Before MI Theory

Educationalists who have inspired the teaching of young children.

You have been asking for information about the  theory of multiple intelligences, but before we look into this let's look at some earlier theories. Gardner's multiple intelligences theory came about in the 1980s but there were many other theories before and other educationalists have built on these since then. Today let us look at two educationalists whose infuence has particularly been on the teaching and learning of younger children; Friedrich Froebel and Marie Montessori.

Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel 1782 - 1852

When we train to be a teacher the training we receive is based on a philosophy of education of one sort or another.

My own teacher training was at the Froebel Educational Institute in London. My teaching methods are underpinned by this training whilst I have adopted, adapted and included into my practice many other styles and methods found to be successful over the years. We need to find the best in all the philosphies and make them our own.

Friedrich Froebel was born in Oberweissbach, Thuringia. In 1826, he published The Education of Man, a difficult book to understand, in which he discusses his educational philosophy. The first Froebel school was opened in 1828 and another in 1837.

Froebel believed that a child, similar to a plant, should be cultivated following nature’s law. In naming his schools kindergarten he reflected this belief. Froebel introduced the notion of continuity in human development, which originated in his observation of the growth of trees (Froebel's own naturalistic intelligence). He saw the stage of a new bud as continuing in the whole development of a tree. In the same way, the full development of childhood continued into adulthood. If one prior stage was not fully completed, then the next stage could not be fully developed. However, Froebel saw early childhood and later childhood as stages that were significant in the whole development of an individual, not simply preparation for adulthood.

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Another educationalist that is popular today is Marie Montessori (1870 – 1952)

I am often asked about Montessori methods and schools by parents of a first child, keen to find the best education for their offspring. Only they can decide whether this is right for their child, but I hope the following will give some background information to help them to make a choice and to inform discussions when they visit schools.

Maria Montessori lived during the first half of the last century and has influenced education in the US, the UK and other countries in many ways. She was an unusual teenager who chose, unlike others of her gender, to train as an engineer (Montessori's own scientific intelligence). However, one at college, her interest in the mechanical was diverted to the study of the workings not of machines but the human body, and she qualified in medicine in 1886. She was the first woman to do so in Italy.

Through her medical work she came in contact with ‘idiot children’ in asylums and this led her on to an interest in education and the way these children had been taught. She began to believe that mental deficiency was a pedagogical problem. She read works of many previous educationalists, including Froebel, drew up her own theories, and was eventually made director of a medical-pedagogical institute.

Montessori emphasised the importance of the environment in children’s education. ‘Put children in the wrong environment and their development will be abnormal; they will become the deviated adults we now know. Create the right environment for them and their characters will develop normally.’ (Might this be pointing towards developing their interpersonal intelligence?)

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With kind regards,

Margaret


Margaret Warner
Dip. S.M.S., A.C.P., M.A. Ed.
International Education Consultant

Lesson plan templates http://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com/mawbookletlp.htm

MAW Education http://www.maweducation.co.uk
MAW Publicationshttp://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com

How do I use MI in the classroom?

Your next question was " How do I use MI in the classroom? "

The answer is not so much, 'How do I use MI in the classroom?' but 'How do I provide an environment and tasks that will help all my students learn and succeed rather than only those who learn best through their linguistic intelligences (reading, writing and speaking and listening)?'

The traditional classroom centred round the teacher talking and asking questions (so the students listened and spoke), then they read from a text book (reading), and then they wrote in their exercise books (writing). Children who did not learn easily through their linguistic intelligence more often than not failed, although they were not less intelligent.  They just learned best in a different way.

So how can you use MI in the classroom?  By planning your lesson or a series of lessons (as you can't possibly cover all the intelligences in one lesson) so that those who learn best through using their bodies (kinaesthetically) can learn the same information through drama, dance or my making things related to the subject.  When the exams come they too will be more likely to remember the facts along with their linguistically intelligent peers.  Why not let both pass and do well in the exam rather than only a few? And exams are not the only reason for education, although some may think that, but education is about developing the whole child and is valuable in itself. 

So, in one lesson you might focus learning through kinaesthetic activities, whilst in the next lesson you might focus on musical activities.  I know one secondary teacher who raised the exam results of his students who previously had failed with a 'D' grade but achieved a 'C' grade and passed as a result of this.  What did he do?  He set the boring facts of history, so difficult to learn for those not lingusitally strong, to music - jazzy music that they enjoyed.  Can you imagine the students sitting there in the exam, singing to themselves the historical facts, and answering the exam questions correctly?

Then there are those who learn best visually, in fact there is a Chinese saying, 'Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do it and I understand.'  Well show them visually using any visual aids you can muster up: PowerPoint presentations, pictures, posters, artefacts, visits, mind-maps and their own drawings and paintings.  We now have an additional three groups of students remembering and successful, instead of only the linguistic group.

Now go through the other intelligences and think up activities that you could provide to enable every child in your class to learn what it is you want them to learn.  For example. history is full of mathematics, and geography is about people and interpersonal relationships. Science often has an ethical dimension and the intrapersonal could be developed and mathematics can be found in nature.

The important thing is to provide an environment in which all can learn, rather than an environment in which you can teach but only some learn.  You can teach again and again but students may learn very little!  Have you ever seen that 'switched off' look in your classroom? Focus on learning instead of teaching and see the magical results.

The MI and Lesson Planning booklet provides example lessons for different ages and subjects.  I have called them 'lesson plans' but you may prefer to call them 'unit plans' as you may want to spread the different activities over a number of lessons.  However, the reason I have called them lesson plans is that, especially if time is at a premium, the best way to organise the work is to have different groups learning in different ways within one lesson and then give a presentation to the others in the same or next lesson.  In that way time is actually saved, as you don't have to spend six lessons 'teaching' them different facts, as different groups will be 'learning' these same facts simultaneously in half the time.  You could probably cover the syllabus in a third of the time this way and have more time to go into some in more depth.

So for those or you who say the syllabus is too vast to plan MI activities, you could be wrong!  MI may help you cover the syllabus is less time.  And for those of you who say that you won't get the exam results that you want - you could be wrong!  You may actually get higher results! Read Multiple intelligences & student achievement - success stories from six schools by
Linda & Bruce Campbell.  Then there are those of you who complain that parents and 'management' have high expectations of you.  My answer is use the students multiple intelligences to show them you can meet their high expectations focusing on learning instead of teaching.

I hope this has helped you answer your question, "How do I use MI in the classroom?".  Have a look at the other ideas in the MI and Lesson Planning booklet, try them out and see how your students blossom. Learning does not have to be a chore, it can be fun!

With best wishes,

Margaret


Margaret Warner
Dip. S.M.S., A.C.P., M.A. Ed.
International Education Consultant


Lesson plan templates http://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com/mawbookletlp.htm

MAW Education http://www.maweducation.co.uk
MAW Publicationshttp://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com

How do I assess students using MI?

There are many ways that you can assess students using MI. 

With the youngest children, when you make a home visit before they start school, you can create a questionnaire and fill it in with the child's parents' or carer's help.  There are two examples in the MI and Assessment booklet.

Once the children start school you can assess them by observing them and noting down what they enjoy doing and are good at using a check list prepared using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

You will notice that some children may cause you concern and MI will help you diagnose their particular needs. e.g. they have difficultes doing physical activities (kinaesthetic intelligence - might need extra support when making things or in physical activities) or they write letters in the wrong order or back to front (lingistic intelligence - might be dylexic) You can then follow up that particular concern in more detail. (pages 7 and 8)

You can assess students using MI when they are working in a group.  Choose which intelligences you want to assess and create a rubric.  There is an example rubric prepared for you on page 9 of the MI and Assessment booklet.

You can assess students, using MI when they are solving authentic problems, with the help of a professional in that field. This is explained on page 10.

MI can be used by students when you plan self-assessment or peer assessment during your lesson. Examples are on page 11.

There are many more ways to assess students using MI in the booklet MI and Assessment and the ones mentioned above are explained in detail.

This may be the best way for you to learn how to assess students using MI in your own clasroom.


With best wishes,

Margaret


Margaret Warner
Dip. S.M.S., A.C.P., M.A. Ed.
International Education Consultant

MAW Education http://www.maweducation.co.uk
MAW Publicationshttp://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com

Assessment templates http://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com/mawbookletass.htm
Lesson plan templates http://www.discover-multiple-intelligences.com/mawbookletlp.htm