Mine and Howard Gardner's Personal Views on Early Childhood

Mine and Howard Gardner’s Personal Views on Early Childhood Education

Denise M. Johnson

ECE101

Instructor: Kara O’Brian

October 13, 2011

Mine and Howard Gardner’s Personal View on Early Childhood Education

Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences has been grasped by the education community as a wonderful and meaningful way to account for the knowledge that: “we are not all the same, we do not all have the same kinds of minds, and education works most effectively for most individuals if…human differences are taken seriously” (Gardner, 1995, p. 208). Gardner defines intelligence as “the ability to find and solve problems and create products of value in one’s culture” (Campbell, 1992, p. 197). Howard Gardner’s personal views on Early Childhood Education and mine are very similar.

Mr. Gardner as well as I, has a strong belief that all children possess all eight of the
Multiple Intelligences, and are capable of developing them to an adequate extent. These eight intelligences are as follows: Linguistic Intelligence, (“word smart”), Logical-mathematical,
(“number/reasoning smart”), Spatial Intelligence, (“picture smart”), Bodily-Kinesthetic-Intelligence,
(“body smart”), Musical, (“music smart”), Interpersonal, (“people smart”), Intrapersonal, (“self- smart”), and Naturalist, (“nature smart”). All eight of these intelligences are very important to a child’s learning experiences in many aspects in the classroom and at home. The linguistic Intelligence gives a child the thought process of learning all types of words from all kinds of tools. They may hear a word listening to a story, talking to other classmates, in a song and they remember the word because they associate it with an activity. The logical-mathematical intelligence falls into the category of children reasoning with many different ways of learning about numbers. A child can associate many things to numbers, such as counting their fingers, counting blocks as they stack them, and even counting how many pieces of candy they are given. Spatial Intelligence is when a child thinks in their mind and sees pictures. This is the way in which they perceive the visual world accurately, and recreate or even maybe alter in the mind or on paper. This type of intelligence is amplified in many artists, architects, sculptures, and designers. Now Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is a little different from the other intelligences, it relies more on a person’s body mechanics instead of mind control. This intelligence gives one the ability to use their body in a skilled way, for self- expression or toward a goal. This type of intelligence is seen in people that like to dance, actresses, athletes, and even mimes to name a few. Musical Intelligence is the ability to understand and create music just from one’s own mind and thoughts. Most people with this specific intelligence; although I believe almost everyone has some type of musical vibe, is a musician, composer of sorts, or a dancer. I have yet to see a child that did not relate to some type of music whether in the classroom, home, or anywhere music maybe playing. A person that has Interpersonal
Intelligence gives them the ability to perceive and understand other individuals. They are capable of understanding other’s moods, desires, and motivations. This is the intelligence where teachers are involved, parents that are in tune with their children, some politicians and therapists use this intelligence to help their clients. There is also the Intrapersonal Intelligence that allows a person to understand their own emotions. Sometimes one may find answers they are looking for by reading about someone else’s experiences or from talking to a councilor about their personal life experiences. The last intelligence, the one that was formed a few years after the first seven, is the, Naturalist Intelligence. This intelligence refers to the ability to recognize and classify plants, minerals, and animals, including rocks and grass. Gardner also believes that from an early age that some children as young as 3 or 4 years old are better at recognizing and classifying artifacts better than adults, such as dinosaurs.

When asked how educators should implement the theory of multiple intelligences, Gardner says, “(I) t’s very important that a teacher take individual differences among kids very seriously. The bottom line is a deep interest in children and how their minds are different from one another and in helping they use their minds as well.” My focus as a teacher is as well to have an awareness of multiple-intelligences in order to stimulate me into finding more ways of helping my students. It will be my responsibility as my student’s teacher to address as many modalities as possible, and to teach each individual student using their dominant learning type. It will also be part of my job as a teacher to address student learning strengths, but more importantly to improve on their weaknesses.

An awareness of multiple-intelligence theory has stimulated teachers to find more ways of helping all students in their classes. Some schools do this by adapting curriculum. In “Variations on a Theme: How Teachers Interpret MI Theory,” (Educational Leadership, September 1997). Linda Campbell describes five approaches to curriculum change:

* Lesson design. Some schools focus on lesson design. This might involve team teaching (“teachers focusing on their own intelligence strengths”), using all or several of the intelligences in their lessons, or asking student opinions about the best way to teach and learn certain topics. * Interdisciplinary units. Secondary schools often include interdisciplinary units. * Student projects. Students can learn to “initiate and manage complex projects” when creating student projects. * Assessments. Assessments are devised which allow students to show what they have learned. Sometimes this takes the form of allowing each student to devise the way he or she will be assessed, while meeting the teacher’s criteria for quality. * Apprenticeships. Apprenticeships can allow students to” gain mastery of a valued skill gradually, with effort and discipline over time.” Gardner feels that apprenticeships “should take up about one-third of a student’s schooling experience.”
With an understanding of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, teachers, school administrators, and parents can better understand the learners in their midst. They can allow students to safely explore and learn in many ways, and they can help students direct their own learning. Adults can help students understand and appreciate their strengths, and identify real-world activities that will stimulate more learning. (Gulgnon, Anne; Education World, 2010.) The best part of Gardner’s eight learning theories to me is that it gives the teacher the opportunity and ability to set her classroom up into centers. These centers will allow the teacher to separate the students into their specific intelligence. For example, a child that shows Interpersonal skills could be set up in a center that has mind thinking games or packets of word games that the teacher has made up to engage students to play together. Another example could be an Art center; this would be for students that showed spatial intelligence. The center would include such things like, paints, crayons, colored paper, glue, beads, etc. There could also be a place that is very quiet for our intrapersonal students; this is where a student could enjoy reading a book to their self without interruptions. The possibilities of centers that could be set up under Gardner’s learning theories are virtually endless. Let’s not forget about mathematical intelligence which can consist of all types of learning tools. For example: blocks, legos, abacus, flash cards, or just some hand-outs of mathematic equations. We also have the music center where children that are in tune to hearing musical notes and even writing music can have a chance to show this ability. This area could include such things as a musical keyboard, music note paper, or even a CD player, for students that want to show off their talents.

My personal idea of an ideal classroom where all students are complacent with what they are learning would be to introduce Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to my students. Just being able to watch the children move from one center to another, exploring and staying interested in their learning would be a great learning experience for me as a teacher. Of course setting up this type of classroom would take much work and imagination, but the rewards that it would reap would be well worth every effort. To me there is no better satisfaction than watching a child learn from something that I put into motion. There are many types of theories for education by many different professors and educators, and many of them also work quite well in the classroom. However no other theory or curriculum fulfills a child’s learning experience as does Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences in my personal opinion. It is of the utmost importance that we recognize and nurture all of the varied human intelligences, and all of the combinations of intelligences. We are all so different, largely because we all have different combinations of intelligences. If we recognize this, I think we can at least have a better chance of dealing appropriately with the many problems that we face in the world (Gardner, 1987).

REFERENCES

1). Gardner, H. (1995). Reflections on Multiple Intelligences: Myths and Messages. Phi Delta Kappan. 76: 200 – 209.
2). Gardner, H. (1987). Beyond IQ: Education and Human Development. Harvard Educational Review. 57, 2: 187 – 193.
3). Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
4). Campbell, B. (1992). Multiple Intelligences in Action. Childhood Education, 68 (4), 197 – 201.
5). Morrison, G. S. (2009). Early Childhood Education Today (11th ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
6). Gardner, Howard Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York, Basic 1983
7). Samples, B. (1992). Using Learning Modalities to Celebrate Intelligence. Educational Leadership, 50(2), 62-66.
8). Gulgnon, Anne; Education World, (2010).

References: 1). Gardner, H. (1995). Reflections on Multiple Intelligences: Myths and Messages. Phi Delta Kappan. 76: 200 – 209. 2). Gardner, H. (1987). Beyond IQ: Education and Human Development. Harvard Educational Review. 57, 2: 187 – 193. 3). Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, Inc. 4). Campbell, B. (1992). Multiple Intelligences in Action. Childhood Education, 68 (4), 197 – 201. 5). Morrison, G. S. (2009). Early Childhood Education Today (11th ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson. 6). Gardner, Howard Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York, Basic 1983 7). Samples, B. (1992). Using Learning Modalities to Celebrate Intelligence. Educational Leadership, 50(2), 62-66. 8). Gulgnon, Anne; Education World, (2010).