2009-03-07
Howard Gardner and My Philosophy of Education
My personal belief about
teaching and learning is that every student can learn when given the
appropriate scaffolding for his or her needs. My experience has proven that no two
students learn in the same way and therefore we need to adapt our teaching
strategies and lessons to reflect students’ abilities. Howard Gardner’s Theory
of Multiple Intelligences is the theory that best supports my beliefs.
Howard Gardner believes that
there are at least seven ways in which people perceive and understand the world
(Funderstanding). He calls these the Multiple Intelligences and they are:
Although this list is not
exhaustive, it is the best way to describe the ways in which we process the
information around us.
Schools seem to focus a lot
of energy on Literacy and Math, and for some students this works well. What
about those students who are not high in those intelligences? What do we do? How do you explain gravity to someone who is
not a Spatial learner? You drop a water balloon out the classroom window! How
do you explain the layout of a seigneural system to a visual learner? You have
them recreate it with Popsicle sticks.
This theory is very easy to
accommodate in the classroom. By incorporating these different intelligences
into lessons and assessments, students can work at their best. Two children can
demonstrate the same concepts by performing two different tasks. A child who is
higher in Verbal Linguistic Intelligence may write a poem about the effects of
the War of 1812, whereas a student who is more musical could write a song. Both
students are able to provide the same information, however the way in which
they deliver that knowledge is different.
In every assignment that I
give my students, there are at least four choices. If a student is not interested in any of
those choices, they are welcome to come to me and make a suggestion. Children need choice and they need to be
engaged. Think of that ADHD child in your classroom and ask yourself if he
would have such a hard time if he were allowed to act out that scene from Romeo
and Juliet, rather than write an essay on it.
Bibliography
Multiple Intelligences. 1998. Funderstanding.
Smith, Mark K.
(2002, 2008) 'Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences', the encyclopedia
of informal education, <http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm.>
