[lbo-talk] Sternberg article on Academically Adrift

[Miles Jackson]

On 02/08/2011 01:12 PM, SA wrote:
>  On 2/8/2011 3:34 PM, Miles Jackson wrote:
>
>>
>> Inside Higher Ed just published a good piece by Robert Sternberg on 
>> Academically Adrift:
>>
>> http://bit.ly/dPWLuV
>>
>> Sternberg's a cognitive psychologist who has done a lot of great work 
>> demonstrating how many important aspects of learning and intelligence 
>> are not accurately assessed by standardized tests.
>
> This piece is informative, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be 
> persuaded of. The book he's responding to apparently shows that on one 
> dimension of thinking (analytical), as measured by tests, students 
> make shockingly little progress through college. Sternberg's response 
> is that the tests are indeed valid and reliable, but that they're not 
> designed to measure three other kinds of thinking (creative, 
> practical, ethical).
>
> But Sternberg presents no evidence - not even suggestive evidence - 
> that students are progressing any better on the other three dimensions 
> of thinking. If colleges aren't teaching students how to evaluate 
> texts or ideas ("analytical thinking"), why should we believe they're 
> doing any better at teaching them to generate original texts and ideas 
> ("creative thinking")?

Why should we assume that these qualitatively different forms of 
learning are correlated?  When we claim "students aren't learning", and 
we use a goofy measure that only assesses one of distinct aspects of 
learning, we are not providing compelling evidence to support our 
general claim.  Is it possible that college students suck at creative, 
practical, and ethical thinking?  Sure.  Have the authors provided any 
evidence to support that claim?  Absolutely not.

I will reiterate Sternberg's point: standardized tests like the CLA do 
not accurately and comprehensively assess what we expect students to 
learn in college.

Miles