Teachers' curricular prescriptions for student profiles suggested by Sternberg's triarchic theory of human intelligence

Abstract This study examined how student intelligence type and gender contribute to the formation of teacher prescriptions regarding that student. An experimental design was used, with random assignment of respondents to conditions. The independent variables were student gender and intelligence type and the dependent variables were classroom approach, programs of studies and perception of student giftedness. Case folders were prepared in which the gender and intellectual characteristics of the described student were systematically varied. The 154 teacher respondents (84 = Male; 55 = Female; 15 = no response) were each asked to evaluate a case folder. Respondents provided ratings of suitability on eight options for the student described in the case folder. Analysis was accomplished by a five-way Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and post hoc analyses. Significant interactions were found between student intellectual characteristics for three dependent variables and student gender for two dependent variables. These results are discussed and implications for the development of curricular material are drawn.