EDST 391 Intelligence in Everyday Life
Name:
Date:
"Calendar"
P/F Writing
Assignment for Day 4
Public controversy
about IQ tests and intelligence
Readings:
- Jensen's Straight
Talk, pp. ix-xiv (preface), 1-13 (part of Chapter 1)
- Think Tank video on The
Bell Curve, part 1 (shown in class)
To be completed before
class:
- We have already talked
about Gardner's
theory of multiple intelligences. Why do you think it is so popular?
- Based on your readings for
today, what makes IQ tests so unpopular? Be specific, and try to
"read behind the lines" about what really bothers many people
about IQ tests and the theory(s) of intelligence they embody.
To
be completed during class:
- You will watch a 25-minute
video in class. It is the 2nd part of a 3-part TV panel
discussion held just after publication of The Bell Curve book in 1994. The 5 scholars represent
different points of view. As you watch the video, ask yourself the
following questions. After the video, pick one specific fact and write
your answers below.
- What major facts are being
contested? (As a guide, note that your reading distinguished 4 major
categories of public controversy: validity of IQ tests (for measuring “intelligence”), test fairness,
genetic heritability of intelligence, and group differences in
intelligence)
- What kinds of evidence (if any) do the
scholars present for their differing views about what they facts are?
- To what extent do they
appeal to feelings or emotions
to argue for their view?
- Share your assessments of
the panel discussion/debate, first in small groups (5 minutes) and then as
a whole class. I will ask you on Thursday for your general reactions to the
video.
Turn
in your answers to 1-3 above at the end of class. Thank you.