Assignment: Intelligence This week, you viewed a video with historical footage of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. If you have not viewed this video, stop and do so now—or watch it again, this time with the perspective of what it would feel like to be in that scene. You may have relatives that arrived through Ellis Island or a similar entry point in other parts of the country. Imagine being in that moment, having endured great hardship, and then facing a test that checks your intelligence—and for no small reason. It will determine whether you can enter the United States. Based on what you are learning about culture, is it likely that test would be fair in assessing the knowledge of those who speak languages other than English and have wildly different sets of experiences? Additionally, different cultures have different definitions of intelligence. Some cultures integrate movement and emotions into the concept of intelligence. Other cultures value analytical thinking. Still others highlight nonverbal communication. Sadly, many Ellis Island immigrants were labeled “feeble-minded” by extremely biased intelligence tests and, after all those hardships, were refused entry into America. You will return to the issue of bias by examining how intelligence tests can favor some cultures over others. Through the Learning Resources, you will experience  two  types of intelligence tests and imagine how you might do if each test had major stakes for you—such as whether you could vote, be accepted by a college, or be allowed to enter a country. Intelligence tests have been used for those and other purposes—and sometimes with the express purpose of excluding some groups over others. For this Assignment, you will examine how culture influences the definition of “intelligence” and what is considered “common knowledge” and analyze your own experiences with differing cultural views of these concepts. To prepare: Review the Week 2 Learning Resources, with particular attention to Chapter 5 in the course text and the media piece on Ellis Island immigration. Take the  two  short assigned tests, “The Original Australian Test of Intelligence” and “The Chitling Intelligence Test,” in the Learning Resources. Note the tests cannot be filled in online. Use paper and pencil to record your answers, and then click the scoring sheet link to check your results. Consider how well you did on each test. What kind of knowledge was needed to do well, and how “common” is that knowledge? Consider questions in both tests that stand out to you as examples of cultural bias. Based on your experience, consider what conclusions you can draw about the meaning of “intelligence” and “common knowledge” across cultures and the potential for constructing an intelligence test without cultural bias. Consider the various views of intelligence discussed in your Learning Resources and consider how they are similar or different from your own views. Keep in mind the goa.

1. Assignment: Intelligence
This week, you viewed a video with historical footage of
immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. If you
have not viewed this video, stop and do so now—or watch it
again, this time with the perspective of what it would feel like
to be in that scene. You may have relatives that arrived through
Ellis Island or a similar entry point in other parts of the
country. Imagine being in that moment, having endured great
hardship, and then facing a test that checks your intelligence—
and for no small reason. It will determine whether you can enter
the United States.
Based on what you are learning about culture, is it likely that
test would be fair in assessing the knowledge of those who
speak languages other than English and have wildly different
sets of experiences? Additionally, different cultures have
different definitions of intelligence. Some cultures integrate
movement and emotions into the concept of intelligence. Other
cultures value analytical thinking. Still others highlight
nonverbal communication. Sadly, many Ellis Island immigrants
were labeled “feeble-minded” by extremely biased intelligence
tests and, after all those hardships, were refused entry into
America.
You will return to the issue of bias by examining how
intelligence tests can favor some cultures over others. Through
the Learning Resources, you will experience
two
types of intelligence tests and imagine how you might do if
each test had major stakes for you—such as whether you could
vote, be accepted by a college, or be allowed to enter a country.
Intelligence tests have been used for those and other purposes—
and sometimes with the express purpose of excluding some
groups over others.

2. For this Assignment, you will examine how culture influences
the definition of “intelligence” and what is considered “common
knowledge” and analyze your own experiences with differing
cultural views of these concepts.
To prepare:
Review the Week 2 Learning Resources, with particular
attention to Chapter 5 in the course text and the media piece on
Ellis Island immigration.
Take the
two
short assigned tests, “The Original Australian Test of
Intelligence” and “The Chitling Intelligence Test,” in the
Learning Resources. Note the tests cannot be filled in online.
Use paper and pencil to record your answers, and then click the
scoring sheet link to check your results.
Consider how well you did on each test. What kind of
knowledge was needed to do well, and how “common” is that
knowledge? Consider questions in both tests that stand out to
you as examples of cultural bias.
Based on your experience, consider what conclusions you can
draw about the meaning of “intelligence” and “common
knowledge” across cultures and the potential for constructing an
intelligence test without cultural bias.
Consider the various views of intelligence discussed in your
Learning Resources and consider how they are similar or
different from your own views.
Keep in mind the goal of supporting your viewpoints with clear

3. reasoning and evidence. Review the Walden Writing Center
resources on scholarly writing in preparation for creating your
Assignment.
By Day 7
Submit
a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following components.
Be sure to include references to Learning Resources, including
media.
Analyze the questions in the Original Australian and Chitling
tests and identify possible sources of cultural bias by
specifically discussing at least one question from each test that
may not be fair to members of other cultures.
Explain whether or not you think it is possible to construct an
intelligence test that would be fair to all cultures.
In the past there have been attempts to create unbiased tests -
how successful have these attempts been?
Considering the major factors of environment, socioeconomic
status, biology, and family, which do you believe to have the
greatest influence on intelligence? What research supports your
belief?
Compare your own personal view of intelligence to those of
cultures discussed in your Learning Resources, pointing out
similarities and differences.
Note:
Support the responses within your Assignment with evidence

4. from the Learning Resources. Provide a reference list for
resources you used for this Assignment.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading,
do the following:
Please save your Assignment using the naming convention
“WK2Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
Click the
Week 2 Assignment Rubric
to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the
Week 2 Assignment
link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria
from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the
Browse My Computer
button. Find the document you saved as “WK2Assgn+last
name+first initial.(extension)” and click
Open
.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the
checkbox for
I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database
.
Click on the
Submit
button to complete your submission.

5. Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 2 Assignment Rubric
Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity
To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 2 Assignment draft and review the
originality report.
Submit Your Assignment by Day 7
To submit your Assignment:
Week 2 Assignment