WICS: A Model for Teaching and Learning

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The Elements

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;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Analytical Attitude • Recognize existence of problem • Define problem

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

Analytical Attitude • Monitor results of strategy • Evaluate results

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

WICS: A Model for Teaching and Learning