Alabama Social Studies SS24.P.13a

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Cognitive Psychology

The Standard

SS24.P.13: Describe methods of assessing individual differences and theories of intelligence, including Charles E. Spearman's general (g) factor of intelligence, Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, and Robert J. Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence.

Describe different types of intelligence tests and explain the Flynn effect.

2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies · Cognitive Psychology

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students compare tasks used in verbal and nonverbal intelligence tests. They explain the Flynn effect as a rise in average test scores across generations and name possible reasons for it.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can identify what a vocabulary question and a visual pattern puzzle each test. They can explain why rising average scores do not prove that every person is smarter or that one cause has been settled.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think an IQ score captures every ability or that a nonverbal test is free from cultural influence. They may mistake rising population averages for a change in every individual.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Compare a vocabulary question with a picture-pattern puzzle. Name the type of testing each uses, then explain what rising average scores across generations mean and give one possible cause.

Lesson moves

Give pairs teacher-made vocabulary and picture-pattern cards, then ask them to list the skills each card draws on.
Ask students to write: How might more years of schooling raise test scores without changing what people are born able to do?
Play a card sort: teams place six sample questions under verbal, nonverbal, or memory and defend their choices.
Show a teacher-made score table using old and updated norms, then ask why the same raw score might receive a different IQ score.

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