Book Review: Multiple Intelligences

There is a great read about different learning styles. I enjoyed learning what the styles are and how to thinking through education with these intelligences in mind to best get deep and whole learning. So here are some of my notes....

The 8 Mulitiple Intelligences (you can see these are related to our senses)

• words: mouth (linguistic intelligence)
• numbers or logic: brain (logical-mathematical intelligence)
• pictures: eyes (spatial intelligence)
• music: ears (musical intelligence)
• self-reflection: feelings/observations of self (intrapersonal intelligence)
• a physical experience: body (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)
• a social experience: feelings/observations of others' (interpersonal intelligence), and/or
• an experience in the natural world (naturalist intelligence)

*note: autistic children don't have great self-reflection which is tied to problems in the front part of the brain so they aren't able to express themselves well, but they tend to be higher in other intelligences, like music, and may be wonderful musicians.


Three Factors in Helping Your Child's Education:
1. Intelligence Type: What are the strengths and weaknesses of your child? (currently..., though they may change)
2. Learning Approach: What is the best way for your child to enjoy learning and not feel pressure?

• Is it intelligence-fair? (tailored to child's favored intelligences)
• Is it developmentally appropriate?

3. Encounter: What discipline or craft can your child connect with (in a community that fits their skill and development level)

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Real Project Learning
Project learning is whole learning. It give context, form and meaning to learning. IT is interdisciplinary. Project-learning should encourage students to solve problems in the community with deep understanding in many core disciplines. The rhythm for project-learning involves getting deep into a project/focus and then exploring surroundings to find real life examples of the same principles.Here is an example of that rhythm in a day:

• A.M. study a project/focus in-depth 
• P.M. go into nature and/or community and explore (to unfold/extend further learning, ask deeper questions, etc.)

We don't tend to like multiple choice tests because they are based on facts and knowledge. But we should always be evaluating as educators to know how to help our children progress to the next stage of learning...or the next dimension of deepening awareness and understanding. Here are some things to think about when evaluating your child's project.

Project Learning Assessment*
1. Individual Profile: what the project shows about the child
2. Mastery: a fax skills or concepts they will memorize what they enjoy
3. Quality of Work: deepens with familiarity of one thing
4. Communication: share and teach others
5. Reflection: assess progress and evaluate corrections
*all of this should include both self work and cooperation work at some point

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Art Project-Learning Case Study:
Harvard School of Education/Project Zero/PROPEL program

The Rules
1. Production activities should be central (in any art form)
2. Art objects should be placed in context (not be foreign to child)
3. Presented by teachers who "think" in that artistic medium (not by logic)
4. Organized by long-term meaningful projects
5. Not sequential curriculum (but deepening experience as they continue on)

6. Assessment is critical (but assessments must respect the intelligences)

7. Not merely mastering set skills or concepts (rather seen as educational vehicles to explore feelings; privacy not violated)
8. Don't teach artistic taste or value judgments directly
9. Art education is cooperative (student, teacher, administrator, researcher, etc.)
10. Have one deep art exposure (don't need all the different types of visual art at once)

The Projects
Domain project I
1. First Time: Drop shapes randomly on paper
2. Second Time: Place shapes nicely
3. Reflect on difference
4. Study and Compare Real Examples
5. Third Time: Create Final Masterpiece

Domain Project II: "Biography of the work"
1. View Examples of Drafts (unfinished perceptual explorations, sketches, etc.)
2. Create a Draft (draw your room in a way that expresses something of yourself using a variety of mediums)
3. Compare Real Examples (of art showing various uses of mediums to emphasize metaphorical meaning)
4. Second Time: Change Draft
5. Reflect on choices made
6. Third Time: Create Final Draft

Process-Folio (in place of a port-folio)
For the domain projects I and II...at the end of the year the child gives a presentation from his process folio. This involves sharing/expressing those parts and pieces that were pivotal in their development and progress (it takes reflection and expression).

Program Implementation
1. Team Spirit
2. Common Conception (or goal) & Language
3. "Getting It"
4. Looking Inward
5. Looking Outward

Knowledge = Facts
Understanding = Applying Facts (in real life)

Education is to develop understanding through application of knowledge
0 to 7 years Exposure (in context to do basic principles found all over to)
8 to 14 years Specialization (one focus in each area mastery in something before ready for a big location)
14+ Comprehensive (such as classics or inter-disciplinary, apprenticeships or "museum school" approach)

Windows to Learning
There are five entry points or five "windows" through which children can see new knowledge and information. A skillful teacher opens many of these windows on one same concept, allowing children to get deeper understanding to different perpectives.

1. Narration: introduce the story about the concepts in question
2. Foundation (philosophical): explore type comparisons or definitions at the root
3. Logical-Quantitative: show numbers patterns charts to study
4. Aesthetic: artistic/sensory approach such as music or pictures
5. Experiential: hands-on with materials (that directly embody/convey the concept)