"Alpha children wear gray. They work harder than we
do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm
a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than
Gammas and Deltas.
This quote, from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, is
one of the best possible reasons to move forward with Integrated
Vocational Education. Huxley presents us with a world in which every
individual is "tracked" into a certain group, a group from which there
is no potential for movement. It is, however, also a warning to people
who see the eight intelligences as mutually exclusive castes into which
students should be placed to maximize their educational potential. They
are not.
Like the 16,260 defined colors and shades of colors, every one
of us has a unique mix of verbal, logical, spatial, and perhaps
interpersonal learning styles. This mix is part of the characteristics
referred to by educators as an educational modality. It is one of the
things which makes each of us unique human beings and adds interest and
color to our lives.
From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, educational
psychologist Howard Gardner organized and published his theory which
identifies eight fundamental styles of learning. He also identifies
only two of these--those which are tested by most "intelligence"
tests--as the focus of contemporary educational practice. This may be,
in part, because these same two are the dominant intelligences of the
majority of writers (the recorders of knowledge) and those who organize
information into the compendia we refer to as subjects, disciplines,
and books. Gardner's eight learning modalities are:
- Linguistic (or verbal-linguistic):
The intelligence of words.
- This is probably the most pervasive of the human
intelligences. It is the foundation of almost all human communications
and is most important tool in the educators kit. It is, at the same
time, both the most important method of passing knowledge and the
biggest barrier to understanding. It is also the most universal of the
human characteristics--that of a spoken (usually accompanied by visible
and recordable symbols) language. Verbal-linguistic is considered the
dominant modality for orators, writers, politicians, poets, and
(fortunately or unfortunately, depending on a student's modality) most
teachers.
- Logical-Mathematical:
The intelligence of sequential thought and numbers.
- Considered by many as the second most common
intelligence, this is the style of thought which organizes,
categorizes, and classifies information. It builds knowledge based on
previously observed and accepted facts. It is the foundation of the
"scientific method" of observation, recording, hypothesis, testing,
documentation, and duplicability. It is also the foundation of all
modern technology and our 20th century civilization.
- Spatial:
The three-dimensional intelligence of pictures and images.
- This is probably the last of the intelligences
covered by most intelligence testing. It's most important
characteristic is the ability to visualize--to see "in the minds eye."
This is the modality of the minute observer, the artist, the designer,
and (along with the mathematical-logical) the architect. Where the
logical-mathematical mind sees "what is . . ., the spatial mind sees
"what might be . . .." It is the kind of intelligence which
Michelangelo referred to when asked how he could create such beautiful
sculpture.
The image is already in the marble.
All I do is cut away everythingthat is not the image.
The presence of spatial intelligence is critical in
designing everything from packages and containers to airplanes and
rockets. The designer must be able to see how the item he or she is
creating will fit into, connect to, or enclose those parts of the world
to which it is related.
- Musical:
- The intelligence of music and rhythm.
- Most people think of music and rhythm as something to
be learned rather than as a learning tool. But how many children have
learned the sequence of the alphabet by singing it. A B C D E F G, H I
J K LMNOP . . .. And how many days are there in a month? Thirty days
hath September, April, June, and November . . .. These are mnemonic
tools which appeal to the Musical side of our intelligence. The musical
learner is the kind of person who will tap a pencil on the desk or
paper when deep in concentration. Musical intelligence is one of the
reasons why Lewis Carroll's nonsense rhymes from Alice in Wonderland,
the intense emotion of Samuel Taylor Coldrige' Ryme of the Ancient
Mariner, and Shakespeare's plays and sonnets are easier to commit to
memory than the Periodic Table, the Equation for Binomial Equations or
the English (foot, pound, second) measuring system. Anyone who has
learned Morse code will tell you it is easier to remember the code in
the pattern E, I, S, H, 5, T, M, O . . . than it is in alphabetic
sequence. The musical learners, by the way, are also going to be the
best telegraphers and radio code operators because they acquire and
integrate the code's rhythm and pattern more rapidly.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic:
The intelligence of the body.
- The ancient Greek and Roman cultures saw little
separation between the condition of the mind and the condition of the
body, while many of the far eastern cultures and philosophies are built
around the idea that the body is the teacher of the mind. Western
cultures during the middle ages, however, culminating with Rene
Descartes famous I think, therefore I am in the 16th century, separated
the body and the mind. They practiced educating one to the edification
of the soul and suppressing the other as an enemy of salvation.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic (B-K) intelligence, however, may be (as it is
conceived by some education theorists) the second-most important of the
learning skills. As a matter of interest, there is an entire school of
educational theory which maintains that suppression of the kinesthetic
(hands-on or 'touchie-feelie') side of education actually impedes
overall learning ability. This theory goes so far as to propose that
interference with the natural development sequence of psycho-motor
skills may be a major cause of many learning disabilities. Dyslexia,
for example, is linked to interruption of the 'crawling' stage. One of
the characteristics of the bodily-kinesthetic learner is the need to
'get in touch' with the subject. An individual, for example, who has
trouble identifying rocks or certain kinds of geological formations
from their descriptions--and even from pictures--may suddenly find them
perfectly clear when able to handle samples or get 'nose-to-nose' with
the formation. Another characteristic is the need to be in motion, B-K
learners move quickly and often seemingly without reason. Some research
points to a frequent misdiagnosis of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence as
Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder (ADD / ADHD). Remember that
ADD / ADHD is a physiological disorder which should be diagnosed by a
physician or trained professional. The average teacher, and even most
school counselors, can only express a reasonably-well-informed opinion
on the disorder. In the case of a B-K, treatment by substance may
actually aggravate the situation--and everybody involved in it!
- Interpersonal:
The intelligence of societal interactivity.
-
The interpersonal learner may also be seen as a
disruptive influence in a traditional classroom. This is the individual
whose education comes through open interaction with other people.
Social activist and Nobel Prize winner Jane Addams, for example, found
herself bored and exhausted after a lecture or a museum tour, but was
invigorated by long days of grueling work with the poor and
underprivileged. Addams, like most highly-visible activists, drew her
knowledge, strength, and vitality from the people with whom she worked.
She was not only a leader, but a motivator. She was known for not
talking a lot but for possessing an amazing intuitiveness for people
and their feelings. The interpersonal learners are described in the
field of parapsychology as empaths. They are extraordinary leaders
because of a sixth sense about people and their motives.
- Intrapersonal:
The intelligence of the inner person.
- As one would suspect from the identifying term, the
intrapersonal learner is almost the exact opposite of the interpersonal
learner. The intrapersonal person learns best in near isolation. There
are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that the
intrapersonal individual has difficulty focusing when in the midst of a
group. In a group, the intrapersonal is usually the active
follower--and an extremely valuable asset when the group is trying to
get things done. But this same characteristic of group activity might
cause individuals to be seen as "slow" in a traditional classroom. They
are constantly active and willing to help others, but never seems to
have time to get their own work finished.
- Naturalist:
The intelligence of the world around us.
- Perhaps the more comprehensive of the
intelligences, the naturalistic is also the most basic and the oldest.
In the wisdom of the native American peoples, we find that the teacher
of all is Mother Earth. Within psychological and educational circles
there is an on-going argument about whether nature or nurture are the
most important factors in human development. The theory of naturalistic
intelligence comes down solidly on the side of nature. We come to this
world with everything necessary to the survival of the natural
individual and the most basic of all human needs. We do not need to be
taught to breath, nor to eat, nor to seek out water, nor to avoid pain.
It is only as we grow older, and come to a more complex modern world
and social structure that we must begin to learn about, rather than
from, our environments.
So there you have it; a quick, thumb-nail sketch of some highly
insightful and extremely important educational theory. We freely admit
that it is not the be-all and end-all solution to learning problems. It
is not even the entire basis of the IVE concept, but it is something to
which we ascribe a great deal of credence based on the fact we have
seen it at work.
Your question at this point should be: If this theory is so great, then why hasn't the education community picked up on it?
Actually, on the teaching level, many have. But Gardner's
research and theory are still part of the teaching education. School
board members--the people who set policies and approve curricula; the
majority of whom are not trained educators--often (and rightfully so)
are advised by administrators whose foundation in education was built
and proven long before Gardner advance his research.
This may be the reason that one young member of our research
team recently observed: We take these kinds of tests every year in our
English classes, but nobody ever does anything with them. In talking
with teachers, however, their answer is that they do use these results
personally, in their classrooms, to help develop learning plans--within
the established lesson frameworks of course--to fit individual students.
Original
Copyright 1996, 2001, 2002 - Donald E. Werve, Jr., M.Ed. Copyright
Release for Revision 2007 to Rita M. Wirtz and Donald E. Werve, Jr.
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