The origins of differentiated instruction stem from the theory of triarchic intelligence. This presentation discusses this theory and has practical models of triarchic instruction.

1. Changing Assessments
using current best practices based on Robert Sternberg’s
theory of intelligence.
Compiled and presented by: Susan Young, M.P.S
Bill Watterson
http://thepricegroup.com/2013/06/test-
stress-10-terrific-test-taking-tips/

2. Who is Robert Sternberg and what does he
know? Short answer: a cognitive psychologist
• Education:
• Yale University, B.A. in psychology (1972) & Stanford University, Ph.D. (1975)
• Career:
• · Director, Yale Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise (PACE
Center) (2000-2005)
• · President of the American Psychological Association (2003)
• · Tufts University, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (2005-2010)
• · Director, Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise (Tufts University)
(2006-2010)
• · Provost, senior vice president, and professor of psychology (Oklahoma State
University) (2010-present)
• Numerous Awards Including:
• Distinguished Scholar Award, National Association for Gifted Children (1985);
• Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association (1987);
• Award for Excellence, Mensa Education and Research Foundation (1989);
• James McKeen Cattell Award, American Psychological Society (1999);
• Listed as one of the "Top 100 Psychologists of the 20th Century" American
Psychological Association (APA) Monitor
(2002);
• E.L. Thorndike Award for Achievement in Educational Psychology, APA
(2003); approximately 5 honorary doctorates

3. Learning Objectives:
At the end of this presentation the audience should-
 Know basically Robert Sternberg’s Theory of Triarchaic
intelligence.
 Understand what circumstances fuel the need for
different kinds of assessment in modern America.
 Be able to create learning objectives that state what
your students should know, understand and be able to
do.
 Be able to create assessments that reflect knowledge
of Sternberg’s Theory of Triarchic Intelligence

4.  When the SAT was first introduced it was supposed to be an
equalizer; it’s job was to protect Americans from nepotism and
social bias. It given to a homogenous group of Caucasian
males who had all had strong traditional educations because
those were the people who went on to college:
1. The population of students attending colleges grew broader:
women, people of various cultural & socio-economic
backgrounds and more people with learning differences and
other disabilities are attending.
2. Successful test scores were highly correlated to a high socio-
economic standing and were not accurate predictors of college
success.
3. Skills we need to be good test takers are not always the same
skills needed to do well in life. ”you not only need memory
and analytic skills that are so important on tests, you need
to be creative. You need to be able to adapt to a rapidly
changing environment in a creative and flexible way.”

5. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
• "I define [intelligence] as your skill in
achieving whatever it is you want to attain
in your life within your socio-cultural
context, by capitalizing on your strengths
and compensating for, or correcting, your
weaknesses. (July 29, 2004)." Dr. Jonathan Sternberg-
Sternberg asks that students receive instruction and assessments that
help strengthen their analytical, creative and practical skills.
Δ

6. The possibilities are endless…
Analytical assessment: Choose three items from the classroom that are all in
different states of matter. Show how each item is in a different state of matter in
comparison to the other two items. Use terms like mass and volume correctly to
explain your answer.
Creative Assessment: Create three imaginative items to demonstrate different
states of matter. Make an illustration of each item and explain why each one fits
into the state it is in. Use mass and volume correctly in your explanation.
Practical Assessment: There are three mysterious objects in a box on a
museum shelf. Their states of matter are not yet identified. Your task is to figure
out the state of matter for each one. Design a museum exhibit for the three. Use
terms like mass and volume in your exhibit signs.

7. Before we transform our assessments we need to
figure out what our Learning Goals are- help ensure
content is reasonable and ambitious enough for
meaningful lessons and assessments.
 Cindy Strickland (a colleague of Carol Ann Tomlinson), gives an
example of how she breaks down a differentiated lesson on the states
of matter into learning goals of: Know, Understand and Do. She
gives very specific criteria (defining the vocabulary to be used etc)
to set the bar of performance at an appropriate level.
 Students will know: three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas
 Students will understand: all matter has both mass and volume.
 Students will do: distinguish one state of matter from others; show
how one state of matter changes to the others.

8. Practice:
 Create learning goals for one history lesson.
 Specify what students must know, understand and do.

9. My example:
Frankenstein
Students will know who the characters in Mary Shelly’s
gothic novel Frankenstein are.
Student will know what first person perspective means.
Students will know what the characteristics of gothic
writing are.
Students will understand the relationships between Dr.
Frankenstein, society and the Monster.
Students will be able to articulate the obstacles which push
the Monster towards violence.
Students will be able to mimic gothic style.

10. So what sort of tasks
should we challenge our
students with in
triarchaically balanced
lessons? Analytical,
Creative and Practical~

11. Analytical tasks
 Bullets, lists steps
 Creating Tables
 Venn Diagrams: compare & contrast charts
 Timelines
 Sequential tasks, flow charts
 Find the error
 Evaluate, judge, critique, criticize
 Sorting and classifying
 Explain problems to others using specific
vocabulary
 Making inferences and deriving conclusions
 Understanding and explaining puns and subtleties

12. Creative Tasks
Create an idiot’s guide to…
Pictures or news bulletins to describe
Design something to fix a character’s problem
Design something to help an organism
Come up with an alternative solution for a problem in history or
for a situation in a novel
Create an alternative ending
Visualize
Suppose something were changed ...What would happen if…
Acting and Role playing

13. Practical
 Work your way out of a problem given specific criteria
(Using math and chemistry skills adapt a suffle recipe
so that it feeds 30 people include bake times, estimate
pan sizes and costs)
 Notes to self (list questions to ask yourself, think aloud,
explain how you will make sense of something[ e.g.
how will I tell a solid from a gas?)
 Explain what happened
 Draw analogies from experience
 Give real world examples
 Advise and convince others
 Hands on activities (labs, building, presentations,
exhibits)
 Taking things apart and fixing them
 Explaining how you adapt to new situations, explaining
how you might adapt to a setting from a play, novel or
biological environment

14. Practice
 Using the learning goals you created earlier- Know,
Understand and Do- Make an assessment that is
predominantly either: analytical, creative, or
practical.
 Share your assessment.

15. My Example: A Creative Assessment for Mary
Shelly’s Frankenstein
 Create a 12 line poem or song using the first person
perspective of the Monster. Mimic Shelly’s Gothic
tone and refer to three specific scenes from the novel.

16. Citations
 Plucker, J, Dr. "Human Intelligence: Robert J. Sternberg." Human Intelligence: Robert J. Sternberg . Indiana
University, 26 Jan. 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2013.
 Sternberg, Bob “None of the Above- Why Standardized Testing Fails.” Oklahoma State University.
TedxTalks. 3 December 2012.
 Sternberg, Robert, Dr. "Theory of Successful Intelligence." Journal of Psychology 39.2 (2005): 189-202.
Web.
 Strickland, Cindy. "Teaching Through the Intelligences." Proc. of Tiered Lessons, American School of
London, London, UK. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
 Images in the order of appearance:
 http://thepricegroup.com/2013/06/test-stress-10-terrific-test-taking-tips/ Calvin & Hobbs: by Bill Watterson
 http://www.uwyo.edu/profiles/faculty-staff/president-sternberg.html :portrait of Sternberg
 “Engineering Program Helps Kid Build Robots” Channel 7 Eyewitness News, 15 March 2010.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?id=7330502
 Dr. Macro’s High Quality Movie Scenes: With Boris Karloff.
http://www.doctormacro.com/movie%20star%20pages/Karloff,%20Boris-Annex.htm