Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 8-15, 1999

Volume 28, Number 12

Grant to fund national test of new teaching method

Yale scientists have received a $3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to test triarchic instruction, a teaching method that focuses on children's creative and practical strengths, rather than their academic skills.

"When we expand the range of abilities we test for, we also expand the range of students we identify as smart," says Robert Sternberg, the IBM Professor of Psychology and Education.

"In particular, children may possess great creative or practical abilities, which will be key to success in life and in jobs. These strengths are not recognized by instruction, ability or achievement tests, so they are not acknowledged or valued in children."

Traditional classroom instruction focuses on exercises that strengthen memory and analytical abilities. These skills have traditionally been used to predict how well students do on standardized tests like the SATs or how well they will do in college and in the work world. Sternberg's theory bucks these traditional methods and forces educators and society to take a different look at what makes children successful.

Over the last decade, Sternberg and his colleagues have used previous grants from the NSF/U.S. Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) to test their methods on both primary and secondary school students.

Results of those studies show, for example, that high school students who are taught in a way that at least partially fits their pattern of triarchic strengths -- analytical, creative and practical -- outperform students who are not taught in a way that is appropriate for them.

"Our past studies indicate that all children benefit from triarchic instruction, regardless of ability pattern," Sternberg says. "If they are taught analytically, creatively and practically, in addition to being taught for memory, their achievement is higher than if they are taught for critical thinking or in conventional ways, even if their achievement is assessed only by conventional memory-based assessments."

Triarchic instruction, for example, assesses memory through multiple-choice tests. Analytical, creative and practical abilities are evaluated using essays. A sample essay question that tests analytical abilities is, "Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having armed guards at school." For creativity, the question might be, "Describe what your ideal school would be like," and for practicality, "Describe some problem you have been facing in your life and then give a practical solution."

The new grant will test Sternberg's theory in grades 1 through 4 across the country in rural, suburban and urban settings in the fields of reading, math and science. He is forming a team of researchers to help implement his method and is actively seeking scientists from around the country to join his team.

"Our goal is to work with teachers to implement our ideas in the classroom and to show that children can achieve at higher levels if taught in a way that enables them to succeed more easily," says Sternberg.

Teaching triarchically, Sternberg says, enables children to capitalize on their natural strengths, helps them to correct or compensate for weaknesses and allows teachers to teach material in three different ways so children are better able to process what they learn. The method also motivates students to succeed because the instruction is more interesting, says Sternberg.

"We have a lot of data to show our techniques work and this new grant is an exciting opportunity to help us test whether they work in large-scale interventions," Sternberg says.

This latest OERI grant will be dispersed over four years. Elena L. Grigorenko is a coprincipal investigator on the study and Linda Jarvin is a project director.

Sternberg's theories carry over from the classroom to the board room. He recently was a featured speaker on the subject of successful intelligence in professional life at the Institute of Personnel and Development's national conference at Harrogate in England.

In 1999, Sternberg received the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution Award in psychology from the Connecticut Psychological Association; the James McKeen Cattell Award, one of the two highest awards given by the American Psychological Association for outstanding contributions to psychological research; and the Palmer O. Johnson award for the best article in a Journal of the American Educational Research Association.

-- By Karen Peart

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Levin cited for community leadership

Study reveals benefits of new prostate cancer therapy

Grant to fund national test of new teaching method

Expert on care of minority elders receives nursing field's top honor

Alumni Whiffenpoofs will reunite for 90th musical 'spree'

Perspectives on Richard Levin

Psychologist Kazdin proposes new way to assess the effectiveness of therapies for youngsters

Scientists' find vastly enhances computer memory

Library gets grant to preserve rare films from Yale's past

Yale Art Gallery exhibit traces key themes in American art and design across four centuries

Museum joins U.S.-French consortium

Marks is new director of Pierson Lab

Karl M.Waage, renowned for his geological discoveries, dies

Yale scientists to speak at NAS symposium on campus

Symposium on global climate change marks anniversary of landmark report

Reading to feature letters of Revolutionary War partners

U.S. national identity will be topic of talk by noted writer

Wrap up your holiday shopping at one-day event

And the winners are...

Chinese delegates

. . . In the News . . .

Campus Notes