For this blog assignment I read a very interesting article about Intelligence Testing. You can find the article at the following link:
http://www.ntc.edu:2101/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=30537124&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live
The article was entitled "What Do IQ Tests Measure? Not Intelligence"
It was interesting to me, because I never thought about how the current IQ tests were developed nor did I question what the results implied. According to the article, IQ tests are geared at testing brain functions we consider important to develop in Western Industrialized Society. The tests neglects to assess the wide variety of other areas of the brain. The article also explains that there is a 15-point discrepancy between white and African American test takers. This is true because of a lack of role models committed to education among the African American inner-city ghettos. The following quote from the article wraps up the whole essence of the article: "If these tests were properly named, they would be called Tests That Predict Success or Failure in the School System From Which the Questions Have Been Derived. Nothing would be said about the relationship between scores on these tests and intelligence--whatever that means".
I found chapters 7 & 8 filled with a lot of information that I found very useful. This class is an excellent opportunity for a parent such as myself. I find I am learning more about my children and myself as a parent than I ever thought I would. I enjoyed the extra research opportunities I had the last couple of weeks, with learning about whether or not my children should do chores and also learning about measuring critical thinking skills. You really do not think about all the critical thinking that is involved in a persons day. It is amazing, especially when you are looking at through a child's eyes.
The section about Moral Development was also quite fascinating to me. It was a new concept for me. "Kohlberg believed that peer interaction is a critical part of the social stimulation that challenges children to change their moral reasoning. Whereas adults characteristically impose rules and regulations on children, the give-and-take among peers gives children an opportunity to take the perspective of another person and to generate rules democratically." It never occurred to me before reading this that moral reasoning was such a huge thing for a child to conquer.
Also, the section on families caught my interest as well. I am a stepparent and whenever I can learn more about that special dynamic I will. It is a complicated dynamic, I have been a stepmother for a little over 12 years now. It amazes me to see how our relationship shifts and changes so often and quickly. It is something I have to work on daily and be extra sensitive about.
The section on peers was also interesting to me. I never understand the world of peers when I was in school. I was always the shy kid who kept to themselves. It is interesting to see the dynamics from a different perspective now that I am an adult and do not have the same fears I did then. Also, I now try to analyze my children and guess what peer status group they would be classified in. Knowledge can be so much fun.
Making our own quiz this week was such a good review for me, it forced me to delve into my book and try to figure out the key ideas of the chapters.
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I agree with you on the section about families and peers. I wrote about those things in my blog as well. I liked the section on step families because I was a part of one two times and now soon I will be part of one again. To me it is really interesting to see how things change with step parents, step siblings, and half siblings. I was glad to read in that section that most kids with step parents adjust well. With the peer status thing I actually learned a lot I knew about the different groups but I never knew they had specific names. It was fun seeing what group I was in, but sadly I would still put myself in the same one.
ReplyDeleteOh and I would like to say thanks for the help on the project. I know it was a group thing but I thought I was going to have to do it on my own, so thanks for actually responding when no one else did. Hopefully we do well.
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Amber
I enjoyed reading your summary of the article on intelligence. Creating a test to measure intelligence is tricky, the concept of intelligence is tricky. I remember reading once about the concept and the premise of the article was about intelligence against the living conditions you faced. If we who live in a modern city were dropped into an environment where we had to create a shelter, find food, make a fire, how "intelligent" would we be. So the key was separating out the ability to master ourt surroundings (critical, creative thining, problem solving, learning from experience, against cultural knowledge, it was interesting and insightful.
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