socio-economic & educational factors
socio-economic & educational factors
Lauren Rigby posted Feb 1, 2022 6:29 PM
Research a scholarly journal article regarding childhood education and intelligence. Provide a summary of that article. Using what you found and relevant information from your course and text readings respond to the following.
Hegelund et al. (2020) conducted a longitudinal cohort study to investigate the association between educational attainment and intelligence in order to determine if the correlation between the two depends on educational duration. 7389 Danish men born in 1953 were administered an IQ test at age 12 and were tracked on various socio-economic, demographic, and educational factors. They were intelligence tested again twice as adults (Hegelund et al., 2020). The results showed a positive association of educational attainment with intelligence test scores, but the benefits depended on educational duration. Additionally, the study found that individuals with lower intelligence in childhood receive the largest benefit from additional years of education (Hegelund et al., 2020).
At some point, all elementary school teachers encounter students with learning or behavioral disorders. What are the advantages and disadvantages of mainstreaming and full inclusion for children with learning or behavioral disorders, their peers, and their teachers?
Inclusion refers to the practice of educating children with special needs full-time in the regular classroom (Santrock et al., 2021). Many children with disabilities have an individualized education program (IEP) that spells out accommodations that the child needs in order to be successful in school; in general, children with disabilities should be educated in the lease restrictive environment possible, which means in a setting that is as close to a typical classroom setting as the child’s disability allows (Santrock et al., 2021).
Inclusion has some advantages. The child with a disability gets social advantages from being educated with his or her same-age peers; they form social bonds and interact in ways that a special education classroom may not allow. This can also improve their self-esteem and help them form friendships (Lynch, 2020). Socially, inclusion also allows typical children and teachers to learn about their disabled counterparts and promote an environment of compassion, acceptance, and tolerance that will help them interact with differently-abled people during their lifetime (Lynch, 2020). Inclusion can also provide academic advantages for children with disabilities by giving them a chance to learn, with modifications, the same curricula as typically developing children (Lynch, 2020).
Inclusion also has several disadvantages. Some children with disabilities do not have the social or self-regulatory skills needed to participate in a regular classroom setting. Their behaviors can be disruptive to their classmates and teacher and embarrassing to the child with the disability, who may not be able to control his or her behaviors (Lynch, 2020). Academically, a special needs learner may feel bad about themselves if they cannot keep up with the pace and rigor of typical curricula; for the teacher, having to adapt lesson plans for multiple differently-abled learners, each at a different academic level, can be time-consuming and ineffective (Lynch, 2020).
Briefly research bilingualism in childhood. What are some potential benefits and challenges of being a bilingual child? How do these benefits and challenges change as the child grows into an adolescent and an adult?
Bilingual children perform better than monolingual children on tests of attentional control, concept formation, analytical reasoning, inhibition, cognitive flexibility and complexity, and cognitive monitoring (Santrock et al., 2021). Bilingualism can also strengthen children’s ties to their cultural identity and create a sense of belonging, as well as improve communication among family members (Families for Life, 2021). Some of the challenges are language fluency delay, which is when children take longer to become fluent in both languages than their monolingual peers, and language mixing when children are sorting out which language is which (Families for Life, 2021).
Describe the influence of Gardner’s theory of eight intelligences on the traditional education model that emphasizes the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. If you were a teacher, how would you incorporate Gardner’s theory into your classroom activities? Provide specific examples of the eight types of intelligence.
Gardner proposed that humans have different types of intelligence, including verbal, mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist skills (Santrock et al., 2021). Verbally intelligent people are sensitive to language, such as journalists and authors. Mathematically intelligent people might be scientists or engineers; spatial reasoners can think three-dimensionally, like architects. Athletes and surgeons might be bodily-kinesthetically skilled, while composers and musicians are musically skilled. Psychologists and pastors are good at understanding themselves due to their intrapersonal skills, while teachers and counselors are good at understanding others because of interpersonal skills. Finally, naturalistically skilled people may be farmers, landscapers, or botanists (Santrock et al., 2021).
Gardner’s theory contrasts with the typical educational focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Those categories do not encompass all of the types of intelligence; some students may excel at physical education, art, or music, but not thrive in their academic subjects. This doesn’t mean that they are necessarily less intelligent, but their intelligence may lay in a different area that core academic subjects. As a teacher, I would incorporate Gardner’s theories of multiple intelligence by providing activities that allow different types of students to showcase their skills. For example, if I was designing a unit project on the parts of a cell, I might allow students different ways to show their mastery of the material like building a model, putting on a presentation, writing an essay, composing a song, or cultivating a cell sample. These activities all meet the same learning objective, but they allow students to pick the option that most aligns with their learning style.
References
Families for Life. (2021). Bilingualism and bilingual children: Benefits and challenges.
Hegelund, E. R., Gronkjaer, M., Osler, M., Dammeyer, J., Flensborg-Madsen, T., & Mortensen,
E. L. (2020). The influence of educational attainment on intelligence. Intelligence, 78, 1-7.
Lynch, M. (2020, November 30). What are the pros and cons of mainstreaming. The Edvocate.
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-mainstreaming/
Santrock, J. W., Deater-Deckard, K., & Lansford, J. E. (2021). Child development. (15th ed.).
McGraw-Hill Education.
