UNIT–3

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Objectives
At the end of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Discuss intelligence and how is it measured
2. Discuss theories of multiple intelligences
3. Review the controversies and issues in intelligence
4. Understand the intellectual characteristics of learners
5. Work out activities relevant to children's intellectual
development at pre and elementary school level
 Concepts

DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
•Dictionary has many definitions:
– Capacity for learning,
– Reasoning, understanding,
– Aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings,
– The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
•Intelligence is thought of a combination of different attributes.
Example:
“The ability to solve problems and adapt and learn from
experiences”
 Theoretical Positions
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
•Robert Sternberg proposed that intelligence is composed of
three basic components including
– i) Analytical, ii) creative and iii) practical intelligence
•The analytical component deals with a person's ability to solve
problems.
•Creative intelligence refers to the ability to combine different
ideas to form something novel by thinking outside of the box.
•Practical intelligence involves applying knowledge and skills
into different kinds of environment.
 Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence
Intelligence Characteristics Related activities
Logical Ability to understand and use Experimenting, calculating,
mathematical numerical patterns, solving logical puzzles etc
mathematical operations,
reasoning and logic
Linguistic Ability to acquire and use Reading, writing, playing word
functions of language, games, listening to and telling
express oneself and stories etc
comprehend others
Spatial Ability to understand, Navigating, designing, visualizing,
recognize and manipulate drawing, solving jigsaw puzzles et
patterns, spaces and objects c
Musical Ability to appreciate and use Singing, creating tunes, humming
the components of music etc
 Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence

Intelligence Characteristics Related activities

Bodily- Ability to coordinate and Dancing, running, cycling,
kinesthetic use fine- and gross motor swimming etc
skills in a productive way
Interpersonal Ability to interact with Leading, organizing,
others in a productive way socializing etc
Intrapersonal Ability to appreciate one's Goal-setting, organizing,
own self to guide one's planning, dreaming,
own life meditation, reflective practices
etc
Naturalistic Ability to appreciate the Understanding, working with
natural environment and caring for mother nature
etc
 Emotional Intelligence
Interpersonal + Interapersonal

• Both Gardner and Sternberg emphasize the abilities to

understand one's own self and others.
• Contemporary theorists show considerable interest in
students' emotional intelligence which enables them to
understand emotions and express emotions appropriately.
• Monitor their own and other's emotions and feelings
• Allow emotions to guide their thinking and actions
• Criticized for broadening the concept of intelligence without
adequate research based evidence
 Issues and Controversies
• One of the greatest controversies in the area of educational and
developmental psychology is:
– Whether intelligence is an inherited ability (nature)
– Whether it can be developed by an individual's personal and
contextual experiences (nurture)
• Early psychologists view intelligence as an inherent and
fixed capacity which cannot be altered
• It can be improved with practice and a supportive
environment.
• This view is known as the Incremental view of Intelligence.
 MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE

A number of standardized tests have been used to

measure intelligence:
1. Individual intelligence tests
2. Group intelligence tests
 Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that

children move through four different stages of mental
development.
• His theory focuses not only on understanding how children
acquire knowledge
• But also on understanding the nature of intelligence.
• Piaget's stages are:
– Sensorimotor Stage: birth to 2 years
– Preoperational Stage: ages 2 to 7
– Concrete Operational Stage: ages 7 to 11
– Formal Operational Stage: ages 12 and up
 The Sensorimotor Stage
Ages: Birth to 2 Years
•Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
•The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
•Children learn about the world through basic actions such as
sucking, grasping, looking, and listening
•Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot
be seen (object permanence)
•They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
•They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the
world around them
 The Preoperational Stage
Ages: 2 to 7 Years
•Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
•Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and
pictures to represent objects.
•Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see
things from the perspective of others.
•While they are getting better with language and thinking, they
still tend to think about things in very concrete terms.
 The Concrete Operational Stage
Ages: 7 to 11 Years
•Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes
•During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about
concrete events
•They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the
amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall,
skinny glass, for example
•Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still
very concrete
•Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from
specific information to a general principle
 The Formal Operational Stage
Ages: 12 and Up
•Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
•At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think
abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems
•Abstract thought emerges
•Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical,
social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract
reasoning
•Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general
principle to specific information
 The Socio-cultural Theory
• Did NOT focus on the individual child but on the child as a product of
social interaction, especially with adults (parents, teachers).

• Focus on Dyadic Interactions (e.g., child being taught by a parent how to

perform some culturally specific action), rather than child by himself.

• Social world mediates children's cognitive development.

• Cognitive development occurs as child's thinking is molded by society in
the form of parents, teachers, and peers.
• This leads to peer tutoring as a strategy in classrooms.

• People's thinking differs dramatically between cultures because different

cultures stress different things.
 Theory’s Principles and Concepts

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

– The difference between what a child can do independently
and what the child needs help from a more knowledgeable
person.
– The gap between Potential and competence level is the
ZPD.
– It is achieved through MKOs.

Zone of
Proximal
Development
 Theory’s Principles and Concepts

• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Distance Between Actual and Potential Knowledge

 
Potential
Knowledge
Potential

ZPD
ZPD
 
Actual
Knowledge Actual

Two children with the same actual knowledge travel different distances to
their potential knowledge; therefore different ZPDs
 Information Processing Approach
• Information processing approach presents another
major perspective which helps us to understand
cognitive development
• This approach views human brain as an active
information processing system, like a computer
machine.
• It examines how does information enter a human
mind, and how is it stored,
 ORGANIZATION OF RELEVANT
ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM

• A variety of experiences affect the development of

cognition among children.

• Preschool and Kindergarten

• Elementary Level
 Preschool and kindergarten
• The preschool and kindergarten children have more.
• Play, at this stage supports the cognitive development of children.
These include, for example, object play (e.g., building objects
with blocks),
• Pretend play (role plays e.g., teacher),
• Social play (e.g., using different objects for different purposes),
locomotors play (e.g., playing tag in which children run after
each other).
• Hands-on activities (e.g., cutting out alphabets, conducting
simple science experiments, counting with the paddle-pop sticks)
are critical in developing advanced thinking and cognition
 Children's Cognitive Development

The rapid changes during the early years of school.

•A number of activities and strategies may help the elementary
school child to make cognitive progress at this stage.
•Allowing children to experiment,

•Encouraging discovery learning,

•Reading with the children,

 Children's Cognitive Development
• Encouraging them to share ideas and opinions,
• Asking them to make comparisons,
• Classify and categorize objects, things or events,
• Engaging them in the drama and role playing,
• Justify their answers and actions,
• It is important to engage them in individual or small
group activities according to their interests, for example,
a portfolio or a group project.