Intelligence

This is a subject I mostly contemplate as a spectator, looking to learn from the better ones, respect the variety and share my knowledge were I am confident I have something to say. Artificially entertained like a competition (get better grades than the colleagues in school or university, build better chances to get a job, etc.) nurturing intelligence was for me first of all a competition with myself. With age I became more aware and thankful of my privileged position and the tests are rarely telling me things I do not know about me. Please see below my results from edutopia.org test on multiple intelligences (according to Gardner eight intelligences):

It comes as no surprise that the top two intelligences are in my case: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal.

Reading the Intelligence chapter from Jordon’s “Approaches to Learning: A guide for teachers” book, I was surprised to realize how difficult is to give a definition to intelligence. In my view – as I have the tendency to simplify the concepts in order to understand them – the best definition of intelligence was told to me by my professor of A.I. class in university about 25 years ago; it was a quote, probably from Stephen Hawkins but I do not remember exactly and was as simple as this:

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

It is hard to me to accept other definitions of intelligence after I assimilated this one. Learning is a change process – people who have the ability to learn are intelligent. What about Gardner’s multiple intelligences? I would simply call them talents. What about fluid and crystallized intelligences? As much as I like this concept, I would relate it to the memory.

The most important learnings for me after reading the articles on intelligence are:

-   the source of intelligence is both by nature (incl. genetic heritage) and by nurture (parenting, nutrition and education)

- the classroom strategies related to intelligence theories (from Jordan’s “Approaches to Learning”):

- and probably the main learning, that will also influence my approach in teaching, is that people are different and real talents (ok, intelligences) may be hidden – teacher’s role is to reveal and encourage development of those latent gifts; empathy and good communication are mandatory skills for a teacher.

Sources:

1.       1. Jordon, et al. (2008) ”Approaches to Learning: A guide for teachers.” NY: Open University Press. 

Psycho-Social Development and Learning

I have selected several topics for my reflections in this area:

Work life: 

Employment becomes more and more uncertain and unstable, one should rather develop a set of generic skills than specifically train for one job in one career; I refer here again to a study I recorded in my blog: http://pblmpop.blogspot.fi/2016/08/pbl-study-blog.html . One saying was given as a reflection study: ”Jobs litter the landscape, careers are hard to find”. A plastic reflection of reality in the job market, there could be more ways to read this saying:

• Junk jobs are everywhere, it takes some time to select the proper job that would start a career
• If career would be a path to personal achievement in work life, it takes time and experience to find the right path which would worth walk on
• Be prepared to use the accumulated experience in various jobs and be adaptive; the career path will be laying behind you; if there was commitment and proven good results in your previous jobs, the CV will light the way forward, however don’t expect the light to cover the road to the end, but just until the next crossroads
• Be open to embrace changes

Personality types: 

According to John Holland's theory, most people are one of six personality types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. On purpose I have only listed the types and have not gone into very depths of analyzing each, still I am convinced one or more would apply to me just well. I understand their relevance especially towards the type of work one person would best fit according to his/her personality. However, when it comes to human personality types my criteria is based exclusively on the following types (and as my mind has no acceptance for other criteria, also my memory does not serve me well by remembering where have I learn about it) – there are only four personality types:

1.      Authoritative

2.      Supportive

3.      Conservative

4.      Adaptive

The types are self-descriptive and it is easy to see how from simple concepts everybody could identify himself or herself. One comment is that in crisis situations one could react as belonging to a different type.

How are the learners I have observed different than me, from a psycho-social perspective?

(I use for this comparison the class I am attending as part of a degree program - Bachelor in International Business Administration, evening studies, in Haaga-Helia)

• From stage perspective - according to Erikson – I belong to Middle adulthood and the other learners belong to Young adulthood
• From cognitive development perspective, some of my colleagues only aim to obtain the degree – of course, for various reasons – however I am also interested to get the knowledge in the respective area and to be able to apply the learnings in practice at work
• Some of my colleagues are paying attention to details, and have a better capacity to assimilate a large amount of information; as part of the older age generation my cognitive functionality is not so good anymore and I need structure and simplicity in order to be able to assimilate new knowledge.

I am a supporter of education throughout the entire life course and I strongly believe in the power and importance of older adults education – I see in this area a potential teaching opportunity in the future, however the focus will always be – as remarked in the materials I have studied and reflected by the amount of relevant researches – on children and young adults education.

Sources:

1. Jordon, et al. (2008) ”Approaches to Learning: A guide for teachers.” NY: Open University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/haagahelia/detail.action?docID=10256405
2. Holland’s Six Personality Types - https://www.careerkey.org/choose-a-career/holland-personality-types.html#.V_GCtv77XDc

A Hypotethical View on Motivation of the Students in a Vocational School

Autumn starts and the school is ”assaulted” by tens of graduates that completed their nine years of basic education and have chosen to continue their studies in the Vocational School.

Is there a set of common characteristics these adolescents have? I was curios to find this out and I have taken time to approach each of the 15 students in my class and have an informal chat with them on the school corridors. I summarize here the outcome of these discussions:

• most of the students were disoriented, having no clear idea what would be the career they will pursue in future
• some students displayed a low self-esteem, thinking they would have rather continue studies in general upper secondary schools it they would only had the grades to be accepted
• other students could not care less what they would learn in the school, being there just as a pass time, their main interest being more materialistic: make some money to spend and fast – probably they would be among the first dropouts from the school
• some of them seemed disconnected from reality, their favorite topics being movies, video games or social media applications
• and some of them just dreaming to become famous.

This is a difficult situation. How could the teacher find the way through to the students mind, motivate them in the learning process and reduce by this the dropout rate?

To find answers to these questions I thought I need to understand first what are the skills that an employer would expect from an employee. Because what these young students need is counselling and direction in their first steps in the job market. They will become specialists in their field, but the specific skills would need to be enveloped in a set of generic skills that would make them successful in their careers. I have documented my findings in another blog http://pblmpop.blogspot.fi/2016/08/pbl-study-blog.html . Some of the most appreciated skills appeared to be:

• ability to work in a team structure
• ability to organize and prioritize work
• proficiency with computer software programs

Now I felt I have a start point, some solid arguments to use in favor of vocational education.

I would definitely start my first class by saying: ”This is what you will learn here” and that would be the goal setting moment. The key to get students' attention is to win their trust from the first moment and for me this is one way to enable the transparency of the (unlimited) possibilities they would start to have by studying, and learning how to study after they graduate. Dropout from school must not be an option.

The approach I will use in teaching would be of an X-type manager with strict control in the beginning, leading gradually to an Y-type by empowering the students and let them accept responsibility. By this approach I expect to built the needed self-confidence as well as the intrinsic motivation that would lead the students to experience increased level of competency and satisfaction.

What I feel I will have to use throughout the teaching:

• meet their psychological needs: make sure the room is appropriate for learning (light, air, temperature, etc), avoid lengthy periods of passive listening, use mixed teaching methods and multimedia to stimulate and maintain learner interest, be consistent with the feedback (amount and type);
• meet their social needs: promote group work, allocate specific roles in a group, teach communication skills
• meet their individual needs: plan for attainable goals and learning outcomes, support the learning and provide help where necessary
• meet their cognitive needs: present challenging material, link teaching to the achievement of external long-term goals such as gaining employment, give students the opportunity to enjoythe satisfaction of applying their learning in an immediate and authentic way.

And not least, I must thrive to present the content of my course in an understandable and professional way, in order that the outcome and knowledge accumulated by the students would be in the highest measure of relevance for their future jobs and careers.

With this approach I feel confident that the students motivation would be kept to high level in my class.

Source:

1. Jordon, et al. (2008) ”Approaches to Learning: A guide for teachers.” NY: Open University Press. Haaga-Helia r-book pp. 154-169. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/haagahelia/detail.action?docID=10256405