EDUC 6160 Conclusion

No matter what experiences a child is going through they still explore and learn from things that find intriguing or the "wonders" of life.  Education in early childhood is all about expanding a child's knowledge and helping them positively explore the world.

As I come to the conclusion of this course, I hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog and the conversations that have occurred.  I wish everyone well in their educational journey, and thank you for allowing me to learn from all of you.

Intelligence Testing

According to Berger (2009) "Many developmentalists criticize IQ tests. They argue that no test can measure potential without also measuring achievement and that every test score reflects the culture of the people who wrote, administer, and take it." I believe that a child is a product of the culture that they live in.  Holistic care is not just about intelligence but the development of every aspect.  Currently standardized tests are used at the end of every grade level to measure a child's knowledge and IQ,  I don't completely agree with these test because I believe some teachers are only teaching the material needed for children to pass these test, instead of focusing on helping children learned the necessary and much more.Children should be assessed in all areas  not just focused on intelligence to get an accurate account of what level the child is on.   Take for instance in Africa intelligence is focused on four different areas, and what area is most important is dependent on their culture.
"Over the past several years, Sternberg and Grigorenko also have investigated concepts of intelligence in Africa. Among the Luo people in rural Kenya, Grigorenko and her collaborators have found that ideas about intelligence consist of four broad concepts:rieko, which largely corresponds to the Western idea of academic intelligence, but also includes specific skills; luoro, which includes social qualities like respect, responsibility and consideration; paro, or practical thinking; and winjo, or comprehension. Only one of the four--rieko--is correlated with traditional Western measures of intelligence.

In another study in the same community, Sternberg and his collaborators found that children who score highly on a test of knowledge about medicinal herbs--a measure of practical intelligence--tend to score poorly on tests of academic intelligence.

The results, published in the journal Intelligence (Vol. 29, No. 5), suggest that practical and academic intelligence can develop independently or even in conflict with each other, and that the values of a culture may shape the direction in which a child develops."

References

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.aspx