WICS: A Model for Teaching and Learning

1. WICS: A Model for Teaching and Learning Robert J. Sternberg Tufts University

2. Contact Information Robert J. Sternberg, Dean School of Arts and Sciences Tufts University robert.sternberg@tufts.edu

3. Organization • Introduction • The Nature of WICS • Teaching for WICS • Research Support • Caution • Conclusions

4. Global Mission of Presentation • To demonstrate how to teach and assess students for their learning using the WICS model—to help all students achieve at an optimal level.

5. What is WICS? • Wisdom • Intelligence • Creativity • Synthesized

6. Why WICS? • You need CREATIVE skills and attitudes to come up with ideas • You need ANALYTICAL skills and attitudes to decide whether ideas are good ideas • You need PRACTICAL skills and attitudes to make your ideas functional and to convince others of the value of your ideas • You need WISDOM to balance the effects of ideas on yourself, others, and institutions in both the short and long terms

7. A Problem with Traditional Education • Traditional education tends to “shine the spotlight” on certain students almost all of the time, and on other students almost none of the time. • The result is that some students are placed in a much better position to achieve than are others.

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

9. Views of Intelligence, Schooling, and Society: Structure of the Closed System Ability Testing Instructional Practice Achievement Testing Partial Disconnection Achievement in the Outside World

10. Views of Intelligence, Schooling, and Society: Varieties of Closed Systems • Conventional Ability Test Scores • Socioeconomic Class • Gender • Religious Group • Caste at Birth

11. Views of Intelligence, Schooling, and Society: Varieties of Closed Systems • Height

12. A Problem with Traditional Education Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: The Vicious Cycle Low Expectations Low Achievement Reward

13. The Elements

14. The Concept of Successful Intelligence Successful intelligence is • the ability to achieve success in life, given one’s personal standards, within one’s sociocultural context;

15. The Concept of Successful Intelligence • in order to adapt to, shape, and select environments;

16. The Concept of Successful Intelligence • via recognition of and capitalization on strengths and remediation of or compensation for weaknesses;

17. The Concept of Successful Intelligence • through a balance of analytical, creative, and practical abilities.

18. Motivation for “Triarchy of Abilities” • Alice: • A student high in memory and analytical abilities • Barbara: • A student high in creative abilities

19. Motivation for “Triarchy of Abilities” • Celia: • A student high in practical abilities • Paul: • A student high in analytical and creative abilities but low in practical abilities

20. The Triarchic View of Intelligence There are three aspects of intelligence: • analytical • creative • practical

21. The Concept of Successful Intelligence Conventional (Analytical) Intelligence Creative Practical Intelligence Intelligence

22. The Concept of Creativity • Creativity is one’s skill in generating ideas that are • Novel • Good • Task-appropriate

23. Creativity as a Decision • In large part, creativity represents a decision to defy the crowd—to “buy low and sell high” in the world of ideas

24. The Challenge of Creativity • People are afraid to defy the crowd because of • External pressure • Internal pressure

25. The Concept of Wisdom • Wisdom is the use of intelligence, creativity, and knowledge • Toward a common good • By balancing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal interests • Over the long and short terms

26. The Concept of Wisdom • Through the infusion of values • By adapting to, shaping, and selecting environments

27. WICS, Instruction, and Assessment • WICS can serve as a basis for teaching and learning by combining processes of wisdom, intelligence, and creativity in an integrative, transdisciplinary way

28. Bases for Achievement • Learning and thinking skills • Learning and thinking dispositions

29. Instructional and Assessment Techniques • Balanced use of instruction and assessment that is • Memory-Based • Analytically-Based • Creatively-Based • Practically-Based

30. Teaching/Assessing for Memory-Based Learning • Remember • Recall • Recognize

31. Teaching/Assessing for Memory-Based Learning • Who? • What? • Where? • When? • Why? • How?

32. An Example from My Classroom • The cerebellum is in the • *A. hindbrain • B. midbrain • C. left brain • D. right brain

33. An Example from My Classroom For most people, comprehension of language occurs mostly in the ____ hemisphere of the brain.

34. Analytical Skills • analyze • compare and contrast • evaluate • explain • judge • critique

35. Analytical Attitude • Recognize existence of problem • Define problem

36. Analytical Attitude • Mentally represent problem • Allocate resources to problem • Formulate strategy to solve problem

37. Analytical Attitude • Monitor results of strategy • Evaluate results

38. Analytical Evaluation • To what extent is the product • Informed? • Logical? • Organized? • Balanced?

39. An Example from My Classroom • Critique the ethics behind Stanley Milgram’s studies of obedience, discussing why you believe that the benefits did or did not outweigh the costs of the research.

40. Creative Skills • create • design • invent • imagine • suppose

41. Creative Attitude • Redefine problems • Analyze solutions • Sell solutions • Recognize strengths and limits of knowledge

42. Creative Attitude • Persevere in surmounting obstacles • Take sensible risks • Attain self-efficacy • Find what you love to do • Tolerate ambiguity

43. Creative Attitude • Continue to grow • Maintain a sense of perspective and humor • Allow time • Defy the crowd

44. Evaluation of Creative Products • To what extent is the product: • Informed? • Novel? • Compelling? • Task-appropriate?

45. Construct-Validation Studies • The Confluence Study • Writing Stories • Drawing Artwork • Creating Advertisements • Solving “Scientific” Problems

50. An Example from My Classroom • Suppose you gave the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) to children growing up in a remote African village in Kenya. What kinds of results might you expect in comparison with results from a large American city? Why?