Research on the social construction of cognitive differences in classroom settings and its transformation

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The purpose of this research was to explore the social construction of cognitive differences such as intelligence in a classroom setting and to evaluate the possibility of intervention in this process by introducing there the concept of "thinking styles" which was proposed and developed by R. J. Sternberg.1. We theoretically placed the position of the concept of the thinking styles in the researches of intelligence, especially in relation to that of Sternberg. We found not all but some of the thirteen style were congruent with the components used in the Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence.2. We developed four Japanese versions of questionnaires for the thinking styles: (1) the short version for adults, (2) the version for teachers to evaluate themselves, (3) the version for teachers to evaluate their studies, and (4) the version for students. Although we obtained their reasonable validity and reliability, it appeared that some further refinements were required.3. We did fieldwork in a classroom of an elementary school for five days: one day a month, for five consecutive months. We got videotape recording for about nine hundred minutes of the teacher-student interaction, which was transcribed in detail and analyzed. We also interviewed the teacher about her students and had her respond to the thinking style questionnaires for teachers. We found some consistencies and discrepancies among the comments, the results of the questionnaires, and the way of interaction.For the future research, we proposed the need to design the tools for making the cognitive differences, including the styles, observable and manipulable for teachers, their students, and their parents, and to develop the educational program for intervening in the construction of the very observation in cooperation with them.