EDPS 540 – Spring 2006 Rebecca L. Mann [email protected] History of Gifted Education and Theories of Intelligence.

EDPS 540 – Spring 2006Rebecca L. [email protected]

History of Gifted Educationand Theories of

Intelligence

History of Gifted Educationand Theories of

Intelligence

“Gifted” depends on the values of the culture:

Primitive Civilizations

•Survival of the fittest

Ancient Civilizations•Greeks

Sparta - valued military skills

Athens - valued academics for upper class

•Romans - valued architecture, engineering, law•Chinese - valued multiple talents•Japanese - educated children based on social class

Pre-Renaissance Europe

Church as keeper of knowledgeRenaissance Europe

valued art, literature, architecture

Sir Francis Galton - 1822-1911

• Anthromopetric Lab• Measured physical and

sensory capacities• Intelligence was fixed, in-

bred, inherited

Cesare Lombroso -1836 - 1909 “Genius is a symptom of hereditary degeneration”

Alfred Binet - 1857-1911•Contributed notion of mental age•First standardized IQ test•“The scale, properly speaking, does not present the measure of intelligence because intellectual qualities are not superposable and therefore they can’t be measured as linear surface are measured.” 1904

Early America

Services for gifted education sparse

• Occasional programs in the form of tracking, telescoping, acceleration, grade-skipping, and special schools

• By 1920, two-thirds of major U.S. cities had gifted programs

1920’s and 1930’s and 1940’s

• Declining programs• Equity became focus,

interest in gifted waned• Great Depression• World War II

Charles Spearman - 1863 - 1945

Two factor theory of intelligence“g” = general factor and “s” = specific ability

L.L. Thurstone - 1887 - 1955

Intelligence is really several primary mental abilities•Seven relatively different abilities•Factor analyzed intelligence and perception tests

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky - 1896-1934

Modern Constructivism: Sociocultural Theory

• Humans have ability to alter their environment

• Zone of Proximal Development•Amount of learning possible

when given instruction

Leta Hollingworth - 1886 - 1936

Nuturant Mother of gifted education

• Highlighted social and emotional needs of gifted

• Wrote first college text on gifted, taught first course

• Established gifted programs in New York City

Lewis Terman - 1877-1956

• Father of gifted education movement

• Supervised modification of Binet-Simon test

• First longitudinal study of gifted children

• Study began in 1922, continued by others after his death

• Students were physically, socially and psychologically healthier than the average

1957 - Sputnik Effect

• Resurgence of gifted education• Identification, ability grouping,

acceleration, telescoping

1963 - Death of JFKLBJ’s Great Society

Special Education moved to the forefront, gifted lagged

Jean Piaget - 1896 - 1980

• Four stages of mental growth in children

• Qualitative not quantitative

•Took Binet-Simon and reclassified it•Intelligence is multifacted•Developed tests for children and adults (WISC & WAIS)

David Weschler - 1896 - 1981

J. P. Guilford - 1897 - 1988

• Three dimensional Structure of the Intellect

• Intelligence too complicated to be summed up in one number or “g” factor

Raymond Cattell - 1905 - 1998

• Fluid Intelligence : Intelligence which allows us to learn new things, regardless of past experience. (Innate Intelligence)

• Crystallized Intelligence : Ability to solve problems based upon previous experience.

• 1972 - Marland Report

• Resurgence with Federal definition of giftedness

• 1988 - Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act

• 1990 - lost federal funding

• 1993 - funding restored

Joseph Renzulli - 1936 -

• Three ring model of giftedness• Broadened concept• Multiple criteria• Schoolwide Enrichment Model

WHAT MAKES GIFTEDNESS?WHAT MAKES GIFTEDNESS?

Above Average Ability

Task Commitment

Creativity

U

A

CI

C

T P

Howard Gardner - 1943 - Theory of Multiple Intelligences• Intelligence is multifacted• Not designed as an educational

prescription•Linguistic

•Logical-mathematical

•Musical

•Spatial

•Bodily-kinesthetic

•Interpersonal

•Intrapersonal

•Naturalistic

Robert Sternberg - 1949 -

Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence

•Based on relationship between intelligence, environment, the external and internal world •First to include creativity and practical knowledge

Sternberg’s Theory of IntelligenceSternberg believes that intelligence is

comprised of three separate, though interrelated, abilities: