from Inquiry, Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 1999, 13-15
© Copyright 1999 Virginia Community College System
Abstract
A VCCS Research Award Grant provided released time for the exploration and incorporation of Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory into classroom practices; service learning projects provided wonderful opportunities to teach to the various intelligences.
When Dr. Martha Green and I first contemplated a study of multiple intelligences, we envisioned an opportunity to read and learn more about Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences so that we could apply his ideas to our own classroom teaching, specifically in English 112 and Psychology 238. We hoped to team teach these two classes, co-ordinating the literature reading assignments with the life stages taught in the psychology class. We felt that the scientific and humanistic approaches to the same basic life issues would reinforce the critical thinking skills as well as the content taught in each course. Multiple Intelligences Theory (MI) has been an area of interest for both of us for some time, and the VCCA Research Grant of three hours of released time for each of us really provided the opportunity to focus and apply ourselves to the task. An added benefit for each of us was the realization that our own small group (the two of us plus other professionals we contacted and met with) was a much more effective means of study than individual research.
Our initial strategy, reinforced by readings in several of Gardner’s books on MI, was to approach the information in many different ways. We read books and articles in hard copy and over the net. We attended several conferences and exhibits which emphasized various kinds of "non-traditional" approaches to teaching and learning. We participated in a total of sixteen in-house professional development opportunities to acquaint ourselves with a number of computer programs that might be useful in constructing learning experiences geared to the multiple intelligences. We also contacted and met with a number of educational professionals who work outside of the VCCS. I believe that this strategy worked well for us; we developed a body of information and an invaluable network of other professionals whose own experiences gave us a number of innovative ideas to try in our own classrooms.
I expected to learn more about Multiple Intelligences theory and find some new methods to use in the new English 112 course, co-ordinated with Dr. Green’s Psychology 238 course. I knew that this would result in a new syllabus for English 112; in fact, I found that my other courses could also benefit from what I had learned % not just in content but also in terms of student projects and participation. This has resulted in a restructuring of my plans for Developmental English and English 111.
I have always followed an inductive approach to teaching that has been more student-centered than the traditional lecture method I experienced as a student at William and Mary. Over the years, I have looked at teaching as problem solving-with some of the major problems being students’ lack of previous academic preparation, learning disabilities (often undiagnosed or untreated), lack of motivation, and long-term experience of failure in an academic setting. Many of our students, though bright in various other ways, are weak in the traditionally accepted academic skills which depend primarily on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. Consequently, over the twenty-five years that I have taught, I have instinctively used many different approaches to facilitate learning. I believe that if you can identify a student’s strongest avenue for learning, you can use that to motivate him/her to improve the linguistic or logical/mathematical skills.
Though I came upon Dr. Gardner’s work relatively recently, it seemed familiar to me and resonated with my own findings over the years. Dr. Gardner postulates eight different "intelligences": linguistic, musical, logical mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and, recently, natural or environmental intelligence. I found it useful to give the students some information about Multiple Intelligences theory, following a brief inventory of their own learning styles. When I present this information at the beginning of the course, it seems to motivate students with the notion that they can be successful learners if they can identify their best avenue of learning. For many of those enrolled, at age 19+, in a very basic English course, the idea of themselves as successful learners is new. Once I have introduced this as a notion, I follow up with more information and with alternative methods of learning to fit those various styles. Classroom computer use has made this easier % both by shifting the venue for reading and writing and by freeing some of my in-class time for individual work with students. Many students who have failed at writing for various reasons find it somewhat easier to compose on the computer: spelling and grammar checks provide a "mini-tutorial" and the finished product is usually much nicer looking, especially for some dysgraphic learners. Word processing, research on the net, and computer-assisted instruction via interactive software create excitement and motivate the students to improve linguistic skills that are usually not their strong points. Many who are habitually late to class will come early to the computer lab.
Aside from these additions to classroom instruction, Dr. Green and I have both been incorporating service learning projects in our courses. In the process of attending two conferences and building a network among others involved in this movement, we began to see real connections between service learning and the application of MI theory. As we were constructing the syllabus for an English 112 section to be taught in conjunction with Psychology 238, we realized that more defined service learning projects offered a wonderful opportunity to teach to the various intelligences. Properly structured, these projects could reinforce the content of the two courses, not only in the readings but also in the students’ own practical applications and in the sharing of their experiences.
To receive credit for the projects, the students need to reflect on and document their experiences in writing. We also encourage accompanying visuals and plan to display those to inform and inspire other students. These are some sample projects and their corresponding intelligences that we devised for our new courses:
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Write letters to various museums, locally and nationally, to request posters to enhance the visual environment around JSRCC (Simmons, New Horizons conference presentation, April 1998).{visual intelligence}#
Read to children at a local school and listen to them read, observing several grade levels. {auditory, linguistic}#
Work with a physical or occupational therapist at a school, a fitness or convalescent center or an eldercare facility. {bodily-kinesthetic}#
Work with an industrial psychologist at a workplace environment like Reynolds Metals or Phillip Morris. {spatial}#
Visit the Montessori school to observe math instruction with Golden Beads, developmentally appropriate materials. {logical-mathematical}#
Participate in after school activity like "Hook-Ups" for adolescent children.{kinesthetic; intrapersonal-identity}#
Form panels to present and discuss their service learning experiences with the class. {interpersonal}
These are just a few ways in which we can use an understanding of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory in our courses. Students will have the opportunity to choose a project that utilizes their best learning strategies to access the content area of the course by a different route. Hopefully, these MI additions will extend our reach to those students whose learning strengths are outside of the traditional domain as well as providing "real world" applications for "classroom" knowledge.
Win Loria is an Associate Professor of English with 25 years of experience at the downtown campus of JSRCC. She earned her B.A. and her M.A. from the College of William and Mary and did advanced graduate study in educational media at Boston University. Her current research interest is increasing student success by creating new approaches to classroom instruction through technology and outreach service to the community.