Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget would have described intelligence as the thinking ability that helps a person solve problems and adapt to his or her environment. But this definition does not include many other abilities and qualities that most of us would use to describe intelligence. Intelligence could also mean the ability to do abstract thinking, to carry mean everything that a person has learned in his or her lifetime.
Before 1960, some people believed that, for the most part, intelligence was innate or inborn. In other words, either you were born smart or you weren’t and nothing could change that. More recently, scientists have begun to look at how a person’s environment might influence the development of intelligence.
The other main issue in understanding intelligence is how to measure it. Two of the main abilities that have been measured in IQ(intelligence quotient) tests are verbal comprehension (understanding words) and the ability to think with and about numbers. IQ tests also measure other parts of intelligence such as general thinking ability, vocabulary, memory, and spatial ability. However, other abilities often connected with intelligence, such as creativity, artistic and musical talent, social skills, and regular common sense, are often not included on standard IQ tests.
The IQ test was designed to measure success in school. Alfred Binet was asked to develop the first IQ test in order to identify “dull” children – the children who needed additional or remedial help in school. This is important because many people might not think that school success is the only kind of intelligence. Yet this is all that IQ tests measure.
Binet designed the test with increasing levels of difficulty so that children of different ages could pass different parts of the test. He tested many, many children, and then decided on age norms for the questions he wrote. For example, a question that most six-year-olds could answer but most five-year-old could not answer was thought to show the average mental performance of a six-year-old.
The product of Binet’s test was a number showing a child’s mental age (MA). Mental age is changed to an IQ score by dividing the MA by the child’s actual age and multiplying the result by 100. Therefore, a 6-year-old who scored at a mental age of 6 would have an IQ of 100 (6/6 x100 = 100). This system allows us to compare the IQs of children of different ages. A 6-year-old with an MA of 3 has an IQ is considered to be 100, with a standard deviation of 15 points (thus, the range of average IQs is from 85 to 115). Binet’s original test was later modified by a researcher from Stanford University in California. The result is the IQ test used today, called the Stanford-Binet.
How do these two types of education compare? In general, it seems that open classrooms succeed in achieving their goals. Their students are more independent learners. Children in these classrooms also cooperate more effectively. There is no difference in self-esteem for students in open versus traditional classrooms. Also, on one of the most important measures, academic achievement, there is no advantage to an open versus traditional education. It is most likely that different people do well in different kinds of educational situations.
Are there other characteristics that make schools more or less effective for their students? Michael Rutter conducted a long term study in London on twelve secondary schools. These schools had low- and lower-middle- income students. The students took achievement tests when they started high school and again when they finished. In addition, Rutter looked at the characteristics of the schools. He found four that relate to effective schooling : student body composition, academic emphasis, classroom management, and discipline. In short, his results show that better organization, a clear focus on academic goals, and authoritative teachers all make for more effective education.