The Multiple Intelligences and the New Common Core
11/10/2010
Howard Gardner has had an immense impact on teaching strategies with his theory of the "Multiple Intelligences." His is a work of sociology and brain theory, but was picked up by educational researchers and sold to teachers as a way of reaching more of their reluctant learners. The theory, as adapted by educators, is that there are multiple learning paths presented by the diverse population in any classroom. If teachers repeat new learning appealing to multiple modalities, they will engage more students and achieve higher content standard mastery.
Gardner originally proposed 7 intelligences in 1983: spatial, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. He has since added two more: naturalistic and existential.
Traditional education most closely relied on linguistic and logical-mathematical. Further brain research by other cognitive psychologists pointed us toward essentially right-brained and left-brained individuals. Left-brained people tend toward Gardner's categories of linguistic and logical-mathematical, while the right-brained ones tend more toward Gardner's spatial and musical. These are not perfect correlations. And there is deep confusion in the educational community about how to deal with this information and use it to the advantage of students.
My own observations point toward a systemic simplification of all this brain research imported into the classroom. The most common lesson plan honors roughly two groups: the first is the auditory learner for whom direct, explicit instruction works best. The second group needs visual support, usually in the form of bullets on power point slides and the graphical illustration of ideas.
I bring this all up because somewhere, over the years, reading from text has come to be just another pathway to learning in many of the classrooms I visit. Technically, if you subscribe to Gardner's theory, it is just one of the 9 pathways to learning, known as linguistic. Most teachers seem to recognize that they have at least a few linguistic learners in their classroom, but that's just their learning style. They are the ones who go home at night and, in addition to completing their homework, read the textbooks for their classes to make sure they understand the points of the lesson. Most students would not consider any actual reading except for some self-chosen fiction. They simply skim any written text, looking for the answers to questions. They do not rely on homework for any actual learning. Most students rely on direct, explicit instruction and the visual learners combine note-taking with an understanding of the visual display of these concepts.
The Common Core Standards are the first attempt in memory to push back against Gardner's theory and other modern cognitive learning theories. The Common Core returns students to the ancient core of learning, which is the silent, independent mastery of text. These new standards call on students to begin their learning in text and to become facile at understanding text features and the powerful implications of rhetoric. This new approach is really a rather old one. Learning from text is not a learning style. All students must be text-based learners and the sacred connection between writer and reader must be elevated to its former place of pre-eminence.
Gardner originally proposed 7 intelligences in 1983: spatial, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. He has since added two more: naturalistic and existential.
Traditional education most closely relied on linguistic and logical-mathematical. Further brain research by other cognitive psychologists pointed us toward essentially right-brained and left-brained individuals. Left-brained people tend toward Gardner's categories of linguistic and logical-mathematical, while the right-brained ones tend more toward Gardner's spatial and musical. These are not perfect correlations. And there is deep confusion in the educational community about how to deal with this information and use it to the advantage of students.
My own observations point toward a systemic simplification of all this brain research imported into the classroom. The most common lesson plan honors roughly two groups: the first is the auditory learner for whom direct, explicit instruction works best. The second group needs visual support, usually in the form of bullets on power point slides and the graphical illustration of ideas.
I bring this all up because somewhere, over the years, reading from text has come to be just another pathway to learning in many of the classrooms I visit. Technically, if you subscribe to Gardner's theory, it is just one of the 9 pathways to learning, known as linguistic. Most teachers seem to recognize that they have at least a few linguistic learners in their classroom, but that's just their learning style. They are the ones who go home at night and, in addition to completing their homework, read the textbooks for their classes to make sure they understand the points of the lesson. Most students would not consider any actual reading except for some self-chosen fiction. They simply skim any written text, looking for the answers to questions. They do not rely on homework for any actual learning. Most students rely on direct, explicit instruction and the visual learners combine note-taking with an understanding of the visual display of these concepts.
The Common Core Standards are the first attempt in memory to push back against Gardner's theory and other modern cognitive learning theories. The Common Core returns students to the ancient core of learning, which is the silent, independent mastery of text. These new standards call on students to begin their learning in text and to become facile at understanding text features and the powerful implications of rhetoric. This new approach is really a rather old one. Learning from text is not a learning style. All students must be text-based learners and the sacred connection between writer and reader must be elevated to its former place of pre-eminence.