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Importance of critical thinking
Impact of assessment in teaching and learning
Importance of critical thinking
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I was sitting in my biology class barely about to fall asleep, when I glanced to my right and found that half my class had already beat me to it. This was actually surprising for me, being in an advanced class and seeing all these bright students with amazing grades burrowing their heads into their folded arms, avoiding eye contact with the teacher, hoping that they can get some shut eye for at least thirty seconds maybe a minute if they are lucky. This spectacle of seeing students who were considered intelligent, sleeping in class begged the question, how. They could study after the class, but that would seem counter productive, not to mention that these high caliber students probably have other activities. This must mean that they study …show more content…
Because when it comes to real life, the world is not filled with multiple options and one of them being right, rather the world and way that we interact with it is filled with variable and factors that may seem small but alter a situation. This is where intelligence's new categorization should stem from. People in a society should be rated on a scale of intelligence based on their ability to understand the subject matter’s of what they are learning, remember it, and one’s ability to apply this knowledge rather spit the information out is what should be valued. This will help society as a whole because, when we look to society today we see that people understand information from the textbook, but thats it, they do not know how to expound the knowledge that have acquired into real world …show more content…
Rather this system would implement a methods such as real world problem solving, such as a hypothetical, problem solving scenarios. For example, in biology class, the students should have to design and conduct a lab, report data and produce a conclusion, based off of what they have learned, success on such a test would prove that memorization of information or rudimentary knowledge were not the reason for success. We can also look to people, real world tests to see how one’s theoretical knowledge will apply to life. These tests would go beyond the occasional word problem in math class, rather it would be problems in life that could be solved with the interaction given. For example, in history class, you would told to analyze a current political structure, and say why and how it failed in comparison to another. This allow the teacher to know that they student understood the question, understood the studied government and it’s successes enough to properly answer the question. The point not being lets change the tests. Rather tests change how we look at intelligence in students, tests and performance on them is just a large indicator of intelligence as it stands. But standardized tests don’t replicate how someone might be able to react and solve an situation where application of
When Gerald Graff was younger he and his friends would have various debates about sports including what team had the best pitcher in baseball. Graff pointed out that while having these arguments with his friends, they would have evidence to support their thoughts whether it be using statistics to find batting averages or using their argumentative abilities in general to support their opinion. This proves that even people who do not do the best in school are capable of brilliant things, the school system just needs to encourage students to use their hobbies to enhance their academics. Instead of dividing the different forms of intelligence, book and street smarts could merge and grow into a more detailed educational system that can help not just with academics, but with life itself. While it is good to know proper grammar, knowing about dating, sports, or cars can actually get people farther than anticipated in life. Graff thought that in the school system, street smarts is perceived as less than compared to “book smarts” which are encouraged in school. If the two forms of intelligence were to merge instead of separate, the educational system can transform into something
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
Intelligence tests have been developed by scientists as a tool to categorize army recruits or analyze school children. But still discussing what intelligence is, academics have a difficult time defining what intelligence tests should measure. According to the American researcher Thorndike, intelligence is only that what intelligence tests claim it is (Comer, Gould, & Furnham, 2013). Thus, depending on what is being researched in the test and depending on the scientist’s definition of intelligence the meaning of the word intelligence may vary a lot. This essay will discuss what intelligence is in order to be able to understand the intelligence theories and aims of intelligence tests.
As child growing up some of the frightful memories include a visit to the dentist; an evil man with scary drill whose solve purpose is to hurt you or the first day in elementary school you finally leave all behind the cozy classrooms and nap times of kindergarten and enter the big leagues. All of these are considered a cakewalk compared to standardize testing. Since the start of elementary school students in the United States are taught to test. In many instances students are held back or placed in remedial classes because of lower grades. But many don’t realize that some students are not great at testing taking and because of the lower grades some educators believe that these students are lower achievers. This leads to lower self-esteem and encourage students to drop out in later years. Also students are forced to memorize information merely as facts without sparking their creativity or enhancing their knowledge.
...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.
Students do not get to express their understanding of the world or to even form their own opinions. Instead they are given a limited amount of time to dance the steps that are deemed important. In these tests there is only one right answer and no room to question or to think critically about them. The “whys” students have always wanted to ask are never answered on the test. If intelligence includes abstract thought, questioning, and creativity, then Standardized tests are in no way measuring students intelligence.
It is often difficult to remember that intelligence is purely a social construct, and as such is limited to operational definitions. Binet & Simon (1905, as cited in Mackintosh) defined it purely in terms of mental ability: "the ability to judge well, to comprehend well, to reason well." Wechsler (1944, as cited in Mackintosh) added behavioral factors: "the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment." Sternberg (1985) synthesizes the previous definitions, defining intelligence as "the mental capacity of emitting contextually appropriate behavior at those regions in the experiential continuum that involve response to novelty or automatization of information processing as a function of metacomponents, performance components, and knowledge acquisition components." Gardner (1993) took the definition to a societal level, as "the ability or skill to solve problems or to fashion products which...
Most researchers believe that we are born with a certain intelligence or potential intelligence. They also believe that the intelligence we are born with is difficult to change. Psychologists use short-answer tests to assess one’s intelligence (Gardner papers). It was believed that intelligence was a single inherited thing. Human beings start out initially as a blank slate and could be trained to learn anything, provided that it was presented in an appropriate way (Multiple Intelligences and Education). Currently an “increasing number of researchers believe the opposite. Gardner defined intelligence as: “the ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in culture; a set ...
One of the most definitive things ever said regarding the nature of intelligence was that intelligence is whatever IQ tests measure. The IQ test has been in use throughout the 20th century and serves as an accepted measure of a person’s intelligence. It is used by institutions such as schools and the army to screen people’s level of intelligence and decisions are made based on that. The IQ test consists of a series of questions regarding certain skills such as vocabulary, mathematics, spatial relations. The scores that a person gets on these tests depend on the amount of questions that a person answers correctly. The actual score that a person gets is dependant on how others in that age group do on those particular questions.
Can intelligence be measured? Does an IQ test actually measure a person’s intelligence? Does a high score indicate a genius? Does a low score indicate stupidity or merely ignorance? These questions have been asked over and over again by psychiatrists and scientists alike, but to date there are no clear answers. These questions cannot be answered without first defining what is meant by the term intelligence. Once intelligence has been defined then it should be easy to answer these questions; however, multiple definitions of the word tend to lead to further confusion.
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...
Gardner’s theory of MI offers an alternative view of intelligence which has measured intelligence based on the results that would predict success in the current educational system. Furham (2009) sums up Gardner’s definition as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings”. This definition suggests that human intelligence is comprised of more than the predictable success in a western school system. Gardner argues that traditional definitions of intelligence and intelligence testing are too narrow and marginalize people who do not fit traditional education system that focuses on visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic, and logical–mathematical intelligences. He supports this with unique cases of idiots savant, who are people with low IQs but excel in skills in areas not measured through tradition IQ tests (Arnett, 2013). MI theory proposes that individual’s intelligence can be differentiated on eight different modalities:
When a person utters the word “intelligence,” people tend to think of a genius like Albert Einstein developing some obscure equation that the great majority of the population will never understand. The problem with the definition of intelligence is that people relate intelligence to words like “genius” which require intelligence but do not have the same definition as intelligence. Often, people try to use related words to define intelligence, but these words are unable to define intelligence since many are only different levels of intelligence. While many definitions try to encompass the meaning of intelligence and various definitions describe a small part of intelligence, no definition completely explains intelligence, because intelligence is a concept that is understood only after realizing that intelligence is based on three basic concepts: logic, growth, and emotion. Although many people believe that humans are the only creatures capable of intelligence, other animals exhibit intelligence and are capable of further demonstrate the complex concept of intelligence.
Have you ever tried getting a job somewhere, only to be passed up in favor of an equally qualified, but more intelligent applicant? Believe it or not, that is not an isolated case. More and more, intelligence is becoming a part of a person's lifestyle. IQ, the principal gauge of intelligence, has been shown to be directly correlated with not only one's income and education level, but also their occupation and general health level. IQ isn't something that can be changed. Except in a few exceptional case, a person's IQ never increases more than a few points in their lifetime. IQ is a trait from birth, just like a person's race or gender, yet in a society that is trying to eliminate all forms of discrimination, it is going unnoticed. Intelligence-based discrimination is of paramount concern, and needs to be rectified. Intelligence-based discrimination is an inveterate social injustice perpetuated by the clerisy of modern society, and it impacts the lives of millions of people every day. Intelligence-based discrimination needs to be addressed in the same way as racial or gender-based discrimination because, like those, intelligence-based discrimination is genetic. The child usually has an IQ like that of the parents. A mother with an IQ from 110-125 has a child with an average IQ of 107, if the mother was from 90-110, then the child averages 100, and if the mother had an IQ from 75-90, the child averaged an IQ of 93. The children can't help their low IQ scores. Legislation needs to be enacted to ban the unfair treatment of an individual based upon their intelligence. Affirmative action for the intellectually disadvantaged is sorely needed. Intelligence is a trait from birth. Some people are born slow thinkers. Some people have a natur...
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