability is far more often general than special, they are studiousabove the average, really serious faults are not common among them, they are nearly always socially adaptable, are sought afteras playmates and companions, their play life is usually normal, they are leaders far oftener than other children, and notwithstanding their many really superior qualities they are seldom vain or spoiled.


51

It would be greatly to the advantage of such children if their superior ability were more promptly and fully recognized, and if (under proper medical supervision, of course) they were promoted as rapidly as their mental development would warrant. Unless theyare given the grade of work which calls forth their best efforts,they run the risk of falling into lifelong habits of submaximum efficiency. The danger in the case of such children is not over-pressure, but under-pressure.

Intelligence tests as a basis for grading. Not only in the case of retarded or exceptionally bright children, but with many others also, intelligence tests can aid in correctly placing the child in school.

The pupil who enters one school system from another is a case in point. Such a pupil nearly always suffers a loss of time. The indefensible custom is to grade the newcomer down a little, because, forsooth, the textbooks he has studied may have differedsomewhat from those he is about to take up, or because the schoolsystem from which he comes may be looked upon as inferior. Teachers are too often suspicious of all other educational methods besides their own. The present treatment accorded such children, which so often does them injustice and injury, should be replaced by an intelligence test. The hour of time required for the test is a small matter in comparison with the loss of a school term by the pupils.

Indeed, it would be desirable to make all promotions on the basischiefly of intellectual ability. Hitherto the school has had to rely on tests of information because reliable tests of intelligence have not until recently been available. As trained Binet examiners become more plentiful, the information standard will have to give way to the criterion which asks merelythat the child shall be able to do the work of the next higher grade. The brief intelligence test is not only more enlightening than the examination; it is also more hygienic. The school examination is often for the child a source of worry and anxiety;the mental test is an interesting and pleasant experience.


52

Intelligence tests for vocational fitness. The time is probably not far distant when intelligence tests will become a recognized and widely used instrument for determining vocational fitness. Ofcourse, it is not claimed that tests are available which will tell us unerringly exactly what one of a thousand or more occupations a given individual is best fitted to pursue. But whenthousands of children who have been tested by the Binet scale have been followed out into the industrial world, and their success in various occupations noted, we shall know fairly definitely the vocational significance of any given degree of mental inferiority or superiority. Researches of this kind will ultimately determine the minimum "intelligence quotient" necessary for success in each leading occupation.

Industrial concerns doubtless suffer enormous losses from the employment of persons whose mental ability is not equal to the tasks they are expected to perform. The present methods of tryingout new employees, transferring them to simpler and simpler jobs as their inefficiency becomes apparent, is wasteful and to a great extent unnecessary. A cheaper and more satisfactory method would be to employ a psychologist to examine applicants for positions and to weed out the unfit. Any business employing as many as five hundred or a thousand workers, as, for example, a large department store, could save in this way several times the salary of a well-trained psychologist.

That the industrially inefficient are often of subnormal intelligence has already been demonstrated in a number of psychological investigations. Of 150 "hoboes" tested under the direction of the writer by Mr. Knollin, at least 15 per cent belonged to the moron grade of mental deficiency, and almost as many more were border-line cases. To be sure, a large proportion were found perfectly normal, and a few even decidedly superior inmental ability, but the ratio of mental deficiency was ten or fifteen times as high as that holding for the general population.Several had as low as 9- or 10-year intelligence, and one had a mental level of 7 years. The industrial history of such subjects,as given by themselves, was always about what the mental level would lead us to expect -- unskilled work, lack of interest in


53

accomplishment, frequent discharge from jobs, discouragement, andfinally the "road."

The above findings have been fully paralleled by Mr. Glenn Johnson and Professor Eleanor Rowland, of Reed College, who tested 108 unemployed charity cases in Portland, Oregon. Both of these investigators made use of the Stanford revision of the Binet scale, which is especially serviceable in distinguishing the upper-grade defectives from normals.

It hardly needs to be emphasized that when charity organizations help the feeble-minded to float along in the social and industrial world, and to produce and rear children after their kind, a doubtful service is rendered. A little psychological research would aid the united charities of any city to direct their expenditures into more profitable channels than would otherwise be possible.

Other uses of intelligence tests. Another important use of intelligence tests is in the study of the factors which influencemental development. It is desirable that we should be able to guard the child against influences which affect mental development unfavorably; but as long as these influences have notbeen sifted, weighed, and measured, we have nothing but conjecture on which to base our efforts in this direction.

When we search the literature of child hygiene for reliable evidence as to the injurious effects upon mental ability of malnutrition, decayed teeth, obstructed breathing, reduced sleep,bad ventilation, insufficient exercise, etc., we are met by endless assertion painfully unsupported by demonstrated fact. We have, indeed, very little exact knowledge regarding the mental effects of any of the factors just mentioned. When standardized mental tests have come into more general use, such influences will be easy to detect wherever they are really present.

Again, the most important question of heredity is that regarding the inheritance of intelligence; but this is a problem which cannot be attacked at all without some accurate means of identifying the thing which is the object of study. Without the


54

use of scales for measuring intelligence we can give no better answer as to the essential difference between a genius and a foolthan is to be found in legend and fiction.

Applying this to school children, it means that without such tests we cannot know to what extent a child's mental performancesare determined by environment and to what extent by heredity. Is the place of the so-called lower classes in the social and industrial scale the result of their inferior native endowment, or is their apparent inferiority merely a result of their inferior home and school training? Is genius more common among children of the educated classes than among the children of the ignorant and poor?

Are the inferior races really inferior, or are they merely unfortunate in their lack of opportunity to learn?

Only intelligence tests can answer these questions and grade the raw material with which education works. Without them we can never distinguish the results of our educational efforts with a given child from the influence of the child's original endowment.Such tests would have told us, for example, whether the much-discussed "wonder children," such as the Sidis and Wiener boys and the Stoner girl, owe their precocious intellectual prowess tosuperior training (as their parents believe) or to superior native ability. The supposed effects upon mental development of new methods of mind training, which are exploited so confidently from time to time (e.g., the Montessori method and the various systems of sensory and motor training for the feeble-minded), will have to be checked up by the same kind of scientific measurement.

In all these fields intelligence tests are certain to play an ever-increasing rôle. With the exception of moral character, there is nothing as significant for a child's future as his gradeof intelligence. Even health itself is likely to have less influence in determining success in life. Although strength and swiftness have always had great survival value among the lower animals, these characteristics have long since lost their supremacy in man's struggle for existence. For us the rule of


55

brawn has been broken, and intelligence has become the decisive factor in success. Schools, railroads, factories, and the largestcommercial concerns may be successfully managed by persons who are physically weak or even sickly. One who has intelligence constantly measures opportunities against his own strength or weakness and adjusts himself to conditions by following those leads which promise most toward the realization of his individualpossibilities.

All classes of intellects, the weakest as well as the strongest, will profit by the application of their talents to tasks which are consonant with their ability. When we have learned the lessons which intelligence tests have to teach, we shall no longer blame mentally defective workmen for their industrial inefficiency, punish weak-minded children because of their inability to learn, or imprison and hang mentally defective criminals because they lacked the intelligence to appreciate the ordinary codes of social conduct.

Footnotes

[1] See References at end of volume.

[2] H. H. Goddard: The Kallikak Family. (1914.) 141 pp.

[3] Danielson and Davenport: The Hill Folk. Eugenics Record Office, Memoir No. 1. 1912. 56 pp.

[4] Estabrook and Davenport: The Nam Family. Eugenics Record Office. Memoir No. 2. (1912). 85 pp.

[5] R. L. Dugdale: The Jukes. (Fourth edition, 1910.) 120 pp. G. P. Putuam's Sons.

[6] See p. 26 ff. for further illustrations of this kind.


56

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show to Student B)

1) What is intelligence?2) What would you say about your intelligence?3) What can you do to increase your intelligence?4) Why are some people more intelligent than others?5) Does intelligence run in the family?6) Does school make a person more intelligent?7) Do you think scientists will create Artificial Intelligence

that is greater than our intelligence?8) Is there a link between intelligence, creativeness and

humour?9) Does intelligence make people more attractive?10) Does speaking English well make you more intelligent than a

friend who cannot speak English at all?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show to Student A)

1) Do you worry about your levels of intelligent?2) Who is the most intelligent person you know? Why do you think

so?3) Do you think all world leaders are intelligent?4) Are we all born with the same level of intelligence?5) Does being very intelligent make you happy?6) What insults your intelligence?7) What do you think of intelligence tests? Do you think they

are accurate8) Are intelligent people usually more arrogant?9) Do very intelligent and unintelligent people make good

partners?


57

10) Are dolphins really more intelligent than humans?

]

References:

David McArthur, Matthew Lewis, and Miriam Bishay

RAND 1700 Main St.

Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138

H. H. Goddard: The Kallikak Family. (1914.) 141 pp.

[3] Danielson and Davenport: The Hill Folk. Eugenics Record Office, Memoir No. 1. 1912. 56 pp.


Role of intelligence in ESL classrooms docx sir arfan lodhi

Documents

Transcript of Role of intelligence in ESL classrooms docx sir arfan lodhi