Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Successful Intelligence
Robert J. Sternberg
Yale University
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Contact Information
Low Expectations
Low Achievement
Reward
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Global Mission of Presentation
• To demonstrate how to teach and
assess students using the theory of
successful intelligence—to help all
children achieve at an optimal level.
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The Concept of
Successful Intelligence
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The Concept of
Successful Intelligence
Successful intelligence is
• Barbara:
–A student high in creative abilities
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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
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The Triarchic View of
Intelligence
There are three aspects of
intelligence:
• analytical
• creative
• practical
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The Concept of
Successful Intelligence
Conventional (Analytical)
Intelligence
Creative Practical
Intelligence Intelligence
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Thought Question
• Think of a learning experience that
was really valuable to you. What
made it valuable?
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Instructional and Assessment
Techniques
• Balanced use of instruction and
assessment that is
–Memory-Based
–Analytically-Based
–Creatively-Based
–Practically-Based
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Teaching/Assessing for
Memory-Based Learning
• Remember
–Recall
–Recognize
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Teaching/Assessing for
Memory-Based Learning
• Remember
– Who?
– What?
– Where?
– When?
– Why?
– How?
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An Example from My
Classroom
• The cerebellum is in the
–*A. hindbrain
–B. midbrain
–C. left brain
–D. right brain
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Thought Exercise
• What would be some examples of
teaching/assessing for memory in
your classroom?
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The Triarchic View of
Intelligence
Analytical intelligence is evoked when we
• analyze
• compare and contrast
• evaluate
• explain
• judge
• critique
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
Analytical
• ANALYZE (a literary plot, a theory in the
sciences, a mathematical problem)
• COMPARE AND CONTRAST (two
characters in a novel, two systems of
government, the styles of two artists)
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
Analytical
• EVALUATE (a poem, a cultural custom,
a strategy in tennis)
• EXPLAIN (the use of grammar in a
sentence, your interpretation of an
historical event, the solution to a
scientific problem)
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Outcomes of Teaching for
Analytical Intelligence
• Analytical instruction and
assessment should enable
students to:
–Informed?
–Logical?
–Organized?
–Balanced?
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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.
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Thought Exercise
• What would be some examples of
teaching/assessing for analytical
thinking in your classroom?
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The Triarchic View of
Intelligence
Creative intelligence is evoked when we:
• create
• design
• invent
• imagine
• suppose
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
Creative
• CREATE (a poem, a sculpture, a new
game)
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
Creative
• IMAGINE (what life would be like in
another country, what it would be like to
be president of a country, how bees
communicate with each other)
• SUPPOSE (worldwide temperatures
increased 5 degrees on average…,
people were paid to inform on neighbors
who do not support the political party in
power…, the ozone layer were
completely depleted) 32
Outcomes of Teaching for
Creative Intelligence
• Creative instruction and assessment
should enable students to
– Redefine problems
– Ensure that they are solving good
problems and have good solutions
– Sell their ideas
– Realize that knowledge is a double-
edged sword
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Outcomes of Teaching for
Creative Intelligence
• Creative instruction and
assessment should enable
students to
–Attain self-efficacy
–Persevere to surmount obstacles
–Tolerate ambiguity
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Outcomes of Teaching for
Creative Intelligence
• Creative instruction and
assessment should enable
students to
–Continue to grow
–Develop a sense of perspective
on themselves and their work
–Defy the crowd
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Evaluation of Creative
Products
• To what extent is the product:
–Informed?
–Novel?
–Compelling?
–Task-appropriate?
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An Example from My
Classroom
• Suppose you gave the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-
III) to children growing up in a remote
African village in Kenya (whose school
language, but not home language, is
English). What kinds of results might
you expect in comparison with results
from a large middle-American U.S. city
such as Minneapolis? Why?
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Thought Exercise
• What would be some examples of
teaching/assessing for creative
thinking in your classroom?
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The Triarchic View of
Intelligence
Practical intelligence is involved when we:
• Use
• Apply
• Implement
• Employ
• Contextualize
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
Practical
• USE (a lesson that a literary
character learned in your life, a
mathematical lesson in the
supermarket, a lesson learned on
the playing field in everyday life)
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
Practical
• APPLY (what you learned in a
foreign-language class to an
interaction with a foreigner, a lesson
from history to the present, a
scientific principle to everyday life)
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Outcomes of Teaching for
Practical Intelligence
• Practical instruction and
assessment should enable
students to
–Use what they learn
–Put problems in real-world
context
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Evaluation of Practical
Products
• To what extent is the product:
–Informed?
–Feasible with respect to time and
place?
–Feasible with respect to human
resources?
–Feasible with respect to material
resources?
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An Example from My
Classroom
• How do gambling casinos employ
reinforcement techniques to keep
people gambling at slot machines?
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Thought Exercise
• What would be some examples of
teaching/assessing for practical
thinking in your classroom?
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Principles of Teaching for
Successful Intelligence
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Sample Course Requirements
• Examinations
–Term paper/project (assigned or
unassigned topic)
–Oral presentation (assigned or
unassigned topic)
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Applications of the Concept of Successful
Intelligence: Triarchic Teaching
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Potential Objections to Teaching for
Successful Intelligence
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Potential Objections to
Teaching for SI
• It takes too much time
• It is only for gifted students
• It is only for weak students
• Teachers should teach only in ways
that are comfortable for them
• It’s for other teachers
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Applications of the Concept
of Successful Intelligence
When we teach for successful
intelligence, student achievement
increases
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The Triarchic Aptitude-
Instruction Interaction Study
• When high-school students are
taught in a way that matches their
pattern of strengths at least some
of the time, they perform better
than when they are not so taught
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The Triarchic Science-Social
Studies Main-Effects Study
• Students (in grades 3 and 8) who
are taught triarchically (for social
studies and science) outperform
students who are taught either
primarily for critical thinking or
primarily for memory, regardless of
how the students are assessed
(I.e., for memory or for analytical,
creative, or practical achievement)
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The Triarchic Reading Study
• When working-class middle school
and high school students are taught
reading across the curriculum,
triarchically taught students
outperform students taught
conventionally in vocabulary and
reading-comprehension measures,
regardless of the form of
assessment used
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The Triarchic Mathematics
Study
• When Alaskan Yup’ik (Native
American) high school students are
taught geometry concepts
triarchically, they outperform
students who are taught the same
concepts conventionally, regardless
of the form of assessment used
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Applications of the Concept
of Successful Intelligence
Successful intelligence can be developed:
• Analytical
– The Learning-from-Context Studies
• Creative
– The Insight-Training Study
• Practical
– The Practical-Intelligence-for-Schools
Study 60
A Caveat
• People can be intelligent, or even
successfully intelligent, but foolish:
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For Further Information…
– Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful
intelligence. New York: Plume.
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For Further Information…
–Sternberg, R. J., & Spear-
Swerling, L. (1996). Teaching for
thinking. Washington, DC:
American Psychological
Association
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Web Sites
• www.yale.edu/pace
• www.yale.edu/rjsternberg
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Final Conclusion
• Individuals are better recognized
for and are better able to make use
of their talents
• Schools teach and assess children
better with better results
• Society utilizes rather than wastes
the talents of its members
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Invitation to Collaborate
• We welcome the opportunity to
collaborate with individuals and
institutions all over the world. If you are
interested in collaborating with us in one
of our ongoing projects or in a new
project, please contact me at
• robert.sternberg@yale.edu
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