STAR STUDENT BUILDER

INTELLIGENT STUDY

1. You don’t have to be ‘clever’!
   When you consider these study skills components, it is clear that good study skills have little to do with being ‘naturally clever’. They owe much more to awareness, strategies, confidence and practice, leading to an overall development in your learning.
   
                                         ‘Intelligence’ or ‘intelligent study?
    It is often taken for granted that academic success is the result of ‘being clever’ or ‘bright’ and that this is something you are blessed with – or not – at birth. Such thinking creates barriers to success. It leads students to assume, falsely, that they will either:
   
   1. continue to do well academically, on the strength of being ‘clever’ alone ,or
   2. fail to achieve the highest marks because they are inherently less intelligent than others.
      
2. ‘Am I intelligent enough for university?’
   This question haunts many students even if their marks are excellent. They worry that ‘secretly’ or ‘deep down’ they aren’t clever enough to succeed.
   It is very common for students to underestimate their potential or to lose confidence, especially if, as happens to most students at some point, they receive a lower mark than they had hoped for. Many students can remember an occasion in the past when someone such as a teacher or relative undermined their confidence in their abilities. Such memories can resurface, exercising a disproportionate power to undermine self-belief.
   One reason students can become anxious about their capabilities is that they haven’t been taught to evaluate their own work or to develop criteria for doing so. As a result, they feel prey to the whims of chance: good or bad marks ‘just happen’, or depend on the luck of the draw of how ‘naturally clever’ they are of which tutor they get.
   Such thinking leaves people feeling disempowered or adrift, even if their marks are good. They worry about suddenly being exposed as stupid. Anxiety can create a vicious cycle in which students :
   
3. 1. can’t settle down to study
   2. can’t concentrate or focus their attention
   3. can’t take in what they read
   4. can’t remember what they learnt
   5. are reinforced in their suspicions that they ‘really’ lack intelligence.
      
   
   Intelligent study
   Intelligent study means applying good strategies to study, appropriate to the academic level and to your own ways of learning. University level study makes greater demands, so requires new approaches. The right strategies and mentality can bring success to any student, wheras failure to apply these can result in any student under-achieving
   
                                                               What is intelligence?
   
                  Tick any response that you feel is true.   
   1. Intelligence is an underlying general cleverness which, because it depends on genetics, is fixed for life.
   2. There are many kinds of intelligence.
   3. Intelligence can be developed.
   4. Intelligence depends on your life opportunities.
   5. What is regarded as intelligence depends on the environment and the culture.
   6. Intelligence is about applying what you know easily to new context.
   7. Intelligence is a question of how much you know.
   8. Intelligence is easy to measure.
   9. Intelligence is about applying effective strategies that can be learnt.
   10. Intelligence is a question of habit and practice.
4. 
   Ten different views of intelligence
   1             Intelligence is a general, underlying ‘cleverness’ which is fixed for life
   
   Early psychologists such as Spearman (1927) and terman 1916) believed that each individual has a general level of intelligence, known as the intelligence quotient or IQ . They regarded intelligence as a single, fixed, underlying capacity: a person who did well on one test would do well on all or most intelligence tests; an d no matter what happened in life, those born ‘very intelligent’ would remain generally more intelligent than those born ‘less intelligent’. More recently, psychologists have used studies of identical twins to support this ideas, arguing that some traits, including intelligence, are up to 80 per cent dependent on genetic  inheritance.
   However, other psychologist, using the same data, argue that genetic influence is as little as 20 per cent or even zero (Garnder 1993). Pairs of twins used in twin studies are often brought up in similar environments and, as they look the same, they evoke similar responses in other people so that their experiences may unusually alike.
   There is also strong evidence to suggest that environment plays a great part in intellectual performance.
   
   2             There are multiple intelligences, not on general intelligence
   
   Thurstone (1960), after experiments involving hundreds of college students, concluded that there was no evidence at any general form of intelligence. Similarly, Gardner (1993) argues that intelligence consists of many separate, independent systems, which interact with each other. For Gardener, there are at leadst seven main ‘intelligences’; each consists of abilities to solve the problems or produce the objects that are relevant within the person’s culture and environment.
   Research in neuropsychology suggests that different cognitive abilities, such as speech, may be sem-separate ‘domains’ of ability, controlled by different circuits within the brain (Karmiloff-Smith 1992). Some people show a weakness in one area, such as a complete inability to recognize faces. Other people show poor development for most skills, but have an outstanding ability in one area, such as drawing or mathematical calculation.
   This supports Gardner’s view that intelligence is ‘multiple’ rather than ‘general’.
   It is obvious that most of the intelligences on Gardner’s list can be developed. For example, people can attend workshops to develop interpersonal skills, and counseling or meditation to develop intrapersonal awareness. A scientific way of thinking is formed through practice, training and exposure to the language and conventions of scientific research. Skill in writing poetry or essays can also be developed through practice.
   
   Gardner’s multiple intelligences
   1             Linguistic
                  - such as reading, writing, talking, listening, or poetry
   2             Logical, mathematical
                  - such as ability with numbers, or legal or scientific thinking
   3             Spatial
   -such as navigating a boat or plane, driving, or architecture
   4             Musical
   - such as singing, composing, playing an instrument, or appreciating music
   5             Bodily-kinaesthetic
   - such as sports, drama, dance, or making things
   6             Interpersonal
   -such as counseling and teaching skills, or understanding others
   7             Inrapersonal
   - such as self-understanding, self management, or reflection
                         

1. 1.         easy access to books, equipment, and appropriate teaching
   2.         sufficient time to study, think or practice
   3.         stimulating conversations that require active engagement and reflection
   4.         validation by people who are important to you, of your specific learning interests,
              whether for geometry, philosophy or cordon bleu cookery being part of a culture that
             values academic intelligence.
   There are ways in which you can increase these opportunities, such as making use of local libraries, doing courses at a local college or university, and even through your choice of newspaper and radio or TV programmes. If you did not have ideal opportunities for learning when you were younger, or if you were not then ready fro them, it mayu take some time to catch up. But it can be done – and it is done, every year, by thousands of adult students.
   
   5             Intelligence depends on  what is needed and relevant within a culture       
                               
   According to this view, intelligence is not just something that individuals carry around in their head, but includes the equipment and tools available to them – their filing systems, the amount of memory on their computers, the sophistication of the tools they can use, the lines of communication within their society, the people they meet. Intelligence is not cut off and measured in relation to individuals, but regarded as a social phenomenon (Vyhotsky 1978; Resnick, Levine and Teaslye 1991).
   For example, the intelligence needed in industrial settings may be very different from that required for a rural economy or for life in the mountains. Similarly, the education valued for girls, or for the youngest child within a family, may be different from that sought for boys or for older children. Children are skilled for boys or for older children. Children are skilled at adapting to what is expected of them.
   Sternberg (1985) described intelligence as being, in part, a sensitivity to the environmental context. This can apply to learning context also. One learning environment may match what a person is used to, making learning easy. For another person, the same teaching methods may not work. Some people learn best in quiet stillness; others find that sitting quietly is a torture. Some find it difficult to learn from books and learn better by ear. Some learn best when the curriculum is very structured; others when it is flexible and open.
   If you did not do as well at school as you might have done, it may be worth reflecting on how you learn best – then compare this to the way you were taught. You might also consider what were good at when you were a child, and what you valued as important. Were your interests shared and valued by the people around you – your teachers, parents and friends? If not, this may have made learning more difficult for you.
   Are the things you value today shared by the people around you? Do they understand and support your desire to study? If not, as an adult, you can now take responsibility for setting up the right environment for yourself as a student. Yu may need to find a table you like in the library, or set up a space to study that nobody else can use.
   Similarly, you can organize information in a way that suits your learning preferences. For example, you could record your materials or convert information to images – whatever works for you. On the whole, your lecturers will not be able to create the ideal environment for you, as each person’s needs will be different. So it’s up to you to look after your own needs.
   
   6             Intelligence is abour applying what you know to new contexts
   Sternberg (1984) emphasized that any skill is made up of underlying processes and sub-skills; he saw intelligence as the ability to transfer those skills easily when confronted with a new task. What is important is not just that your are able to perform a given task, such as making a pancake or writing an essay, but that you are able to apply what you know to new situations, such as making a cake or writing a report.
                 
   7             Intelligence is a question of how much you know
   The popular view of intelligence is that it is an ability to answer the type of closed questions set on Mastermind. This does not take into consideration aspects of intelligence such as creativity or coping in real-life situations. Another view is that intelligence is a capacity for abstract reasoning, such as formulating genereal hypothese, and that you don’t need to know much at all to reason well.
   Donaldson (1978) argued that the way we reason depends upon the particular context we are in and on what we already know. For example, she demonstrated that both children and adults interpret what they hear by attending not just to the meaning of words, but also to their understanding of those words, but also to their understanding of those words based on their own thoughts and previous knowledge. It follows that the amount and kinds of background knowledge you bring to academic study will affect the ease with which you can process new information and reason with it.
   Our ability to think in abstract ways about something may depend on having already had real-life experience of similar problems. Butterworth (1992) describes how abstract notions such as ‘generosity’ are actually concrete social realities. The real-life, concrete experience allows us to develop a mental model, and this model later provides the basis for abstract thinking. If we have gaps in concrete experience – for example, with manipulating numbers – we are likely to find it harder to move on to more abstract examples until we have filled the gaps.
   Butterworth suggests that when presented with a familiar problem in an unfamiliar context, we may be unable to recognize that the two are the same. This can make us look like complete beginners when we are not. We may need somebody to point out the similarity between what we already know and the new learning. When we see the link, we can do the problems.
   
   Plastic brains   
   The brain has ‘plasticity’: it is capable of change and development. When a person takes up a new skill, millions of fresh connections are set up between different neurons in the brain to deal with the new information – rather like a set of telephone wires relaying information. The more you develop an ability, the more elaborate the neural networks or writing system, and the faster your brain can process information related to that skill.
   When you begin to study a new subject, the speed at which you will be able to take things in and make sense of them will depend on how far your brain can use past learning experience. If you have studied something very similar in the past, you may experience the new learning as quite easy.
   If a subject is very new, however, there is little foundation for you to build upon. Your brain has fewer connections it can use to make sense of the new information. If the language used is also unfamiliar to you, the brain will need to build connections for this too. You may experience this as finding it harder to listen or harder to read: you may get tired more quickly, or you may feel that your brain is ‘dead’, ot that nothing makes sense. As you go over the same material from different angles, though, the new connections will get stronger and learning will become easier.
   
   8             Intelligence can be measured
   IQ tests only measure things that can be measured! Many areas of human excellence, however, cannot easily be measured – such as artistic and musical creativity, emotional maturity, intuition, sensitivity to the needs of others, keeping a cool head in emergencies, being able to impersonate other people, and inventiveness. Some people may excel in these areas and yet perform poorly in test that are language-based. Students who have failed in language- or number-based GCSEs often do very well on university courses in the arts. Similarly, some people who are poor at languages are excellent at computer sciences.  
   Einstein’s schoolwork was not very good – yet IQ tests are supposed to correlate well with school performance. Einstein claimed that his intial ideas on the realtivity of time and space struck him in a moment of inspiration while he was daydreaming that he was riding on a sunbeam. This kind of imaginative thinking is difficult to measure IQ tests.
          
   9             Intelligence is about applying effective strategies than can be learnt
   This book is based on the premise that what we regard as intelligence if often a question of good study strategies and skills that you can develop. For example, research shows that students who do best at problem-solving spend longer than other students in working out exactly what the problem is before trying to solve it. Other students look at the surface of the problem and do not see the underlying structure which connects it to problems they already know how to solve. Some students fail because they don’t spend enough time considering the examples and information they are given; others copy out examples without reflecting on the underlying purpose of the activity (Leane, Kahney and Brayshaw 1989). Successful students use the strategies that can be learnt.
   Although the research mentioned above referred to a particular kind of problem-solving, its findings apply to university study in general. Some students skim across the surface of their learning, copying a bit from one book and a line from another, without really looking at why the work was set, what the information means, or its relevance to themselves. With most university assignments you will benefit from taking time to reflect, clarifying what is really be asked, the issues within the title, the reasons for that piece of work being set, and the best strategy to use. Over time, this way of working becomes a habit.
               
   10           Intelligence is a question of habit and practice
   As with any skill, study skills develop through frequent use until your application of them is like a reflex and feels instinctive. Rapid and skilful reading comprehension develops through constant reading, and familiarity with specialist texts typical of your subject. The more you write the better your writing skills are likely to be. The more you apply your mind to thinking in critical analytical ways, the more fine-tuned such thinking skills become. If you want to achieve well, constant practice, coupled with critical reflection on your work, is essential.