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Many students could learn more effectively than they do now if they were taught in a way that better matched their patterns of abilities. Teaching for successful intelligence provides a way to create such a match. It involves helping all students capitalize on their strengths and compensate for or correct their weaknesses. It does so by teaching in a way that balances learning for memory, analytical, creative, and practical thinking. This article describes how such teaching is done and provides data supporting the efficacy of the approach.
MANY CHILDREN FAIL TO LEARN at a level that matches their ability to learn. There can be a number of reasons for this failure. One reason is that the way students are taught and often assessed in school does not enable them to learn and perform in an optimal way. We have developed the theory of successful intelligence in order to understand these children (Sternberg, 1997a, 1999), and a set of methods of teaching for successful intelligence to help these students reach their full potential (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2000).
The Theory of Successful Intelligence: A Capsule Description
According to the proposed theory, successful intelligence is the use of an integrated set of abilities needed to attain success in life, however an individual defines it, within his or her sociocultural context. Thus, there is no one definition of intelligence. People are successfully intelligent by virtue of recognizing their strengths and making the most of them at the same time they recognize their weaknesses and find ways to correct or compensate for them. Both are important. On one hand, students need to learn to correct aspects of their performance in which they are underperforming. On the other hand, they have to recognize that they probably will never be superb at all kinds of performance. It helps to find ways around weaknesses, such as seeking help from others and giving it in return. In other words, people find their own unique path to being intelligent. Successfully intelligent people adapt to, shape, and select environments. In adaptation, they change themselves to fit the environment. For example, a teacher may adapt to the expectations of her principal by teaching in a way she believes the principal will endorse. In shaping, people change...