Development of Intrapersonal Intelligence free essay sample

Remember those moments when you’ve said something, scrambled to get your size 9 out of your mouth and attempt a classy recovery? Well 69 pupils attending secondary school in Scotland, were given a second chance, intervention style, in how to think before speaking. The article we chose to research is titled: â€Å"The Development of Intrapersonal Intelligence in Pupils Experiencing Social, Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties† by Joan Gaynor Mowat. The article was based on a support group approach in which positive re-enforcement fosters a development of intrapersonal skills. Joan Mowat believed with the proper amount of time and energy, students at the Secondary School level have the ability to develop a firmer grasp upon reflection and understanding within themselves when faced with decision-making problems. Resulting to Mowat’s hypothesis being â€Å" the culture of a school will be developed as a consequence of the messages that are received about what is valued in the school community. We will write a custom essay sample on Development of Intrapersonal Intelligence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When common humanity is valued, individuals will learn to relate to each other from a position that acknowledges unique human qualities and responses. † With this hypothesis, Joan Mowat conducted an evaluative case study consisting of 69 pupils who participated in the intervention within its first four years. The range of volunteers consisted of parents, support group leaders, class teachers and senior managers. The intervention focused on collaborative, discussion-based activities designed to reflect understanding and thinking skills. Also integrating a series of questionnaires (open and closed), scheduled interviews and focus group discussions to find data drawn from their attendance, attainment and discipline statics while comparing the support group population to wider comparator groups. The data collected from the pupils showed the majority of the individuals had developed a greater understanding of their behavior and maintain this outlook for two years after the intervention. The findings indicated the majority of the pupils who participated had succeeded in the development in intrapersonal skills. To be more precise, the pupils were beginning to think/reflect upon their behavior as well as demonstrating a greater awareness of it. In probing further to ascertain the degree of underlining the conclusion results, Joan Mowat saw that the pupils developed moral awareness, as well as thinking more about what will happen when they behave badly, resulting to thinking more about how behavior affects others. Relevance of the article to the text occurred in many ways. The general concept was mental process of the pupils being tested. Chapter 8 covered â€Å" thinking, language, and intelligence†. Thinking, when defined is paying attention to information, mentally representing it, reasoning about it, and making decisions about it. In other words, thinking is a conscious planned attempt to make sense of and make a change. When testing individuals for positive and negative reinforcements, it’s important for the subjects to understand the concept. Concepts are involved in thinking as to the mental categorizing that is used to class together objects, relations, events, abstractions, or qualities that have common properties. During the case study, reinforcements were used with individuals who had behavioral difficulties when being introduced to rewards, sanctions, actions, and consequences. Concluding prototypes can assist with visualization of affirming the general concept. Joan Mowat’s perception among the case study was expressed with implications and argument. Mowat expressed the study did not set out to â€Å"prove† that social constructivist approaches were better than behaviorist approaches, nor was it to prove that they â€Å"worked† but the point was to test the proposition that social constructivist theory could be applied to the setting. Within the context of working with individual’s perception as experiencing such impact positively upon the range of outcomes Mowat showed key issues to emerge in school settings which may help produce a more effective climate for teaching and learning for the future. The need to develop conceptual understanding to transfer to the future is an important issue. Conceptual understanding not only in respect of individuals tested, but in the staff that are responsible for the execution and delivery of teaching is important. Concepts are products of â€Å" understanding performances† if you will, but they also serve as a base for the future studies of understanding. Both concepts and conceptual understanding are the â€Å"building blocks† if you will of understanding in general. Ultimately it’s important for future research because it’s key to develop and demonstrate understand for performance in general. In contrast, there is a point in everyone’s life, myself and Lisa’s especially, where our emotions get the best of us and unfortunately we react first, think second. The results of this study could have been received without the use of an intervention, but rather through the observation of maturation and enforcing positive behavior policies within schools. Also providing means for parents and teachers to continue positive behavior.