Alfred Binet: Intelligence Theory As an educator one will have to determine the intelligence of his or her own students. This process can be quite difficult because it may be tough to decipher which students will struggle and which ones will excel. Teachers used to only be able to rely on their observations and interpretations of their students to help determine a student's scholastic aptitude. It was not until a theory was developed in 1908 and 1911 to assist teachers in these troublesome situations. A man developed a theory that would help solve all of these problems when determining intelligence. This man's name was Alfred Binet, and he plays a major role in the success of our education system today. He has made an impact on the field of child development along with the way that infants and toddlers are cared for. This theory and its impact has and always will be important to the education system and infants and toddlers as they grow and develop every day. Alfred Binet was born July 8, 1857 in Nice, France. He was a French psychologist who developed the first practical intelligence test, the Binet- Simon scale. Binet was driven to succeed from the very beginning and it shows …show more content…
This lead to Binet wanting a more scientific way of evaluating students. He wanted to remove teacher bias and to identify at- risk students who would need help and extra attention to succeed in school. In the cases where teachers only had their own opinions through observations and interpretations as a guide with determining the intelligence of their students, it caused some problems. For example, if a teacher did not like a student, he or she would most likely be depicted as not intelligent just because they were already biased towards that
In Carol Dweck’s article titled, “Brainology” Dweck discusses the different mindsets that students have about intelligence. Some where taught that each person had a set amount of intelligence, while others were trained that intelligence is something they could develop and increase over time. in Dweck’s article she writes, “ It is a belief that intelligence can be developed that opens students to a love of learning, a belief in the power of effort and constrictive, determined reactions to setbacks” (Dweck pg. 2). Dweck is talking about a growth mind-set in which is how students perceive the growth of knowledge and that no one person is born with a certain amount of intelligence, it too can be trained and developed over time. By introducing Dweck’s ideas of a growth mind-set to students, students will enjoy learning and be less devastated by setbacks, because they know they can develop intelligence. Dweck also writes that students with a growth mind-set, “believe that intelligence is something that can be cultivated through effort and education. They
Hector evidently performs well in courses such as pre-calculus and economics that involve computation and concrete or black-and-white operations. Traditional theories of intelligence do not account for the ambiguity of classes such as philosophy or for the wide range of interests a child can have. For example, contemporary theories such as Sternberg’s Theory of Intelligence and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences both account for more than the general intelligence accounted for in traditional intelligence theories.
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, fifth edition uses the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of intellectual abilities (Cohen, 2012).
Results of students who received praise for intelligence: The students in this category had negative results after receiving praising. When asked afterwards if they wanted to do the same level of problems or try more challenging ones, they chose the task that would allow them to look smart and do well on. Consequently, while telling a child how smart he or she is, we are sending a message to not take risks and just look the part. Afterwards, these children were given a hard task, which they performed poorly on, and they know longer liked the problems and did not want to practice them at home. Children also felt “dumb” and when given the initial task (in which they did well), they performed significantly worse. Lastly, their opinions of intelligence reflected that it was an innate capacity as though you cannot improve.
Gladwell discusses a study done by Lewis Terman, a psychology professor at Stanford University. Based on IQ tests given to elementary school level students all around California, Terman selected the brightest students to track and analyze, These students were known as the “Termites.”
Up until the 1960’s, it was believed that people were either born with or without intelligence. UC Berkeley professor Mark Rosenzweig, performed a series of experiments with rats demonstrating how environment influenced rat behavior. His findings changed society’s outlook of inherited intelligence. Rosenzweig's results presented the idea that all youth have the capability to succeed, although it depends on how the individual develops their own attitude or belief toward their personal intelligence. Carol Dweck, a psychologist from Stanford University interpreted Rosenzweig's experimental results and separated the issue into two outlooks of personal intelligence. “Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone” (Michelle Trudeau). Dweck perceived this as a fixed mindset of intelligence. “Others think intelligence is something you can develop your whole life” (Student’s View of Intelligence). She calls this the growth mindset of intelligence. Dweck wondered if a child’s belief about their own intelligence could contribute to their academic success. She conducted an experiment analyzing the correlation of these elements in 373 seventh grade students who struggled in math. The students were randomly assigned to attend a workshop. One seminar taught how to study well, while the other educated students on the expanding nature of intelligence of the brain. The second group discovered that “the brain actually formed new connections every time they learned something new, and that over time, made the individual smarter" (Student’s View of Intelligence). Those who attended the neuroscience seminar and believed that they could grow and advance in their cognitive development, saw a steady increase in academic performance by the end of the semester. They received better overall grades than the other group
...ciety it sometimes takes more than traditional "intelligence" to excel. Athletes are a prime example of well paid admired individuals who are not usually the smartest people in the world. You no longer have to score well on your SAT's or IQ tests to be a successful person. To get into an Ivy League school today you not only have to score well to average on your graduation test to be accepted, you must also take part in extra curricular activities and have a good GPA. Intelligence today is not solely based upon what you know but what abilities and unique talents you possess. While Spearman's theory was ground breaking it is no longer relevant today because you may be terrible at one thing like taking tests but you may also be great at another thing like dancing or writing music. Both of these things require some degree of intelligence in order to perform them properly.
The key difference between Walter Isaacson’s, author of “The Genius of Jobs”, and Carol Dweck’s, author of “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids”, perspective of intelligence lies in their thought of inherent ability; Isaacson believes that intelligence is a natural gift that can be expanded upon, but Dweck would respond by agreeing to a degree but believing that the beauty of intelligence lies in that expansion.
Both nature and nurture, therefore, play a crucial role as the determining factors of one's intelligence, personality, and behaviour. Early studies have focused mainly upon the environmental influence, ... ... middle of paper ... ... icant effect on the way that children cognitive processes have been studied and they have also had a profound effect on education. It would be fair to say that Vygotsky did not reject all of the elements of Piaget’s theory but took the weak areas and strengthened them by taking into consideration socio – cultural factors and language for example.
On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...
1940 The Thirty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education: Factors Influencing the Growth of Intelligence in Young Children. US Public School Publishing Co. Cherry, Kendra “What Is Nature versus Nurture?” Accessed February 20, 2014.
This is an essay about the different theories of intelligence; it will discuss which theory is best at determining intelligence in my opinion. The information provided will help describe the pros and cons of each of the theories being used to define intelligence, explain why is it important to assess children’s intelligence, and discuss the type of intelligence I possess. The different theories of intelligence are complex and understanding the elements of each can help an individual choose the one that they believe is the best for determining intelligence. Comparing the positive and the negative elements of each theory of intelligence will allow an individual to see both sides of the theory and the flaws that may be twisted
...e developed from start to finish with no backtracking. He concentrated on the Western society and culture; he failed to consider the effects on other societies and cultures relating to the cognitive development. People also criticised him and said he pays little attention to emotional factors and gives children little credit for their abilities.
The Oxford Dictionary defines intelligence as “the ability acquire and apply knowledge and skills.” Many people are born naturally intelligent, able to grasp and understand concepts easily, with little work. In children, it is easy to separate those born with higher intellectual ability from the rest, because they easily excel in learning. This skill is often lost by those born with it, and through a great deal of work others attain it. In order for an individual to have true intelligence into her adult years, she must foster what gifts she is given, and strive to better her self academically. Even as early as elementary school, many who are born with natural talent begin to fall behind intellectually. These students are often not
We first need to know who created the Cognitive Development Theory. Jean Piaget was born in