Four Stages of Intellectual Growth

	Dependence	Emergence	Independence	Interdependence
KNOWLEDGE is:	Right/Wrong	Right/Wrong/Not Yet Known	Personal Truth	Contextual Truth
defined by:	Authority	Authority/Reasoning	Reasoning/Individual	Adequacy/Context
seen as:	Discrete, rigid, concrete, unrelated	Interesting, sometimes disturbingly complex	Complex and sometimes interrelated	Complex and interrelated
focus on:	What to believe	How to learn	How to think	How to evaluate
TEACHER offers:	Right answers	Ways to find right answers	Alternative ways to think about and frame problems	Expertise in a defined realm of knowledge
LEARNER must:	Memorize facts; Accept authority	Search for answers; Find sources/methods for learning	Find own voice;  Question authority	Evaluate; Seek most adequate response
PEERS offer:	Factual information; Friendship	Interesting sources of diverse perspectives	Legitimate resources for knowledge	Crucial sources of knowledge; Genuine learning community

CHANGES WITH GROWTH:*
THE WORLD which once seemed rigid, simple and concrete becomes increasingly more flexible, complex and abstract.
KNOWLEDGE which once seemed certain becomes increasingly more uncertain, speculative and interrelated.
AUTHORITY which once seemed an infallible source is increasingly viewed as a fallible resource.
THE LEARNER who once was a passive recipient becomes more active as a sense of personal agency develops.
PEERS are increasingly seen as valuable to learning, as the individual moves from isolation to community.
 
STAGES ARE NOT STATIC AND CANNOT BE RUSHED:
    Individuals tend to display a variety of orientations, depending upon the situation, the issue under discussion and the personal investment in the matter under review.  When individuals feel threatened, they tend to revert to earlier, less flexible stages.
    The ability to handle higher and higher levels of abstraction is a maturational skill whose appearance varies normally from individual to individual, usually developing in the late teens or early twenties. It cannot be rushed any more than walking, talking, or puberty.
AN ILLUSTRATIVE STORY:
    Having been taken to meet the great scientist, a boy is invited by Albert Einstein to go for a walk at sunset in the woods behind the physicist's home. During a lull in their conversation, the boy tells Einstein that though he has learned in school that it is the earth which is turning, the idea conflicts with the experience of his senses. "I don't feel like I'm turning, and it definitely looks to me like the sun is going down, rather than the earth which is coming up."
    Einstein replied, "You may be right. I have thought about it, and what makes the most sense to me is that the appearance of the setting sun is caused by the rotation of the earth. But this is only a theory. I suggest that you think about this matter further to see if you can come up with a different theory. And if you do, please promise that you will let me know at once, so that you and I together can investigate whether your new theory is a better explanation of the facts than the old one."
    Which orientation was the boy displaying?  Which orientation did Einstein display?  Is either surprising to you
 
*  After Perry, William G., Jr. Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years--A Scheme, 1998, 1968, and William Moore et al., 1999