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Link, Frances R., Ed.Essays on the Intellect.Association for Supervision and CurriculumDevelopment, Alexandria, Va.ISBN-0-87120-132-185154p.Association for Supervision and CurriculumDevelopment, 225 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA22314 (Stock No. 611-85408, $5.00).Collected Works - General (020) -- Viewpo4nts (120)-- Books (010)

MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.Academically Gifted; *Cognitive Processes; *CriticalThinking; *Curriculum Development; EducationalTheories; Elementary Secondary Education;*Intellectual Development

ABSTRACTThere has been a flood of publications concerned with

thst teaching of thinking and problem solving, : great many exploringdefinitions and approaches to instruction. This book explItres theimplications of recent theoretical positions as in the work ofElliott Jaques, Joseph Walters, and Howard Gardner; examines the longinterest and study of intellectual development with the gifted andtalented, which has occupied Harry Passow's attention for more than adecade; and examines specific theoretical and related curricularapproaches described in the essays by Allan Glatthorn, RobertSternberg, Frances Link, and Garry McDaniels. Wherever possible,these authors analyze how their ideas might contribute to th;nkingabout educational planning. (JD)

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ESSAYSON THE

INTELLECTEdited by

Frances R. Link

AM'MOW

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development225 N. Washington Street

Alexandria, VA 22314(703) 549-9110

3

Cop tight :985 I-n the Association fur Superision and Curriculum Development Alltight~ reserved No par t of this publication maN be feproduc,:d or tra 'ismttted in anyform or bl, any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or anyinformation storage and retrieal sv,,tem, without permssion in writing from the pub-hshei

ASCD publications present a .,arietv of viewpoints The views expressed or implied inthis publication are not necessarily offiLial positions of the Associasrm

Price: $5.00ASCD Stock Number: 611-85408ISBN: 0-87120-132-1Library of Congress

Card Catalog Number: 84-81488 4

ForewordCarolyn Sue Hughes

IntroductionFrances R. Link

Contents

vii

I . The Development and Education of Intelligences IJoseph M Walters and Howard Gardner

2. Intellectual Development of the Gifted 23-A Ham Passim.

3. Critical Thinking: Its Nature, Measurement, andImprovement 45

Robert J Stenzberg

4 Thinking and Writing: The Elusive But ImportantConnection 67

Allan A. Glatthorn

5. Instrumental Enrichment: Strategy for Intellectual andAcademic Improvement 89

Frances R Link

6. Development of Intellectual Capability 107Elliott Jaques

7. Can Computers Improve the Thinking of Students inAmerican Schools? 143

Gam L McDaniels

About the Authors 151

Foreword

At a time of avid public interest in quality education, it is signif-icant to note what John Good lad discovered when he surveyed whatpeople consider to be the goals of schooling. Whether he asked parents,teachers, of students, he found that the intellectual development ofstudents was consistently identified as the most important goal ofschooling. Good lad described intellectual development as developingthe ability to think rationally, including problem-solving skills, appli-cation of principles of logic, and skill in using different modes of in-quiry.'

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development hasbeen working at the forefront of a national movement aimed at helpingstudents become more effective thinkers. While our primary effortshave been directed toward approaches to staff development and cur-riculum development for thinking, we have also recognized the needto provide a broader perspective on the topic of intellectual develop-ment lest we be guilty of not seeing the forest for the trees.

In designing Essays on the Intellect, Francis Link has invited someleading scholars and researchers to share their perspectives and find-ings on this important topic. Their work provides a look at ' -?, "forest"within which our work on student thinking is growing. For those ofus whose daily work is concentrated on specific efforts at improvingstudent thinking, it is an opportunity to take one step back and refl3cton broader perspectives.

Carolyn HughesASCD President, 1985-86

'John I. Goodlad, A Place Called School (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984), p.39.

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Introduction

An ' say is an analytic or interpretive composition dealing withits subject from a !imited or personal point of view. This collection ofessass is intended to bring to the reader the ideas of a selected groupof authors whose work relates to a range of topics and interpretationsof personal research or fields related to intellectual development.

Interest in Intellectual development i nc new phenomenon. Psy-chologists, scierlists, and educators have periodically come togetherover the last two decades to relate their findings and concerns tocurriculum development. However, in the past five years there has beena marked increase in activity in theoretical and practical approachesto studs' of the human mind and the dynamics related to the devel-opment of the intellect.

There has been a flood of publications concerned with the teach-ing of thinking and problem solving, a great many exploring defini-tions and approaches to instruction. This book explores the implica-tions of recent theoretical positions as in the v ork of Elliott Jaques,Joseph Walters, and Howard Gardner; examines the long interest andstudy of intellectual development with the gifted and talented, whichhas occupied Harry Passow's attention for more than a decade; andexamines specific theoretical and relatei4 curricular approaches de-scribed in the essays by Allan Glatthorn, Robert Sternberg, FrancesLink, and Garry Mc Daniels. Wherever possible, these authors analyzehow their ideas might contribute to our thinking about educationalplanning. Some Essays you will want to read and re-read. The se-quence_ is your choice

Frances R. Link,Editor

k H

1. The Developmentand Education of

Intelligences

Joseph M. Walters and Howard Gardner

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Contrasting Points of View

Two 11-year-old children are taking a test of "intelligence." Theysit at their desks laboring over the meanings of different words, theinterpretation of graphs, and the solutions to arithmetic problems.They record their answers by filling in small circles on a single pieceof paper. Later these completed answer sheets are scored objectively:the number of right answers is converted into a standardized scorethat compares the individual child with a population of children ofsimilar age.

The teachers of these children review the different scores. Theynotice that one of the children has performed at a superior level; onall sections of the test, she answered more questions correctly thandid her peers. In fact, her score is similar to that of children three tofour years older. The other child's performance is "average"hisscores reflect those of other children his age.

Authors' note. Thi research reported in this chapter was supported by grants from theBernard van Leer houndation of The Hague, the Spencer Foundation of Chicago, andthe Carnegie Corporation of New York We are grateful to Mara Krechevsky, who gavemany helpful comments on earlier drafts.

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8

ESSANS ON THE INTELLECT

A subtle change in expectations surrounds the review of these testscores. Teachers begin to expect the first child to do quite well duringher formal schooling, whereas the second should have only moderatesuccess. Indeed these predictions come true. In other words, the testtaken by the 11-year-olds serves as a reliable predictor of their laterperformance in school.

How does this happen? One explanation involves our free use ofthe word "intelligence": the child with the greater "intelligence" hasthe ability to solve problems, to find the answers to specific questions,and to learn new material quickly and efficiently. These skills in turnplay a central role in school success. In this view, "intelligence" is asingular facul.y that is brought to bear in any problem-solving situa-tion. Since schooling deals largely with solving problems of varioussorts, predicting this capacity in young children predicts their futuresuccess in school.

"Intelligence," from this point of view, is a general ability that isfound in varying degrees in all individuals. It is the key to success insolving problems. This ability can be measured reliably with stand-ardized pencil-and-paper tests that, in turn, pi-edict future success inschool.

What happens after school is completed? Consider the two indi-viduals in the example. Looking further down the road, we find thatthe "average" student has become a highly successful mechanicalengineer who has risen to a position of prominence in both the profes-sional community of engineers as well as in civic groups in his com-munity. His success is no flukehe is considered by all to be a talentedindividual The "superior" student, on the other hand, has had littlesuccess in her chosen career as a writer; after repeated rejections bypublishers, she has taken up a middle management position in a bank.While certainly not a "failure," she is considered by her peers to bequite "ordinary" in her adult accomplishments. So what happened?

This fabricated example is based on the facts of intelligence test-ing. I() tests predict school performance with considerable accuracy,but they are only an indifferent predictor of performance in a profes-sion after formal schooling (Jencks, 1972). Furthermore, even as IQtests measure only logical or logical-linguistic capacities, in this so-ciety we are nearly "brain-washed" to restrict the notion of intelli-gence to the capacities used in solving logical and linguistic problems.

To introduce an alternative point of view, undertake the followingGedanken experiment. Suspend the usual judgment of what consti-tutes intelligence and let your thoughts run freely over the capabilitiesof humansperhaps those that would be pickedout by the proverbial

THE DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION OF INTELLIGENCES

Martian N isitor In this exercise, you are drawn to the brilliant chessplaNer, the world -class violinist, and the champion athlete; such out-standing performers deserve special consideration. Under this exper-iment, a quite different view of intelligence emerges Are the chessplaNer, violinist, and athlete "intelligent" in these pursuits? If thyare then why do our tests of "intelligence" fail to identify them? Ifthe are not "intelligent," what allows them to achieve such astound-ing feats? In general, why does the contemporary construct "int,..11i-gence" fail to explain large areas of human endeavor?

In this chapter we approach these problems througl. the theoryof Multiple Intelligences (MI). As the name indicates, we believe thathuman cognitive competence is better described in terms of a set ofabilities, talents, or mental skills, which we call "Intelligences." Allnormal individuals possess each of these skills to some extent; indi-N 'duals differ in the degree of skill and in the nature of their combi-nation. We believe this theory of intelligence may be more humaneand mole veridical than alternative views of intelligence and that itmore adequately reflects the data of human "intelligent" behavior.Such a theory has important educational implications, including onesfor curriculum development.

What Constitutes an Intelligence?

The question of the optimal definition of "intelligence" loomslarge in our inquiry. Indeed, it is at the level of this definition that thetheory of Multiple Intelligences diverges from more traditional pointsof N iew. In a more traditional view, intelligence is defined operationallyas the ability to answer items on tests of intelligence. The inferencefrom the test scores to some underlying ability is supported by statis-tical techniques that compare responses of subjects at different ages;the apparent correlation of these test scores across ages and acrossdifferent tests corroborates the notion that the general faculty of in-telligence, "g,' does not change much with age nor with training orexperience. It is an inborn attribute or faculty of the individual.

Multiple Intelligences theory, on the other hand, pluralizes thetraditional concept. An Intelligence entails the ability to solve prob-lems or fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cul-tural setting. The problem-solving skill allows one to approach a sit-uation in which a goal is to be obtained and to locate the appropriateroute to that goal. The creation of a cultural product is crucial to suchfunctions as capturing and transmitting knowledge or expressingone's views or feelings. The problems to be solved range from creating

10

ESSAYS ON THE INTELLECT

an end to a story to anticipating a mating move in chess to repairinga quilt. Products range from sci'-atific theories to musical composi-tions to successful political campaigns.

MI theory is framed in light of the biological origins of each prob-lem-solving skill. Only those skills that are universal to the humanspecies are treated. Even so, the biological proclivit:, to participate ina particular form of problem solving must also be coupled with thecultural nurturing of that domain. For example, language, a universalskill, may manifest itself particularly as writing in one culture, asoratory n another culture, and as the secret language of anagrams ina third.

Given the desire of selecting Intelligences that are rooted in biol-ogy, and which are valued in one or more cultural settings, how doesone actually identify an "Intelligence"? In coming up with our list,we consulted evidence from several different sources: knowledge aboutnormal development and development in gifted individuals; informa-tion about the breakdown of cognitive skills under conditions of braindamage; studies of exceptional populations, including prodigies, idi-ots savants, and autistic children; data about the evolution of cogni-tion over the millenia; cross-cultural accounts of cognif on; psychom-etric studies, including examinations of correlations among tests; andpsychological training studies, particularly measures of transfer andgeneralization across tasks. Only those candidate Intelligences thatsatisfied all or a majority of the criteria were selected as bona fideIntelligences. A more complete discussion of each of these criteria foran "Intelligence" and the seven Intelligences that have been proposedso far, is found in Gardner's book, Frames of Mind (1983). This bookalso considers how Coe theory might be disproven and compares it tocompeting theories of intelligence.

In addition to satisfying the aforementioned criteria, each Intel-ligence must have an identifiable core operation or set of operations.As a neurally based computational system, each Intelligence is acti-vated or "triggered" by certain kinds of internally or externally pre-sented information. For example, one core of Musical Intelligence isthe sensitivity to pitch relations, whereas one core of Linguistic Intel-ligence is the sensitivity to phonological features.

An Intelligence must also be susceptible to encoding in a symbolsystema culturally contrived system of meaning, which capturesand conveys important forms of information. Language, picturing, andmathematics are but three nearly worldwide symbol systems that arenecessary for human survival and productivity. The relationship of acandidate Intelligence to a human symbol system is no accident. In

1


fact, the existence of a core computational capacity anticipates theexistence of a symbol system which exploits that capacity. While itmay be possible for an Intelligence to proceed without an accompa-nying symbol system, a primary characteristic of human intelligencemay well be its gravitation toward such an embodiment.

The Seven Intelligences

Having sketched the characteristics and criteria of an Intelligence,we turn now to a brief consideration of each of the seven Intelligences.We begin each sketch with a thumbnail biography of a person whodemonstrates an unusual facility with that Intelligence. These biogra-phies illustrate some of the abilities that are central to the fluentoperation of a given Intelligence. Although each biography illustratesa particular Intelligence, we do not wish to imply that in adulthoodIntelligences operate in isolation. Indeed, except for abnormal indi-viduals, Intelligences always work in concert, and any sophisticatedadult role will involve a melding of several of them. Following eachbiography we survey the various sources of data that support eachcandidate as an "Intelligence."

Musical Intelligence

When he was three years old, Yehudi Menuhin was smuggled Into the SanFrancisco Orchestra concerts by his parents The sound of Louis Persinger'sNiolin so entranced the yt Ingster that he insisted on a violin for his birthdayand Louis Persmger as his teacher He got both. By the time he was ten yearsold, Menuhin was an international performer (Menuhin, 1977).

Violinist Yehudi Menuhin's Musical intelligence manifested itselfeven before he had touched a violin or received any musical training.His powerful reaction to that particular sound and his rapid progresson the instrument suggest that he was biologically prepared in someway for that endeavor. In this way evidence from child prodigies sup-ports our claim that there is a biological link to a particular Intelli-gence. Other special populations, such as autistic children who canplay a musical instrument beautifully but who cannot speak, under-score the independence of Musical Intelligence.

A brief consideration of the evidence suggests that musical skill}asses the other tests for an Intelligence. For example, certain partsof the brain play important roles in perception and production ofmusic. These areas are characteristically located in the right hemi-sphere, although musical skill is not as clearly "localized," or locatedin specifiable area, as language. Although the particular susceptibility

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of mugical ability to brain damage depends on the degree of tra. lingand other individual differences, there is clear evidence for "amusia"or loss of musical ability.

Music apparen:iv played an Important unifying role in Stone Agesocieties. Birdsong provides a link to other species. Evidence from1.T ious cultures supports the notion that music is a universal faculty.S,udies of infant development suggest that there is a -raw" compu-tational ability in early childhood. Finally, musical notation providesan accessible and lucid symbol system.

In short, evidence to support the interpretation of musical abilityas an "Intelligence" comes from many different sources. Even thoughmusical skill is not typically considered an intellectual skill like math-ematics, it qualifies under our criteria. By definition it deserves con-sideration; and in view of the data, its inclusion is empirically justi-fied.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Fifteen-year-old Babe Ruth played thira base. During one game his team'spitcher was doing very poorly and Babe loudly criticized him from third base.Brother Mathias, the coach, called out, "Ruth, if you know so much about it,YOU pitch 1" Babe was surpmed and embarrassed because he had neverpitched before, but Brother Math'as Insisted. Ruth said later that at the verymoment he took the pitcher's mound, he KNIFW he was supposed to be apitcher and that It was "natural" for him to strike people out Indeed, he wenton to become a great major league pitcher (awl, of course, legendary statusas a hitter) (Connor 1982).

Like Menuhin, Babe Ruth was a child prodigy who recognized his"instrument" immediately upon his first exposure to it. This recog-nition occurred in advance of formal training.

Control of bodily movement is, of course, localized in the motorcortex, with each hemisphere dominant or controlling bodily movemr on the contra-lateral side. In right-handers, the dominance forsuch movement is ordinarily found in the left hemisphere. The abilityto perform movements when directed to do so can be impaired evenin individuals who can perform the same movements reflexively or ona nonvoluntary basis. The existence of specific apraxia constitutes one!ine of evidence for a Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence.

The evolution of specialized body movements is of obvious advan-tage to the species, and in humans this adaptation is extended thrcughthe use of tools. Body movement undergoes a clearly defined develop-mental schedule in children. And there is little question of its univer-sality across cultures. Thus it appears that bodily-kinesthetic "knowl-


edge" satisfies many of the criteria for an Intelligence.Perhaps more difficult, however, is the consideration of bodily-

kinesthetic knowledge as "problem solving." Certainly carrying out amime sequence or hitting a tennis ball is not solving a mathemalicalequation. And yet, the ability to use one's body to express an emotion(as in a dance), to play a game (as in a sport) or to create a new product(as in devising an ir.vention) are evidence of the cognitive features ofbody usage. The s Jecific computations required to solve a particularbodily-kinesthetic problem, hitting a 'ennis ball, are summarized by

im Gallwey:

At the moment the bail leaves the server's racket, the brain calculates approx-imately where it will land and where the racket will intercept it. This calcu-lation includes the initial velocity of the ball, combined with an input for theprogr;ssive decrease in velocity and the effect of wind and after the bounceof the ball. Simultaneously, muscle orders are given: not just once, but con-stantly with refined and updated information. The muscles must cooperate.A movement of the feet occurs, the racket is taken back, the face of the racketkept at a constant angle Contact is made at a precise point that depends onwhether the order was given to hit down the line or cross-court, an order notgivet until after a split-second analysis of the movement and balance of theopponent

To return an average serve, you have about one second to do this. To hitthe ball at all is remarkable k:nd yet not uncommon The truth is that everyonewho inhabits a human body possesses a remarkable creation (Gallwey, 1976).

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

In 1983 Barbara McClintock wen the Nobel Prize in Medicine orPhysiology for her work in microbiology. Her intellectual powers ofdeduction and observation illustrate one form of Logical-Mathemati-cal intelligence that is often labeled "scientific thinking." One incidentis particularly illuminating. While a researcher at Cornell in the 1920sMcClintock was faced one day with a problem: while theory predicted50 percent pollen sterility in corn, her rese,...rch assistant (in the"field") was finding plants that were only 25 to 30 percent sterile.Disturbed by this discrepancy, McClintock cornfield and re-turned to her offi_e where she sat foi half at inking:

Suddenly 1 jumped up and ran back to the (corn, it the top of the field(the others were still at t' a bottom) I shouted "Eureka, I have it! I know whatthe 30% sterility is!" . hey asked me to prove it. I sat down with a paperbag and a pencil and I started from scratch, which I had not done at all inmy laboratory. It had all been done so fast; t. answer came and I ran. NowI worked it out step by stepit was an intric..te series of stepsand I cameout with [ same result]. [They] looked at the material and it was exactly

BSA) S ON TIIF INTI LLL(T

is I'd said it was, it worked out exactly as I had di: ,;rammed it. Now, whydid I know, without having done It on paper? Why was I so sure? (Keller, 1982,p 104)

This anecdote illustrates two essential facts of the Logical-Math-ematical Intelligence. First, in the gifted individual, the process ofproblem solving is often remarka-oly rapidthe successful scientistcopes with many variables at once and creates numerous hypothesesthat are each evaluated and then accepted or rejected in turn.

The anecdote also underscores the nonverbal nature of the Intel-ligence. A solution to a problem can be constructed before it is artic-ulated. In fact, the solution process may be totally invisible, even tothe problem solver. This need not imply, however, that discoveries ofthis sortthe familiar "Aha!" phenomenonare mysterious, intui-tive, or unpredictable. The fact that it happens more frequently tosome people (perhaps Nobel Prize winners) suggests the opposite. Weinterpret this as the work of the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence.

Along with the companion skill of language, logical-mathematicalreasoning provides the basis for IQ tests. This form of Intelligence hasbeen heavily investigated by traditional psychologists, and it is thearchet),,.: of "raw intelligence" or the problem-solving faculty thatpurportedly cuts across domains. It is perhaps ironic, then, that theactual mechanism by which one arrives at a solution to a logical-mathematical problem is not as yet properly understood.

This Intelligence is supported by our empirical criteria as well.Certain areas of the brain are more prominent in mathematical cal-culation than others. There are idiots savants who perform great featsof calculation even though they remain tragically deficient in mostother areas. Child prodigies in mathematics abound. The developmentof this Intelligence in children has been carefully documented by Pi-aget and other psychologists.

Linguistic Intelligence

At the age of ten, TS Eliot created a magazine called "Fireside" to which hewas the sole contributor. In a three-day period during his winter vacation, hecreated eight complete issues. Each one included poems, adventure stories, agossip column, and humor. Some of this material survives and it displays thetalent of the poet (see Soldo, 1982).

As with the Logical Intelligence, calling linguistic skill an "Intel-ligence" is consistent with the stance of traditional psychology. lin-guistic Intelligence also passes our empirical tests. For instance, aspecific area of the brain, called "Broca's Area," is responsible for the

THE DEJELOPMENT AND EDUCATION OF INTELLIGENCES

production of grammatical sent nets. A person wit; damage to thisarea can understand words and st.ntences quite well but has difficultyputting them together in anything other than the simplest of sen-tences. At the same time, other thought processes may be entirelyunaffected.

The gift of language is universal, and its development in childrenis striV-gly constant across cultures. Even in deaf populations wherea manual sign language is not explicitly taught, children will often"inx cm" their own manual language and use it surreptitiously! Wethus see how an Intelligence may operate indepeirdently of a specificinput modality or output channel.

Spatial Intelligence

Navigation around the Caroline Islands in the South Seas is accomplishedwithout Instruments. The position of the stars, as viewed from various Islands,the \\,eather patterns, and water color are the only sign posts. Each journey isbroken into a series of segments; and the navigator learns the position of thestars within each of these segments. During the actual trip the navigator mustmvision mentally a reference Island as It passes under a particular star andfrom that he computes the number of segments completed, the proportion ofthe trip remaining, and any corrections in headit.g that are required. Thenavigator cannot see the Islands as he sails along; instead he maps theirlocations in his mental "picture" of the journey (Gardner, 1983).

Spatial pi oblem solving is required for navigation and in the useof the notational system of maps. Other kinds of spatial problem solv-ing arc brought to bear in visualizing an object seen from a differentangle and in playing chess. The visual arts also employ this Intelli-gence in the use of space.

Evidence from brain research is clear and persuasive. Just as theleft hemisphere has, over the course of evolution, been selected as thesite of linguistic processing, the right hemisphere proves to be the sitemost crucial for spatial processing. Damage to the right posteriorregions causes impairment of the ability to find one's way around asite, to recognize faces or scenes, or to notice fine details.

Patients with damage specific to regions of the right hemispherewill attempt to compensate for their spatial Jeficits with linguisticstrategies. They will try to reason aloud, to challenge the task, or evenmake up answers. But such nonspatial strategies are rarely successful.

Blind populations provide an illustration of the distinction be-tween the Spatial Intelligence and visual perception. A blind personcan recognize shapes by an indirect method: running a hand alongthe object translates into length of time of movement, which in turn

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is translated into the size of the object. For the blind person, theperceptual system of the tactile modality parallels the visual modalityin the seeing person. The analogy between the spatial reasoning of theblind and the linguistic reasoning of the deaf is notable.

There are few child prodigies among visual artists, but there areidiots savants such as Nadia (Selfe, 1977). Despite a condition ofsevereautism, this preschool child made drawings of the most remarkablerepresentational accul.acy and finesse.

Interpersonal Intelligence

With little formal training in special education and nearly blindherself, Anne Sullivan began the intimidating task of instructing ablind and deaf seven-year-old Helen Keller. Sullivan's efforts at com-munication were complicated by the child's emotional struggle withthe world around her. At their first meal together, this scene occurred:Annie did not allow Helen to put her hand into Annie's plate and take whatshe wanted, as she had been accustomed to do with her gamily. It became atest of willshand thrust into plate, hand firmly put aside. The family, muchupset, left the dining room. Annie locked the door and proceeded to eat herbreakfast while Helen lay on the door kicking and screaming, pushing andpulling at Annie's chair. [After half an hour] Helen went around the tablelooking for her family. She discovered no one else was there and that bewil-dered her. Finally, she sat down and began to eat her ')reakfast, but with herhands. Annie f.-^ve -her a spoon. Down on the floor it clattered, :.,td the conte;tof wills begin. anew (Lash, 1980, p. 52).

Anne Sullivan sensitively responded to the child's behavior. Shewrote home: "The greatest problem I shall have to solve is how todiscipline and control her without breaking her spirit. I shall go ratherslowly at first and try to win her love."

In fact, the first "miracle" occurred two weeks later, well beforethe fan,ous incident at the pumphouse. Annie had taken Helen to asmall cottage near the family's house, where they could live alone.After seven days together, Helen's personality suddenly underwent aprofound changethe therapy had worked:My heart is singing with joy this morning. A miracle has happened! The,little creature of two weeks ago has been transformed into a gentle child (p.54).

It was just two weeks after this that the first breakthrough inHelen's grasp of language occurred; and from that point on, she pro-gressed with incredible speed. The key to the miracle of language wasAnne SLIlivan's insight into the person of Helen Keller.

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Interpersonal Intelligence builds on a core capacity to notice dis-tinctions among others; in particular, contrasts in their moods, tem-peraments, motivations, and ions. In more advanced forms, thisIntelligence permits a skilled adult to read the intentions and desiresof others, even when these have been hidden. This skill appears in ahighly sophisticated form in religious or political leaders, teachers,therapists, and parents. The Helen Keller-Anne Sullivan story suggeststhat this Interpersonal Intelligence does not depend on language.

All indices in brain research suggest that the frontal lobes play aprominent role in interpersonal knowledge. Damage in this area cancause profound personality changes while leaving other forms of prob-lem solving unharmeda person is often "not the same person" aftersuch an injury.

Alzheimer's disease, a form of presenile dementia, appears to at-tack posterior brain zones with a special ferocity, leaving spatial, log-ical, and linguistic computations severely imparied. Yet, Alzheimerpatients will often remain well groomed, socially proper, and contin-ually apologetic for their errors. In contrast, Pick's disease, anothervariety of presenile dementia that is more frontally oriented, createsa rapid loss of social graces.

Biological evidence for Interpersonal Intelligence encompassestwo additional factors often cited as unique to humans. One factor isthe prolonged childhood of primates, including the close attachmentto the mother. In those cases where the mother is removed from earlydevelopment, normal interpersonal development is in serious jeopardy.The second factor is the relative importance in humans of social in-tecaction. Skills such as hunting, tracking, and killing in prehistoricsocieties required participation and cooperation of large numbers ofpeople. The need for group cohesion, leadership, organization, andsolidarity follows naturally from this.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

In an essay called "A Sketch of the Past," written almost as adiary entry, Virginia Woolf discusses the "cotton wool of existence"the various mundane events of life. She contrasts this "cotton wool"with three specific and poignant memories from her childhood: a fightwith her brother, seeing a particular flower in the garden, and hearingof the suicide of a past visitor:

These are three instances of exceptional moments. I often tell them over,or rather they come to the surface unexpectedly. But now for the first time Ihave written them down, and I realize something that I have never realized


before. Two of these moments ended in a state of despair. The other ended, inthe contrary, in a state of satisfaction.

The sense of horror (in hearing of the suicide) held me powerless. But inthe case of the flower, I found a reason; and was thus able to deal with thesensation. I was not powerless.

Though I still have the peculiarity that I receive these sudden shocks,they are now always welcome; after the qrst surprisc, I always feel instantlythat they are particularly valuable. And so I go on to suppose that the shock-recei. mg capacity is what makes me a writer. I hazard the explanation thata shock is at once in my case followed by the desire to explain it. I feel that Ihave had a blow; but it is not, as I thought as a child, simply a blow from anenemy hidden behind the cotton wool of daily life; it is or will become arevelation of some order; It is a token of some real thing behind appearances;and I make it real by putting it into words (Woolf, 1976, pp. 69-70).

This quotation vividly illustrates the Intrapersonal Intelligenceknowledge of the internal aspects of a person: access to one's ownfeeling life, one's range of emotions, the capacity to effect discrimi-nations among these emotions and eventually to label them and todraw upon them as a means of understanding and guiding one's ownbehavior. Since this Intelligence is the most private, it requires evi-dence from language, music, or some other more expressive form ofIntelligence if the observer is to detect it at work. In the above quo-tation, for example, Linguistic Intelligence is drawn upon to conveyintrapersonal knowledge; it embodies the interaction of Intelligences,a common phenomenon to which we will return later.

We see the familiar criteria at work in the Intrapersonal Intelli-gence. As with the Interpersonal Intelligence, the frontal lobes play acentral role in personality change. Injury to the lower area of thefrontal lobes is likely to produce irritability or euphoria; while injuryto the higher regions is more likely to produce indifference, listless-ness, slowness, and apathya kind of depressive personality. In such"frontal-lobe" individuals, the other cognitive functions often remainpreserved. In contrast, among aphasics who have recovered suffi-ciently to describe their experiences, we find consistent testimony:while there may have been a diminution of ge..?ral altertness andconsiderable depression about the condition, the individual in no wayfelt himself to be a different person. He recognized his own needs,wants, and desires and tried as best he could to achieve them.

The autistic child is a prototypical example of an individual withimpaired Intrapersonal Intelligence; indeed, the child may not evenbe able to refer to himself. At the same time, such children oftenexhibit remarkable abilities in the musical, computational, spatial, ormechanical realm.i.

111=111111111111,111111111111111


EN,olutionary evidence for an Intrapersonal faculty is more diffi-cult to come by, but we might speculate that the capacity to tran_,:endthe satisfaction of instinctual drives is relevant. This becomes increas-ingly important in a species not perennially involved in the strugglefor survival.

In sum, then, both Interpersonal and Intrapersonal faculties passthe tests of an Intelligence. They Loth feature problem-solving endeav-ors with significance for the individual and the species. In the individ-ual's sense of self, one encounters a melding of inter- and intra-per-sonal components. Indeed, the sense of self emerges as one of the mostmarvelous of human inventionsa symbol that repi esents all kinds ofinformation about a person and which is at the sa ne time an inventionthat all individuals construct for themselves.

Summary: The Unique Contributions of the Theory

As human beings, we all have a repertoire of skills for solvingdifferent kinds of problems. Our investigation has begun, therefore,with a consideration of these problems, the contexts they are found in,and the culturally significant products that are the outcome. We havenot approached "intelligence" as a reified human faculty that isbrought to bear in literally any problem setting; rath:r, we have begunwith the problems that humans solve and worked back to the "Intel-ligences" that must be responsible.

Evidence from brain research, human development, evolution,and cross-cultural comparisons was brought to bear in our search forthe relevant human Intelligences: a candidate was included only ifreasonable evidence to support its membership was found across thesediverse fields. Again, this tack differs from the traditional one: sinceno candidate faculty is necessarily an Intelligence, we could choose ona motivated basis. In the traditional approach to "intelligence," thereis no opportunity for this type of empirical decision.

We have also determined that these multiple human faculties, theIntelligences, are to a significant extent independent. For example, re-search with brain-damaged adults repeatedly demonstrates that par-ticular faculties can be lost while others are spared. This independ-ence of Intelligences implies that a particularly high level of ability inone Intelligence, say mathematics, does not require a similarly highlevel in another Intelligence, like language or music. This independ-ence of Intelligences contrasts sharply with traditional measures ofIQ that find high correlations among test scores. We speculate thatthe usual correlations among subtests of IQ tests come about because

ESSAls ON THE INTEL LECT

all of these tasks in fact measure the ability to respond rapidly toitems of a logical-mathematical or linguistic sort; we believe thatthese correlations would be substantially reduced if one were to sur-vey in a contextually appropriate way the full range of human prob-lem- solving skills.

Until now, we have supported the fiction that adult roles dependlargely on the flowering of a single Intelligence. In fact, however, nearlyeery cultural role of any degree of sophistication requires a combi-nation of Intelligences. Thus, even an apparently straightforward rolelike playing the violin transcends a reliance on simple Musical Intel-tiger _e. To become a successful violinist requires bodily-kinestheticdexterity and the interpersonal skills of relating to an audience and,in a different way, choosing a manager; quite possaily it involves anIntrapersonal Intelligence as well. Dance require ;kills in Bodily-Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, and Spatial Ir Jigences in vary-ing degrees. Politics requires an interpersonal ski.., a linguistic facil-ity, and perhaps some logical aptitude. Inasmuch as nearly every cul-tural role requires several Inte,iigences, it becomes important toconsider individuals as a collection of aptitudes rather than as hinga singular problem-solving faculty that can be measured directlythrough pencil-and-paper tests. Even given a relat'vely small numberof such Intelligences, the diversity of human ability is created throughthe differences in these profiles. In fact, it may wet; be that the "totalis greater than the sum of the parts." An individual may not be par-to_1±1r1V gifted ill any Intelligence; and yet, because of a particularcombination or blend of skills, he or she may be able to fill some nicheuniquely well. Thus it is of paramount importance to assess the par-ticular combination of skills which may earmark an individual for acertain vocational or avocational niche.

Implications for Education

The theory of Multiple Intelligences was developed as an accountof human cognition that can be subjected to empirical tests. The evi-dence for its educational utility has yet to be assembled. Nonetheless,the theory seems to harbor a number of educational implications thatare worth consideration. In the following discussion we will begin byoutlining what appears to be the natural developmental trajectory ofan Intelligence. Turning then to aspects of education, we will commenton the role of nurturing and explicit instruction in this development.From this analysis we find that assessment of Intelligences can play acrucial role in curriculum development.


The Natural Growth of an Intelligence: A Developmental Trajectory

Since all Intelligences are part of the human genetic t.-!ritage; atsome basic level each Intelligence is manifested universally, indepen-dent of education and culturT: support. Exceptional populations asidefor the moment, all humans possess certain core abilities in each ofthe Intelligences.

The natural trajectory of development in each Int"-,mce beginswith raw patterning ability, for example, the ability tonal dif-ferentiations in Musical Intelligence or to appreci .e three-dimen-sional arrangements in Spatial Intelligence. These abilities appearuniversally; they may also appear at a heightened level in that part ofthe population that is "at promise" in that doma;n. The "raw" Intel-ligence predominates during the first year of life.

Intelligences are glimpsed through different lenses at subsequentpoints in development. In the subsequent stage, the Intelligence isencountered through a symbol system: language is encounteredthrough sentences and stories, music through songs, spatial under-standing through drawings, bodily-kinesthetic through gesture ordance, and so on. At this point children demonstrate their abilities inthe various Intelligences through their grasp of various symbol sys-tems. Yehudi Menuhin's response to the sound of the violin illustratesthe Musical Intelligence of a gifted individual co !f, in contact witha particular aspect of the symbol system.

As development progresses, each Intelligence together with itsaccompanying symbol system is represented in a notational system.Mathematics, mapping, reading, music notation, and so on, are sec-ond-order symbol systems in which the marks on paps:- come to standfor symbols. In our culture, these notational systems are typicallymastered in a formal educational setting.

Finally, during adolescence and adulthood, the Intelligences areexpressed through the range of vocational or avocrtional pursuits. Forexample, the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, that began as sheerpattern ability in infancy and developed through symbolic mastery ofearly childhood and the notations of the school years, achieves matureexpression in such roles as mathematician, accountant, scientist, cash-ier. Similarly, the Spatial Intelligence passes from the mental maps ofthe infant, to the symbolic operations required in drawings and thenotational systems of maps, to the adult roles of navigator, chessplayer, or topologist.

Although all humans partake of each Intelligence to some degree,certain individuals are said to be "at promise." They are highly en-


dowed with the core abilities and skills of that Intelligence. This factbecomes important for the culture as a whole, since, in general, theseexceptionally gifted individuals will make notable advances in thecultural manifestations of that Intelligence. It is not important thatall members of the Puluwat tribe demonstrate precocious spatial abil-ities needed for navigation by the stars, nor is it necessary for allWesterners to master mathematics to the degree necessary to make asignificant contribution to theoretical physics. So long as the individ-uals "at promise" in particular domains are located efficiently, theoverall knowledge of the group will be advanced in all domains.

While some individuals are "at promise" in an Intelligence, othersare "at risk." In the absence of special aids, those at risk in an Intel-ligence will be most likely to fail tasks involving that Intelligence.Conversely, those at promise will be most likely to succeed. It may bethat intensive intervention at an early age can bring a larger numberof children to an "at promise" level

The special developmental trajectory of an individual at promisevaries with Intelligence. Thus, mathematics and music are character-ized by the early appearance of gifted children who perform relativelyearly at or near an adult level. In contrast, the Linguistic and PersonalIntelligences appear to arise much more gradually; prodigies are rare.Moreover, mature performance in one area does not imply matureperformance in another area, just as gifted achievement in one doesnot Imply gifted achievement in another.

Implications of the Developmental Trajectory for Education

Because the Intelligences are manifested in different ways at dif-ferent developmental levels, both assessment and nurturing need tooccur in aposite ways What nurtures in infancy would be inappro-priate at later stages, and vice versa. In the preschool and early ele-mentary years, instruction should emphasize opportunity. It is duringthese wars that children can discover something of their own peculiarinterests and abilities. In the cases of very talented children, suchdiscoveries often happen by themselves through spontaneous "crys-tallizing experiences" (Walters and Gardner, 1984). For others, specif-ically designed encounters with materials, equipment, or other peoplecan help instigate such discovery of one's own métier.

During the school-age years, some mastery of notational systemsis essential in our society. The self-discovery environment of earlyschooling cannot provide the - ructure needed for the mastery of spe-cific notational systems like the sonata form or algebra. In fact, during


this period some tutelage is needed by virtually all children. Oneproblem is to fine the right form, since group tutelage can be helpfulin some instances and harmful in others. Another problem is to or-chestrate the connection between practical knowledge and the knowl-edge embodied in symbolic systems and notational systems.

Finally, in ad3lescence, most students must be assisted in theirchoice of careers. This task is made more complex by the manner inwhich Intelligences interact in many cultural roles. For instance,being a doctor certainly requires Logical-Mathematical Intelligence;but general practice demands a strong interpersonal skill while sur-gery requires a bodily-kinesthetic dexterity. Internships, apprentice-ships, and involvement with the actual materials of the cultural rolebecome critical at this point in development.

Several implications for explicit instruction can be drawn fromthis analysis. First, the role of instruction in relation to the manifes-tation of an Intelligence changes across the developmental trajectory.The enriched environment appropriate for the younger years is lessrelevant for adolescents. Conversely, explicit instruction in the nota-tional system, appropriate for older children, is largely inappropriatefor younger ones.

Explicit instruction must be evaluated in light of the develop-mental trajectories of the Intelligences. Students benefit from explicitinstruction only if the information or training fits into their specificplace on the developmental progression. A particular kind of instruc-tion can be either too early at one poin. or too late at another. Forexample, Suzuki training in music pays little attention to the nota-tional system, while providing a great deal of support or scaffoldingfor learning the fine points of instrumental technique. While this em-phasis may be very nowerful for training preschool children, it canproduce stunted musical development when imposed at a late pointon the developmental trajectory. Such a highly structured instruc-tional environment can accelerate progress and produce a larger num-ber of children "at promise," but in the end it may ultimately limitchoices and inhibit self-expression.

An exclusive focus on linguistic and logical skills in formal school-ing can shortchange individuals with skills in other Intelligences. It isevident from inspection of adult roles, even in language-dominatedWestern society, that spatial, interpersonal, bodily-kinesthetic skillsoften play key roles. Yet linguistic and logical skills form the core ofmost diagnostic tests of "Intelligence" and are placed on a pedagogi-cal pedestal in our schools.

ESSA IS ON THE INTELLECT

The Large Need: Assessment

The general pedagogical program described here presupposes ac-curate understanding of the profile of Intelligences of the individuallearner. Such a careful assessment procedure allows informed choicesabout careers and avocations. It also permits a more enlightenedsearch for remedies for difficulties. Assessment of deficiencies can pre-dict difficulties the learner will have; moreover, it can suggest alter-native routes to an educational goal (learning mathematics via spatialrelations; learning music through linguistic techniques).

Assessment, then, becomes a central feature of an educationalsystem. Until now, we have blithely assumed that such assessment canbe made. In truth, however, the assessment of intellectual profilesremains a task for the future. We believe that we will need to departfrom standardized testing. We also belie that standard pencil-and-paper short-answer tests sample only a small proportion of intellec-tual abilities and often reward a certain kind of decontextualized fa-cility. The means of assessment we favor should ultimately search forgenuine problem-solving or product-fashioning skills in individualsacross a range of materials.

An assessment of a particular Intelligence (or set of Intelligences)should highlight problems that can be solved in the materials of thatIntelligence. That is, mathematical assessment should present prob-lems in mathematical settings. For younger children, these could con-sist of Piagetian-style problems in which talk is kept to a minimum.For older children, derivation of proofs in a novel numerical systemmight suffice. In music, on the other hand, the problems would beembedded in a musical system. Younger children could be asked toassemble tunes from individual musical segments. Older childrencould be shown how to compose a rondo or fugue from simple pat-terns.

An important aspect of assessing Intelligences must include theindividual's ability to solve problems or create products using thematerials of the intellectual medium. Equally important, however, isthe determination of which Intelligence is favored when an individualhas a chiice. One technique for getting at this proclivity is to exposethe individual to a sufficiently complex situation that can stimulateseveral Intelligences; or to provide a set of materials drawn from dif-ferent Intelligences and determine toward which one an individualgravitates and how deeply he or she explores it.

As an example, consider what happens when a child sees a com-plex film in which several Intelligences figure prominently: music,

4 25


people interacting, a maze to be solved, or a particular bodily skill,may all compete for attention. Subsequent "debriefing" with the childshould reveal the features to which the child paid attention; these willbe related to the profile of Intelligences in that child. Or consider asituation in which children are taken into a room with several differ-ent kinds of equipment and games. Simple measures of the regions inwhich children spend time and the kinds of activities they engage inshould yield insights into the individual child's profile of Intelligence.

Tests of this sort differ in two important ways from the traditionalmeasures of "intelligence." First, they rely on materials, equipment,interviews, and so on to generate the problems to be solved; this con-trasts with the traditional pencil-and-paper measures used in intelli-gence testing. Second, results are reported as part of an individualprofile of intellectual propensities, rather than as a single index ofintelligence or rank within the population. In contrasting strengthsand weaknesses, they can suggest options for future learning.

Scores are not enough. This assessment procedure should suggestto parents, teachers, and, eventually, to children themselves, the sortsof activities that are available at home, in school, or in the widercommunity. Drawing on this information, children can bolster theirown particular sets of intellectual weaknesses cr combine their intel-lectual strengths in a way that is satisfying vocationally and avoca-tionally.

Coping with the Plurality of Intelligences

Under the Multiple Intelligences theory, an Intelligence can serveboth as the content of instruction and the means or medium for com-municating that content. This state of affairs has important ramifi-cations for instruction. For example, suppose that a child is learningJule mathematical principle but is not skilled in Logical-Mathemat-

ical Intelligence. That child will probably experience some difficultyduring the learning process. The reason for the difficulty is straight-forward: the mathematical principle to be learned (the content) existsonly in the logical-mathematical world and it ought to be communi-cated through mathematics (the medium). That is, the mathematicalprinciple cannot be translated entirely into words (which is a linguisticmedium) or spatial models (a spatial medium). At some point in thelearning process, the mathematics of the principle must "speak foritself." In our present case, it is at just this level that the learnerexperiences difficultythe learner (who is not especially "mathemat-ical") and the problem (which is very much "mathematical") are notin accord. Mathematics, as a medium, has failed.

!`26.


Although this situation is a necessary conundrum in light of Mul-tiple Intelligences dleory, we can propose various solutions. a thepresent example, the teacher must attempt to find an alternative routeto the mathematical contenta metaphor in another medium. Lan-guage is perhaps the most obvious alternative, but spatial modelingand even a bodily-kinesthetic metaphor may prove appropriatesome cases. In this wqv, the student is given a secondary route to thesolution to the prof t. , perhaps through the medium of an Intelli-gence that is relative!), strong for that individual.

Two features of this hypothetical scenario must be strs:ssed. First.in such cases, the secondary routethe language, spatial model, orwhateveris at best a metaphor or translation. It is not mathematicsitself. And at some point, the learner must translate back into thedomain of mathematics. Without this translation, what is learnedtends to remain at a relatively superficial level; cookbook-style math-ematical performance results from following instructions (linguistictranslation) without understanding why (mathematics re-transla-tion).

Second, the alternative route is not guaranteed. There is no nec-essary reason why a problem in one domain must be translatable intoa metaphorical problem in another domain. Successful teachers findthese translations with relative frequency; but as .arning becomesmore complex, the likelihood of a successful translation diminishes.

While Multiple Intelligences theory is consistent with much em-pirical evidence, it has not been subjected to strong experimental testswithin psychology. Within the area of education, the applications ofthe theory are even more tentative and speculative. Our hunches willhave to be k' wised many times in light of actual . issropm experience.Still there are important reasons for considering the theory of MultipleIntelligences and it., implications for education. First of all, it is clearthat many talents, if not Intelligences, are overlooked nowadays; in-dividuals with these talents are the chief casualties of the single-minded, single-funneled approach to the mind. There are many un-filled or poorly filled niches in our society and it would be opportuneto guide individuals with the right set of abilities to these billets.Finally, our world is beset with problems; to have any chance of solv-ing them, we must make the very best use of the Intelligences wepossess. Perhaps recognizing the plurality of Intelligences and themanifold ways in which human individuals may exhibit them is animportant first step.


References

Connor, A. Voice:, from Cooperstown. New York: Collier Books, 1982. (Based ona quotation taken from The Babe Ruth Story, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1948).

Gallwey, T. Inner Tennis. New York: Random House, 1976.Gardner, H Frames of Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1976.Keller, E. A Feeling for the Organism. Salt Lake City: W.H. Freeman, 1983.Lash, J. Helen and Teacher: The Story of Helen Keno- and Anne Sullivan Macy.

New York: Delacorte Press, 1980.Menuhin, Y. Unfinished Journey. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1977.Solfe, L. Nadia: A Case of Extraordinary Drawing Ability in an Autistic Child.

New York: Academic Press, 1977.Soldo, J. "Jovial ..avenilia: T.S. Eliot's First Magazine." Biography 5 (1982):

25-37.Walters, J., and Gardner, H. "Crystallizing Experiences: Discovering an Intel-

lectual Gift." In Studies in Giftedness. Edited by R. Sternberg and J.Davidson. Cambridge: University Press, 1984.

Woolf, V. Moments of Being. Sussex: The University Press, 1976.

9,14 # o

51?

2. IntellectualDevelopment of the

Gifted

A. Harry Passow

EFFORTS TO NURTURE GIFTED INDIVIDUALS HAVE A VERY LONG HISTORY,

dating back thousands of years and existing in many different cul-tures. Over the years, concepts of giftedness have varied, as have at-titudes toward gifted individuals. School involvement in the identifi-cation and nurturing of giftedness is a relatively new phenomenon,just as formal schooling is a relatively recent idea. In the UnitedStates, from the time when William T. Harris instituted rapid, flexiblepromotion in the St. Louis Public Schools in 1868 as a way of providingfor more able pupils, a variety of efforts have been made to identify,nurture, and "meet the needs' ,.., pupils of supernormal ability, rapidlearners, high achievers, brilliant Jildren, gifted, and a variety of otherterms and labelsall of which have been used to designate individualswith high intelligence and/or high achievement. In 1955, Newland(1955) found no fewer than 51 different terms used to characterize"gifted populations" in 126 research reports. This diversity reflect:,the absence of a single, uniform conception of giftedness guiding theeffort" . ler researchers or practitioners.

All . spec ts of identification and development of the gifted dependon the ur derlying conception of the nature of giftedness. This view is

Author's note: I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of my ccIleague, Abraham J.Tannenbaum, in the preparation of this chapter.


reflected in the discussion of the intellectual development of the giftedthat follows because it is based on a particular point of view. Forexample, we believe that intellectually gifted children are hardly evergifted at all except by childhood standards. They may distinguishthemselves among age mates, but if theh performance or productiveskills do not continue to grow at an accelerated pace as they maturethrough adolescence and approach adulthood, they will lapse intomediocrity. There are examples, such as the case of a Mozart or aMendelssohn, when children excel even by universal adult standards,but these are rare excep.ions to the rule. What edu 'tors and psy-chologists recognize as giftedness in children is really potential gift-edness, which denotes promise rather than fulfillment and probabili-ties rather than certainties about future accomplishments. How highthese probabilities are in any given case depends on the match be-tween a child's budding talents and the kids of nurturance provided.

A Proposed Definition of Giftedness

One way to look at giftedness is I3 think of two varieties of poten-tially gifted children: those who have it in them to become exemplaryproducers of ideas and those who show early signs of becoming criti-cally acclaimed performers, serving audiences or individual clients.Both types of giftedness operate in spheres of activity that enhancethe moral, physical, emotional, social, intellectual, or aesthetic life ofhumani.y.

Outstanding contributors to the arts, sciences, letters, and generalwell-being of fellow humans tend often to show signs of promise inchildhood. It is, therefore, reasonable to identify precocious childrenas the pool from which the most highly gifted are likely to emerge.But precocity may only signify just the rapid learning of ideas, theability to grasp abstractions quickly and efficiently, and the masteryof skills far beyond those expected ut the child's age level. Early school-ing is reserved mainly for such emphases on content absorption as itinvolves encountering, distilling, synthesizing, and consuming knowl-edge. Producing knowledge with great inventiveness and impactasign of giftednesscomes later in an individual's growth cycle, butthe discerning parent or educator can see signs of it long before itreaches fruition.

Siinilarly, the gifted performer has abilities and temperamentthat have incubated over the years, although they may be difficult torecognize in their early stages. I use the term performance here toinclude far more than just staged entertainment in the concert hall or

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE GIFTED

theater. It also encompasses a variety of high-level service skills suchas medical assistance, social and psychological treatment, teaching,and many other areas. Those who qualify as gifted performers arecapable of attracting widespread appreciation when they demonstratetheir abilities. Excluded are the amateurs who are able to perform(but not brilliantly) and those who simply appreciate the performanceof otlie!s.

As Tannenbaum has suggested, five broad conditions account fora person's giftedness: (1) superior general intellect, (2) distinctive spe-cial aptitudes, (3) the right blending of nonintellectual traits, (4) achallenging environment, and (5) the smile of good fortune at crucialperiods of life. A discussion of intellective determinants is necessarilylimiting, therefore, because it encompasses only the first two of thefive determinants. In reality, each of these facilitators is necessary,though not sufficient, for achieving excellence in any area of activity.Thus, no combination c,f four qualifiers is adequate to compensate forthe absence or inadequacy of the fifth, and the minimal essentials, orthreshold levels, for all five vary with every talent domain. For exam-ple, giftedness in theoretical physics requires high intelligence andfewer interpersonal skills than does giftedness in social service profes-sions. Obviously, then, no single set of measurement criteria can beequally effective for identifying, say, potential scientists and politi-cians Nor is it meaningful to suggest that either the scientvt or thepolitician is the "smarter" of the two because of the differ :Ices intheir general intelligence or in their special aptitudes. The five factorsinteract in different ways for separate talent domains, but they are allrepresented in some way in every form of giftedness (Tannenbaum,1983).

Some argue for adding superior "creativity" as a sixth conditionfor attaining individual excellence. The problem is that listing crea-tivity would give the impression that it is separable from the fivefactors rather than closely identified with all of them. In fact, creativ-ity is syrionymous with giftedness, defined here as the potential forbecoming either an outstanding producer or performer, not just aconsumer, spectator, or amateur appreciator of ideas. To the best ofour knowledge, creativity (or giftedness) consists of a not-yet-knowncombination of general and specific abilities and personality traitsassociated with high potential that can be realized in a stimulatingenvironment with the help of good fortune.

Creativity (or giftedness) is judged by two criteria: the extent andquality of its innovativeness. Often measures of "creativity" naivelyconcentrate on off-beat and prolific responses to problems as suitable

'31


criteria, while neglecting the aesthetic brilliance of these responsesand forgetting that what is rare is not necessarily valued. Because itdenotes rare and valued human accomplishment, creativity should beconceptualized as interchangeable with giftedness. After all, gifted-ness is reflected in the ability to be an innovator of what is new andtreasurable, not just a curator of whit is old and treasured.

General Intellect and Giftedness

The power center for giftedness is the !Iuman brain, which con-trols both the magnitude and diversity of individual potential. It cantransport an Einstein into heights of abstraction and a da Vinci intoflights of creativity that are so far beyond ordinary accomplishmentsas to seem almost miraculous. It can also g, iterate nearly endlesstraces of genius, ranging from the esoterica of plasma physics, to thevisual spectacle of the Taj Mahal, to the magical ca -knees of a Miltonicsonnet, to the sublime sounds of an Eroica symphony, to the gustatorydelights of gourmet cooking, to the in ricate beauties of Oriental knotdesigns, and on and on into every possible domain of individual activ-ity.

To date, a great deal more is known about the extent of humanintellectual strength than about the essence of human intellect. Thus,nruch of the literature has referred to gifted children in terms of theirhigh intelligence. But the meaning of this term as it applies to suchchildren is not much clearer today than it was more than a half-century ago when Boring defined intelligence as something that ismeasured by tests of intelligence. However, those who view giftednessfrom a psychological perspective are well aware that scores kin testsof intelligence are intended to provide clues rather than understand-ings about superior potential.

As tenuous as it is to define and describe giftedness fulfilled, it iseven more precarious to --peak with assurance about it in its period ofpromise, when predictions have to be made about a child's futuredevelopment. Yet, studying high-level Potential among school-age chil-dren and youth is of obvious interest and concern to educators, be-cause the development of appropriate orograms and provisions fornurturing that potential is what schools are about.

The largest-scale test of the hypothesis that there is a developmentlinkage between identification as prediction of giftedness and its nur-turance leading to superior performance can be found in the so-calledGenetic Studies of Genius, begun in 1922 by Lewis M. Terman and hisassociates and continued at present by Pauline and Robert Sears.

1,82


Terman's basic argument was that greatness does not reflect a mys-terious, freakish mutation but stems from an extraordinary ability toexercise sensitive judgment in solving problems, to adapt to new sit-uations, and to learn from performing various tasks and experiencingvarious situations. Terman believed that all people have these abilitiesin various degrees but that the gifted excel in them and are, therefore,most successful in measuring up to the demands of school and society.Moreover, Terman believed that these mental traits can be capturedin an IQ score early in life and that the gifted are those who rate inthe highest percentile on such measures. So confident was Terman inequating giftedness with high IQ that he asserted at the outset that itwould be from the ranks of children of high IQ, and from nowhereelse, that geniuses in every line of endeavor would come.

From the vast amount of data collected regularly since 1922, someof the original expectations Terman had have been verified and otherremain doubtful. One enduring legacy is Terman's insistence that gift-edness can be recognized in a continuum of abilities possessed by allpeople. He saw the gifted and the nongifted as having the same orga-nization of abilities but differing in the extent to which they are ca-pable of cultivating some of them. Thus, Terman assumed differencein degree rather than in kind. AccepuAnce of this assumption meansthat studies of the nature of and measurement of gifted performancecan be subsumed under general investigation of human mentality.

Another outcome of Terman's work is his conclusion that potentialgiftedness reveals itself even in childhood. The once popular platitude,"Early ripe, early rot" has been turned into a canard by the Termanstudies. There are, of course, many instances of failure to fulfill pre-dicted potential, but these are exceptions to the rule that childrenwith ample mental abilities, reasonably stable personalities, andproper nurturance tend eventually to excel in their careers, given theright opportunities to exhibit excellence. And, because giftedness sel-dom materializes suddenly and unaccountably in adulthood, but hasits roots in its early years of growth, schools are in a key position tohelp gifted children realize their potential. 1 he findings suggest a needfor special educational opportunities for the gifted, an :dea that wouldbe irrelevant were there no developmental connection between earlypromise and later fulfillment.

Some of the conclusions reached by Terman have not fared equallywell. Besides initiating what has become an endless debate over thevalue of IQ measures in distinguishing between gifted and nongiftedchildren, Terman contributed at least two ideas that have since falleninto disfavor. The first has to do with the consistency of IQ scores and

ESSAYS ON PiE INTELLECT

the idea that giftedness is basically a hereditary phenomenon. Ampleevidence from other major longitudinal studies shows dramatic shiftsin IQ among individual children. The second has to do with his ap--a arent belief in the indivisibility of the organization of mental powers.tA (though Terman never pretended to advocate a theory of intelligence,his need for a single sco e to measure potential giftedness, and theway he oLtained it, implied an assumption that intelligence consistsof one general factor. Later studies have demonstrated that mentalpowers are more likely multifaceted, consisting of special aptitudesthat seem to be d:ltinguishable from each other, not part of a single,overall intellectual power.

The Terman longitudinal studymore than 60 years old nowhas been criticized on a variety of bases, including the selection pro-cedures, the criteria on which adult attainments have been judged,and the lack of minority subjects. Whatever faults and shortcomingsthey may have, the studies must be considered as landmark longitu-dinal research that has provided significant insights into intellectualdevelopment, not only of the gifted. There has been much speculationabout what would have happened to Terman's female subjects hadthey grown up in the current era of more equal opportunities.

One of the major problems in understanding giftedness as it de-velops over the lifespan is that much of the research literature equatesit with high IQ. Many modern wri ers on the subject deny that asso-ciation as too simplistic but often ignore their own denials by gener-alizing about giftedness on the basis of studies of h;'N-11) children. Itis not easy to avoid such a trap, because much of tilt published re-search has been conducted on this kind of population.

Followers of the Terman tradition define giftedness as general in-tellectual superiority that the individual channels into one of manypossible areas of specialization on the basis of personal interests, en-counters with inspiring teachers, or encouraging job opportunities.For purposes of locating such a pool of potentially gifted children whoare too young to choose specific life careers, there is no single, morevalid measure than the IQ. Others srongly disagree with :he tendencyto equate giftedness with IQ. For example, Robinson (1977) arguesthat:

In the post-Terman era, it has indeed become possible to become a "gifted"individual without having any noticeable gift at all. We routinely categorizechildren as "gifted" if their IQ scores are above 125, 130, 140 or whatever cut-off score we happen to choose, in spite of the fact that they do not do betterthan average work in school or demonstrate in any other fashion an excep-tional degree of talent (p. 2).


Generally speaking, the movement away from exclusive relianceon IQ and its correlates to define giftedness is not intended simply todevalue the IQ. Instead, the argument is that IQ limits giftedness totraditional academics and is not helpful in distinguishing among dif-ferent kinds of intellectual and artistic functioning. Taylor and Ellison(1975), for example, point out that intelligence tests encompass onlyabout eight intellectual talents, which represent a small fraction ofthe well over a hundred that are known to exist. Taylor and Ellisonhave proposed a "multiple talent" approach to seek out children whoare not only learners and reproducers but also thinkers, producers,Jecision makers, communicators, forecasters, and creators.

So influential has been the multiple-talent approach to defininggiftedness that it was incorporated into a federal policy statement inthe so-called Mar land Report (1971):

Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualifiedpersons who by %irtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high perform-ance .

Children capable of high performance include those with demonstratedachievement and/or potential ability in any of the following areas, singly or.n combination

1 general intellectual ability,2 specific academic aptitude,3 creative of productive thinking,4. leadership ability;5 c isual and performing arts;6 psychomotor ability

Although the federal definition has been popular in schoolsthroughout the country and has served, as Renzulli (1978) noted, thevery useful purpose of calling attention to a wider variety of abilitiesthat should be included in a definition of giftedness," it also has pre-sented some major problems. Renzulli points to the omission of non-intellective factors that are vital in characterizing giftedness, such astask commitment and persistence; to the nonparallel nature of thecategories, some of which deal with cognitive processes and otherswith accomplished performance; and to the tendency for practitionersto treat the six categories as if they were independent of one another,resulting in separate islentification procedures for each category.

The use of factor analysis to demonstrate the existence of distin-guishable special abilities was originally developed by Thurstone(1947), whose work led him eventually to identify seven primary fac-tors that can be recognized as separate entities, though they partiallyrelate to each other as well as to an overall g (general) factor. Theseinclude verbal meaning, word fluency, number ability, memory, spatial

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relations, perceptual speed, and reasoning ability.A more elaborate use of factor analysis techniques led Guilford

(1959, 1967) to develop his "Structure of Intellect" model, which de-notes the possibilities of as many as 150 separate abilities in humanbeings. The Structure of Intellect model is usually presented in theform of a cube with its three faces showing three different dimensions:operations (cognition, memory, divergent production, convergent pro-duction, and evaluation), content (figural/visual, figural/auditory, sym-bolic, semantic, and behavioral), and products (units, classes, rela-tions, systems, transformations, and implications). Operationsdenotes the alternative ways in which the irdividual can process anykind of informational content and develop out of it products that takeany form. Divergent production of semantic systems, for example, de-notes the ability to produce a variety of ideas from a known set ofunits.

Structure of Intellect has been developed into an "instructionalprogram" aimed at nurturing the various mental abilities, particu-larly in programs for the gifted. The factors remain to be tested fullyfor their concurrent and predictive validity. It may be that none of thefactor measures correlates with accomplishment in a specific line ofactivity any more than does a test of general intelligence. It may eventurn out that a small handful of subtests in the battery developed byGuilford proVides a good estimate of IQ, as do the Verbal Reasoningand Numerical Ability subtests of the Differential Aptitude Tests. Itshould be kept in mind, however, that Guilford never intended to com-pete with the IQ in measuring human potential but rather meant todefine the variety and organization of human abilities. He attemptedto show mental functioning as represented by an aggregate of specialcompetencies that can be discerned and described. Such a conceptualframework is especially valuable for the educator who wants a clearperspective on the range of special aptitudes that ought to be culti-vated at school and who also wants to inventory those that are andare not neglected. In al! probability, only a few of the abilities receivemore than passing attention in any curriculum, even those for thegifted.

Of all the "operations" in the Structure of Intellect, the one thathas received widest attention has been divergent production, whichGuilford and his followers have related closely to the concept of crea-tivity. Divergent thinking tests are currently used widely to identify"highly creative children," based on the assumption that such testsreveal special talents in children that would ordinarily be overlookedby the Kr Some studies support the validity of such tests, whereas


others do not.In what was probably the longest-range and largest-scale study of

divergent thinking aptitudes, Torrance (1981) followed up pupils fromtwo elementary schools who had been tested using Torrance Tests ofCreative Thinking some 21 to 25 years earlier. Data on adolescent andcreative behavior were obtained from 211 of the 400 pupils originallytested. Subjects who had high scores during childhood reported rel-atively impressive numbers of high school and post-high schoolachievements and "creative style of life" accomplishments that hadnot been recognized publicly. Torrance's students also assigned supe-rior ratings to the subjects on the quality of their highest creativeachievements as well as the quality of their career aspirations andimages.

Because there are few longitudinal studies of predicting and as-sessing adult creative accomplishments, Torrance's (1975) earlier re-flections on the predictive validity of divergent thinking tests seemstill appropriate:

When confronted by the fact that creative functioning involves a variety ofphenomena which occur simultaneously and interact with one another, howmuch weight should we expect measures of general cre, abilities to carry?Research evidence indicates that the motivation of the .jest, his early lifeexperiences, the immediate and long-range rewards, the richness of the envi-ronment, and other factors are all important enough to make a difference increative functioning and furthermore that these phenomena interact with oneanother.

The relatively recent research on the hemispheres of the brain hasbeen studied for implications for the development and education ofthe gifted. Studies have indicated that there are separate and inde-pendent functions for each brain hemisphere. The left hemisphere isbelieved to control logical and analytic thought processes, includingspeaking, writing, and mathematical calculations. The right hemi-sphere, on the other hand, is believed to control creative and artisticthinking, spatiai relationships, and music comprehension.

Some educators of the gifted have examined ways of using thisemerging body of knowledge about the brain and its functioning inteaching and learning. As Clark (1979) has observed, for example:

More important than recognizing the specialization of hemispheres is theevidence of the need for interaction and intersupport between the hemispheres. .. . Without the support of a well-developed right hemisphere, such left braingrowth will be inhibited. For years, good teachers and parents have intuitivelyused both right and left brain functions in their teaching. The evidence forspecialization now validates their teaching idea (p. 359).


Over the years, as research has been conducted on understandingthe nature and maturation of superior abilities and talents, more andmore questions have been raised about the processes involved as moreand more light has been shed on those processes. There is as yet nowidespread accepted theory of giftedness, although there is a consid-erable body of knowledge about individual differences and their nur-ture. As Read (1982) has put it, "Few researchers have managed tocapture the amazing convergence of biological, social, cultural, andpsychological factors that characterize the expression of exceptionaltalent. Even less common are longitudinal investigations that trackthe course of these talents from their first flowering in childhood tomature expression in a productive and creative career" (p. 2). The life-long tracking of Terman's subjects is what makes that study so uniqueand important, even though it has not provided definitive answers toall of the questions about talent development.

Feldman (1982) has argued "that the traditional emphasis on pre-cocious test performance, however productive, has had an unfortunatetendency to narrow the focus of the field, leaving outside its bordersmany interesting research questions" (p. 5). Feldman advocates usingfindings from the developmental sciencespsychology, biology, brainresearch, epistemology, and literatureto stimulate and guide workto better understand giftedness and creativity.

Renzulli (1980) has observed that "In spite of vast amounts ofresearch on every conceivable aspect of the learning process, we stillhave difficulty pinpointing the reasons for the remarkable differencesin learning efficiency and creativity among persons with similar ge-netic and environmental experiences ... . We simply do not know" (p.601).

Although there is much that we do not know about the develop-ment of giftedness, we have learned a good deal about the nature andnurture of giftedness. Much of what we do know is related to schoolperformance and academic achievement, as well as to the performanceand behavior of adults who are recognized as gifted. We know, forexample, that compared with what Terman called "the generality,"gifted individuals learn mete rapidly, learn qualitatively differently,achieve and use higher-order cognitive skills more readily, demon-strate creative expression more often, exhibit critical thinking andproblem-solving capabilities, exhibit greater self-direction and inde-pendence, tend to be more reflective and insightful, evidence greaterpersistence and task commitment, and display unusual precocity insome areas. Their unusual potential is manifested in degree rather

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than kind and in precocity. It is these differentials in potential andperformance that have provided guidance for educators of the gifted.

Differentiated Curriculum and Instruction

For more than a century, schools have provided programs aimedat nurturing the potential of gifted children and youth. As the Mar landReport (1971) put it, the gifted are children who require differen-tiated educational programs and/or services beyond those normallyprovided by the regular school program in of der to realize their con-tribution to self and society" (p. 2). The phrase "beyond those nor-mally provided by the regular school program" implies that there isa regular curriculum that is to be enriched or accelerated for thegifted. Most programs and provisions for the gifted have applied thisconcept of enriching or accelerating the educational experiences andopportunities for the gifted; few have developed what Dishart (1980)argued for"curricula which are enriched enough and acceleratedenough for gifted learners [in the first placer (p. 26).

In designing differentiated curriculums and instruction for thegifted, all elements cf the process are subject to differentiationthegoals and objectives, the content, the teachinglearning strategies, theresources, the organization of learners, the organization of time andspace, and the means for evaluation.

Whereas the basic goal for the education of the gifted is the sameas that for all childrenthat is, fullest development of individual po-tentialgenuine differences in school experiences are only designedas specific goals are clarified. What educational imperatives are therefor the gifted? If giftedness is something relative and qualitativerather than discrete and quantitative, what are the essential learningsfor individuals who have been identified as potentially gifted? Arethere essential learnings that the gifted must experience if they are toachieve maximum self-realization and fulfill their potential? Thequestion of appropriate goals and objectives for the diverse populationidentified as gifted

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