Abstract
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research was to show how teachers define intelligence and how intelligence develops. Specifically, the goal was to focus on how elementary teachers perceived intelligence by recording their descriptions of what a highly intelligent or low intelligent student looks like. An additional goal was to investigate whether teachers see intelligence as nature or nurture utilizing the old nature versus nurture theory many have discussed before, and the theory relates to intelligence malleability. The researcher's assumptions in this study were that the majority of teachers believe intelligence is hereditary and only a few rate intelligence as an acquired knowledge. Furthermore, the assumptions extended to teachers describing students of high intelligence with regard to students' verbal abilities, including their high comprehension skills, expanded vocabulary, and high critical thinking skills. In contrast, students not demonstrating any of the above would be described as being of low intelligence. The researcher assumed teachers would view testing scores as a major indicator of intelligence.
Data Collection
A Sacramento, California school was selected based on certain criteria, one of which was that the site had 20 or more teaching staff. The researcher obtained permission to conduct the research from the principal. Teachers were asked to respond to seven open-ended questions. All participants answered the survey questions at the same time and in a 15-minute period. There was a 90% response rate.
Conclusions
This research revealed several findings. Overall, teachers defined intelligence using the following five major trends: environmental experience, multiple intelligence, cognition, learned skills and knowledge (including communication skills), and genetics, and IQ was mentioned briefly as well. The majority of the teachers surveyed perceived intelligence as coming from both nature and nurture, with intelligence from nurture following closely behind nature. All but two participants strongly believed that intelligence changed over time and change in intelligence level was triggered by environmental, personal, and school experiences.