Explain what psychologists mean by the term distributed ...

[tichca]

Explain what psychologists mean by the term distributed intelligence. Describe at least three different teaching and/or assessment strategies you might use that would be consistent with this concept.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Mr. Davis asks his second graders to conduct experiments to examine the effects of water, sunlight, and type of soil on growing sunflowers. He tells them, I want you to find out which of these three thingswater, sunlight, and soilaffect how well sunflowers grow. Here are lots of sunflower seeds, lots of paper cups to grow them in, and two different types of soil. You can give your growing plants plenty of sunlight by putting them on the shelf by the window, or you can grow them in a shadier place on the bookshelf behind my desk. And here's a measuring cup you can use to measure the amount of water you give them each day. Mr. Davis is assuming his second graders can do at least two things that, from Piaget's perspective, they probably cannot do. What two crucial abilities necessary for conducting appropriate experiments do his students probably not yet have? Justify your answer in a short paragraph.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[Jayson]

Answer to Question 1

The concept of distributed intelligence reflects the idea that people behave more intelligently when they have the support of their physical and/or social environments and the use of symbolic systems that their culture has passed along. Examples of strategies based on this concept are:
 Letting students use a dictionary when writing
 Letting students use calculators during math or science
 Letting students use resource materials when taking a test
 Having students work in pairs or small groups to solve difficult problems
 Having students find experts who can give them information they are seeking
 Letting students use formulas or diagrams to help them solve problems
Other strategies that clearly show students using tools, other people, or symbolic systems to help them tackle difficult tasks are also acceptable.

Answer to Question 2

Mr. Davis is assuming that his students can formulate and test multiple hypotheses and can separate and control variables. According to Piaget, these are abilities that emerge in the formal operations stage, and other researchers have found that they emerge primarily in adolescence. Thus, Mr. Davis's students, who as second graders are about 7 or 8 years old, have probably not acquired these abilities.