1. WICS: A Model for Teaching and Learning
Robert J. Sternberg
Tufts University

2. Contact Information
Robert J. Sternberg, Dean
School of Arts and Sciences
Tufts University

3. Organization Introduction The Nature of WICS Teaching for WICS
Research Support
Caution
Conclusions

4. Global Mission of Presentation
To demonstrate how to teach and assess students for their learning using the WICS model—to help all students achieve at an optimal level.

5. What is WICS?
Wisdom
Intelligence
Creativity
Synthesized

6. Why WICS? You need CREATIVE skills and attitudes to come up with ideas
You need ANALYTICAL skills and attitudes to decide whether ideas are good ideas
You need PRACTICAL skills and attitudes to make your ideas functional and to convince others of the value of your ideas
You need WISDOM to balance the effects of ideas on yourself, others, and institutions in both the short and long terms

7. A Problem with Traditional Education
Traditional education tends to “shine the spotlight” on certain students almost all of the time, and on other students almost none of the time.
The result is that some students are placed in a much better position to achieve than are others.

8. But…
The students who are not placed in an optimal position to achieve may be just as able to achieve at high levels as the students placed in a position to achieve. Moreover, the advantaged students will not necessarily be more successful later in life.

9. Views of Intelligence, Schooling, and Society: Structure of the Closed System
Ability Testing
Instructional Practice
Achievement Testing
Partial Disconnection
Achievement in the Outside World

10. Conventional Ability Test Scores Socioeconomic Class Gender
Views of Intelligence, Schooling, and Society: Varieties of Closed Systems
Conventional Ability Test Scores
Socioeconomic Class
Gender
Religious Group
Caste at Birth

11. Views of Intelligence, Schooling, and Society: Varieties of Closed Systems
Height

12. A Problem with Traditional Education
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: The Vicious Cycle
Low Expectations
Low Achievement
Reward

13. The Elements

14. The Concept of Successful Intelligence
Successful intelligence is
the ability to achieve success in life, given one’s personal standards, within one’s sociocultural context;

15. The Concept of Successful Intelligence
in order to adapt to, shape, and select environments;

16. The Concept of Successful Intelligence
via recognition of and capitalization on strengths and remediation of or compensation for weaknesses;

17. The Concept of Successful Intelligence
through a balance of analytical, creative, and practical abilities.

18. Motivation for “Triarchy of Abilities”
Alice:
A student high in memory and analytical abilities
Barbara:
A student high in creative abilities

19. Motivation for “Triarchy of Abilities”
Celia:
A student high in practical abilities
Paul:
A student high in analytical and creative abilities but low in practical abilities

20. The Triarchic View of Intelligence
There are three aspects of intelligence:
analytical
creative
practical

21. The Concept of Successful Intelligence
Conventional (Analytical)
Intelligence
Creative Practical
Intelligence Intelligence

22. The Concept of Creativity
Creativity is one’s skill in generating ideas that are
Novel
Good
Task-appropriate

23. Creativity as a Decision
In large part, creativity represents a decision to defy the crowd—to “buy low and sell high” in the world of ideas

24. The Challenge of Creativity
People are afraid to defy the crowd because of
External pressure
Internal pressure

25. The Concept of Wisdom
Wisdom is the use of intelligence, creativity, and knowledge
Toward a common good
By balancing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal interests
Over the long and short terms

26. The Concept of Wisdom Through the infusion of values
By adapting to, shaping, and selecting environments

27. WICS, Instruction, and Assessment
WICS can serve as a basis for teaching and learning by combining processes of wisdom, intelligence, and creativity in an integrative, transdisciplinary way

28. Bases for Achievement Learning and thinking skills
Learning and thinking dispositions

29. Instructional and Assessment Techniques
Balanced use of instruction and assessment that is
Memory-Based
Analytically-Based
Creatively-Based
Practically-Based

30. Teaching/Assessing for Memory-Based Learning
Remember
Recall
Recognize

31. Teaching/Assessing for Memory-Based Learning
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?

32. An Example from My Classroom
The cerebellum is in the
*A. hindbrain
B. midbrain
C. left brain
D. right brain

33. An Example from My Classroom
For most people, comprehension of language occurs mostly in the ____ hemisphere of the brain.

34. Analytical Skills analyze compare and contrast evaluate explain judge
critique

35. Analytical Attitude
Recognize existence of problem
Define problem

36. Analytical Attitude Mentally represent problem
Allocate resources to problem
Formulate strategy to solve problem

37. Analytical Attitude
Monitor results of strategy
Evaluate results

38. Analytical Evaluation
To what extent is the product
Informed?
Logical?
Organized?
Balanced?

39. An Example from My Classroom
Critique the ethics behind Stanley Milgram’s studies of obedience, discussing why you believe that the benefits did or did not outweigh the costs of the research.

40. Creative Skills
create
design
invent
imagine
suppose

41. Creative Attitude Redefine problems Analyze solutions Sell solutions
Recognize strengths and limits of knowledge

42. Creative Attitude Persevere in surmounting obstacles
Take sensible risks
Attain self-efficacy
Find what you love to do
Tolerate ambiguity

43. Creative Attitude Continue to grow
Maintain a sense of perspective and humor
Allow time
Defy the crowd

44. Evaluation of Creative Products
To what extent is the product:
Informed?
Novel?
Compelling?
Task-appropriate?

45. Construct-Validation Studies
The Confluence Study
Writing Stories
Drawing Artwork
Creating Advertisements
Solving “Scientific” Problems

46. An Example from My Classroom
Suppose you gave the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) to children growing up in a remote African village in Kenya. What kinds of results might you expect in comparison with results from a large American city? Why?

47. Practical Skills
Use
Apply
Implement
Employ
Contextualize

48. Practical Attitudes Allocate study time effectively
Find places and times to concentrate
Relate what you learn to what you know

49. Practical Attitudes Work toward a concrete goal
Know how and when you will be assessed
Look for uses in what you learn

50. Evaluation of Practical Products
To what extent is the product:
Informed?
Feasible with respect to time, place, and resources?

51. An Example from My Classroom
How do gambling casinos employ reinforcement techniques to keep people gambling at slot machines?

52. Teaching for Wisdom Teaching for Dialogical thinking
Dialectical thinking
Balanced thinking
Over time
Over place
Over persons

53. An Example from my Classroom
What would be the most equitable use of high-stakes tests for purposes of college admissions?

54. Sample Course Requirements
Examinations
Multiple-choice or short-answer items
Choice of 2 out of 3 (or 4 out of 6) essays (which are, respectively, primarily analytical, creative, or practical)

55. Sample Course Requirements
Term paper/project (unassigned topic that relates students’ disciplinary interests to psychology)
Oral presentation (assigned or unassigned topic)

56. Advantages of Teaching for WICS
Enables students to capitalize on strengths and remediate or compensate for weaknesses
Enables students to encode learning material more deeply and elaborately

57. Advantages of Teaching for WICs
Enables students to encode learning material in multiple ways
Motivates students more strongly
Enables students to learn and think in an integrative way
Prepares students better for actual job requirements

58. Research Applications
When we teach for WICS, student achievement increases

59. Caution: People Can Be Smart but Unwise
The “Unrealistic-Optimism” Fallacy
The Egocentrism Fallacy
The Omniscience Fallacy
The Omnipotence Fallacy
The Invulnerability Fallacy
The Ethical-Disengagement Fallacy

60. Final Conclusion When we teach for WICS:
Individuals are better recognized for and are better able to make use of their talents
Individuals learn in an integrative, transdisciplinary way
Teachers teach and assess students better, with better results
Society utilizes rather than wastes the talents of its members

61. Invitation to Collaborate
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