~ The MI News ~

~ The MI News ~

Summer 2002 Edition (Volume 4, Number 4) | Previous Issues of MI-News

Publisher Branton Shearer | Editor Cliff Morris |

Table of Contents

1. Multiple Intelligences at Holy Cross Primary School, Glenwood, New South Wales, Australia

2. Bridging the Gap: Midas at Work for At-Risk Students by Kelly Foreman

3. Applying Multiple Intelligences in Graduate Education: A Very Preliminary Study by Dr. Rohn Kessler

4. Predicting Physical Activity Through Multiple Intelligences by Michael J. Brumm

5. Freshman Receiving the MIDAS Touch by Nancy Fluke

6. Two Claims for Multiple Intelligences Theory: H. Gardner - Comment by C. Morris

1. Multiple Intelligences at Holy Cross Primary School, Glenwood, New South Wales, Australia

Overview by Mrs. Catherine Allabyrne, School Principal

Holy Cross Primary School, in Glenwood, is a new school in one of the fastest growing areas of New South Wales, Australia. It opened in 1999 with 35 students and a very enthusiastic foundation team. In 2003, it will have an enrolment of approximately 500 students. Prior to its opening , much time was spent in defining education. We spent additional time researching and visioning what this new school would then look and feel like and how it might function. Our aim was twofold: to develop Christian learners who would influence society and to provide students with positive attitudes and a love for life-long learning.

At the end of 1998, I visited Tom Hoerr's New City School. His team generously welcomed us in sharing their experiences and journey. I came away from that visit convinced that we too could achieve the impossible. Now, four ears later, we feel that we are on the way. I am convinced that we have the essential ingredients -- a professional dedicated staff with a commitment to children and learning including a passion for excellence.

Michelle Beck's Year 1 Classroom Program

This is my second year at Holy Cross Primary School and my second year teaching Grade 1. I have a class of 28 lively but loveable six and seven year olds of mixed abilities, learning needs, cultural backgrounds, and ways of learning or intelligences. As my students have a range of learning needs and abilities and learn using a variety of intelligences, I am ever mindful when planning lessons that I have to identify and assess these needs and plan experiences so that these children can participate in meaningful ways. This takes time and thought as many concepts and content are taught through the different intelligences in order to reach the students.

My Grade 1 Program

Our overall theme for this year is Me and My World. As one of our units of study for this term, we are learning all about sea animals. I have set up learning centers which the children rotate through over a course of a few weeks. In these centers, the students use their various intelligences to investigate sea animals. For example, they use their the bodily / kinaesthetic intelligence to create different kinds of fish from materials such as play dough, paper plates, coffee filters, and old CD's. They use their verbal-linguistic intelligence to work cooperatively in pairs or within small groups, sharing a pen to make as many words as they can from the large word 'angelfish.' They use colour pencils to record their names after their word. This builds individuality for the personal intelligences, the most important intelligences in the classroom. These personal skills need to be explicitly taught so that they can work together while using their other intelligences. For those stronger in the personal intelligences, this is an easy task. In our school, we call these intelligences co-operative learning; we have many such cooperative learning structures and strategies in place throughout our classrooms.

To explore the visual-spatial intelligence and to cater to such learners, the students made ocean dioramas using shoe boxes under the creative direction of a parent helper. This freedom allowed me to roam around and work with children doing a fish quiz on the computer which keeps those logical mathematical learners happy. They were happy to locate the information from an online dictionary. This enchanted learning to help those in their group not so confident at locating information and reading diagrams. It also enabled me to listen to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with a group who then used water colours and pencils to draw what they imagined while listening to the music.

The water colours encourages an eye for detail in the children. All this happens several times a week with the children working in their cooperative groups which are formed early in the year with input from both me and the children. The groups are heterogeneous and contain children of different abilities, personalities and intelligences. In this way, they tend to learn from each other. I have balanced literacy groups which for the most part are formed according to their reading ability but sometimes they work on literacy tasks in their cooperative groups and I use flexible grouping where I pull out children of the same ability to hear them read and work on a new text/reader. I did this , this term with the big book" Rainbow Fish" and had children acting out a fish poem using percussion instruments where they had to use their interpersonal intelligence to organise their group performance. At the same time I had children using their body/kinaesthetic intelligence to sew with needle and yarn around an outline of a fish to be framed and displayed...at some point over the next few weeks!

I had the class work individually as a writing response to create postcards to the octopus from the "Rainbow Fish" thanking him for helping the fish become a better friend. First, they completed a draft. Then, then published a final copy as I have been trying to encourage the idea of "quality work' with my children. My motto has been: a little done well is better than a lot done just so, so ...the idea of "quality over quantity" at the same time talking about "excellence rather than perfection " so as to keep promoting risk taking, but also to encourage editing and publishing skills.

Student Assessment: Assessing is always a challenge and more so when working with the multiple intelligences. I perform diagnostic testing rather than standardized tests for reading. Most of my assessing for the intelligences are observational, 'kid watching ' anecdotal records, some digital photos of learning tasks with an anecdotal comment. The challenge with assessment is time. It is something I really want to work on and refine in 2003...any ideas out there would be welcomed. Many of the Multiple Intelligences just cannot be assessed with a tangible work sample. I am thus planning to do more student self-assessment and students choosing what they want to put in their learning portfolio. That is, I am attempting to have them identify the intelligences that they used with specific piece of work ... or if the personal intelligence are involved, what activities were involved. I would also like to do more work in getting the children to identify which intelligences they are stronger in as this is good also for encouraging their self awareness and encouraging reflection. To that end, I believe that the intrapersonal intelligence is important for the development of interpersonal and something that children find hard or have little chance to do these days.

Classroom Mediation: 'I have done meditation once a week with the children in order to encourage them to practice stillness and mindfulness and often they draw afterwards or verbalise their thoughts in a community circle only if they wish to share. This is to explore their intrapersonal intelligence and also to encourage their imaginative thinking. It is hard for many six year olds to be still for long ...as you can imagine !, and I would like to revise this in 2003 by doing a little basic, simple yoga ( I do yoga every Saturday myself) followed by some simple relation to still the mind. This way the children are combining their intrapersonal and bodily/kinaesthetic intelligences and I just know that wriggly six year old boys would like being a cat or being a bird in a simple yoga pose making the noise of that animal as opposed to lying still with eyes closed!

Classroom Arrangement: My classroom arrangement will not change in 2003 as this year I took out half of the tables and chairs, collapsed them and put them in my large storeroom so that I have additional floor space to set up different MI centres. The children love working on the floor with clip-boards and I often let them choose where they would like to work. I have a large classroom made doubly larger with less tables and chairs and I have some areas labeled with Multiple Intelligence signs but not all as some are best being moveable centres. I have a verandah, so some children like to work outside there for role plays and music and we have a classroom garden that needs to be planted out ...when we get some rain . I would like to plant lavender and herbs and flowers to encourage sketching and close observation work and also as a sensory garden exploring smell as well as colour and texture. We do "plants" as a mini unit during the year as part of our year long theme.

Parental Education: Parent education and MI is another ongoing, universal challenge. I feel, for all schools , not just my own school. Parents like the notion of MI and cooperative learning (the personal intelligences) but they have their own school memories to draw upon which are largely traditional, based on verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical and traditional learning structures like desks in rows and 20 word spelling tests etc. It is by providing ongoing information that we can help educate and enlighten parents about MI. We do this often at our school by having parent forums in the evenings on various topics such as homework, the personal intelligences, literacy and numeracy and what they look like at our school. I would like to further develop these in 2003 by having workshops in my classroom whereby parents can actively participate in hands on learning experiences at the different intelligence centres in the classroom and then questions and answers both during and after the session. In this way, parents, like their children, experience the tasks first hand.

Another project I began this year and plan to continue in 2003 is homework packs based on the following themes: sea, farms, animals, rhymes, plants and recycling. I decided to make a pack representing each of the Multiple Intelligence but have yet to make the verbal-linguistic or logical/mathematical units. The purpose was twofold: to give the children a chance to explore their different intelligences when they self-selected one of these packs and to raise awareness with the parents about the tasks used to foster all the intelligences.

This project has been very successful. Thus far, I have received considerable positive feedback from the parents. What was encouraging was the fact that it gave parents ample opportunities to observe their children and to find out what they enjoyed and thus their strengths. I had a comment from a parent that her daughter enjoyed the jump rope pack as she is good at skipping; another parent commented that her son picked a particular pack because it had no writing in it to do. Another parent mentioned that her son was never motivated to do homework from homework calendars. However, now, he is motivated to do tasks because he can self select packs, for example, the egg and dinosaur pack. I may even use these packs as a tool for student self-assessment and exploring about what intelligences they enjoy and /or are good at. To repeat, time is constantly a factor when cooperative teaching and programming occurs. Collegiality is valued at or school in that all staff members receive a day each term with our grade partners to plan the term's work and to evaluate past programs. During this time, we plan MI tasks and share ideas.

Summary

These are some of the challenges and ideas I am currently working with in implementing MI in my classroom and of which I will continue to grapple with, think about, and refine in year 2003. As we are a developing school we have a long way to go on our MI journey and welcome any ideas and dialogue from around the globe. Our school has a chance to present our ideas we are working with at a school district conference in May where we are presenting "Focus on Learning "projects. Our school is presenting projects about MI, cooperative Learning, reflective teaching and school/home learning connections.

Editor's Note: Due to space limitations, certain sections of the above commentary was abbreviated. To read additional comments about similar Holy Cross Primary School projects, please fee free to visit the school's web site, at http://www.holycross.nsw.edu.au/ and click on Focus on Learning Proposals. Michelle's project, Home-School Connection, features the homework packs just mentioned. To contact Michelle about her ongoing MI program, email her @ sbeck@bigpond.net.au

2. Bridging the Gap: Midas at Work for At-Risk Students by Kelly Foreman

The transition from middle school to high school can be extremely trying on many students in today’s society. Many times, these students find themselves struggling in academics because their needs in the learning spectrum have not been met. At Kent Roosevelt High School. I am involved in a program, titled Bridges, which has been designed to meet the needs of students who are labeled “at-risk” after leaving the middle school level. In many cases, these students have been taught at a linguistic level, and therefore their needs have not been met. After meeting with Branton, I have been able to examine my lessons and find ways to include different intelligences as choices in order to help my students achieve success. This is where Midas came in when this program began, and finds itself as a perfect fit to help the staff of our Bridges team along with myself, design a curriculum that finally meets the needs of the students we work with each and every day.

This past year, I have really been looking back and reflecting on the success of determining the intelligences of my students and finding ways to incorporate them into my lessons. An important aspect of my classroom with at-risk students has always been to encourage and require them to journal in order to reflect on their thoughts. This has been a success, and I continue to have them do the traditional journaling from time to time. However, I also have been able to introduce a new lesson that ties in more of what the Midas has been establishing all along, as well as keeping my favorite process of journaling intact. This process is titled “creative journaling”. Through the use of art, music, and written prompts, I have my students journal on what they took from hearing or seeing the prompts. After this, the students then can respond in other creative formats, such personal art, poems, lyrics, stories, personal experiences, etc. I have seen students who have always found that they have trouble expressing themselves linguistically, now find that they can express their thoughts using their other intelligences. The Midas test and the foundations it can give teachers about their students has been an extreme success for my classroom. Students who were “assigned” to the high school, and who never have felt success linguistically, now can have a way to express their thoughts through their other intelligence strengths and feel successful about doing so.

Kelly Foreman is a teacher at Kent Roosevelt High School. He email address is KJForeman@cs.com

3. Applying Multiple Intelligences in Graduate Education: A Very Preliminary Study by Dr. Rohn Kessler

Abstract: Admission to and success in graduate school demands that students have strong skills in linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, and this tradition seems likely to continue. In a pilot study to examine the possible advantages of adding other intelligences, 20 graduate students in Educational Leadership took a course in Adult Learning centered around the multiple intelligences (MI). Students were first administered the MIDAS questionnaire and received a Profile of their eight intelligences. Two other MI questionnaires were used to obtain baseline and end-of-course information. In addition to traditional academic requirements, students were given two MI tasks. Task 1 involved teams of 3-4 students presenting adult learning concepts using at least three intelligences. Task 2 required that each student use 3 or more intelligences, including their weakest MIDAS scale, to present a personally meaningful learning concept. Results indicated that many graduate students were initially uncomfortable when asked to apply thinking in other than verbal and logical-mathematical frames of mind. By the conclusion of the class, at least seventy percent of students agreed that 1) their MIDAS Profiles helped with their presentations, 2) the MI format made the class more interesting and enjoyable, 3) the class will change the way ”I teach, learn, and lead.” Implications for further research are discussed.

Introduction

Some educators advocate that, by acknowledging the existence of and strengthening many or multiple intelligences (MI), we can improve learning, thinking, and creativity (Gardner, 1999). The common set of intelligences presently include: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. Other educators claim that, to reach the widest range of minds, we should teach the same idea two, three or more different ways (Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (1999). Still others note that learning is better understood, retained and sustained when it is whole-brained and addressed to a student’s most preferred thinking style (Felstehausen, Boldrey and Herrmann-Nedhi, 2001).

What’s a professor to do? In a sentence completion test, what word follows “multiple intelligence?” “Theory” is a common response. Perhaps it is time to move beyond the theory. Several years ago at an AERA meeting in New York, there was a discussion between Eliot Eisner and Howard Gardner regarding implementing the multiple intelligences into doctoral programs of education. The question is: “What place do the multiple intelligences (MI) have in graduate school and the assessment (dissertation) process?"

Dr. Eisner, Professor of Education and Art at Stanford University, advocated for considering MI products (i.e. novels) to replace some parts or all of the traditional Master’s thesis or dissertation. Dr. Gardner, Professor in Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seemed more cautious and inclined to uphold the traditional academic benchmarks. The question is: Should graduate school educators and policy makers consider allowing, even encouraging, adult learners to demonstrate deep understanding and mastery using the multiple intelligences? What happens to graduate education, for example, when students begin to write novels or plays, make movies, or incorporate dance, mime, music and movement into their learning? Can short stories, a computer program, graphic novel, or a series of paintings, maps, digital photographs or CAD drawings ever become a valued part of the thesis or dissertation? What happens, in other words, when we add a fourth R to the 3 Rs?

The Fourth "R"

Some assert that the fourth “R” refers to responsibility, art, religion or even computers. What if the 4^th R is Representin’ — the ability to convey meaning and denote understanding? If there are ways to be intelligent other than logical-mathematical-problem-solving and linguistic, then there must be several more or many other ways represent this knowledge and assess deep understanding. The power of multiple intelligences is enhanced when Representin’ is added to Readin’, Ritin’, and “Rithmatic’, and the other intelligences.

What do we do with this new paradigm? If it is true that we tend to teach the way we were taught, then we may benefit from challenging ourselves to be smart in several new ways. It is not enough that we know about multiple intelligences or about teaching something several different ways. We know all the intelligences personally when we know how to teach several or many different ways. We can begin by 1) designing curricula with all the intelligences in mind, 2) identifying key concepts, core operations and skill sets in our area of expertise, 3) modeling many or all of the intelligences as best we can, and 4) assessing levels of mastery and understanding in multiple formats. These tasks are, of course, very different, difficult, challenging and even intimidating.

The Pilot Study

A pilot study was undertaken in an Adult Learning class, one of four foundational courses in the Educational Leadership. Among the many objectives are that students will a) understand continuous lifelong, learning, b) examine themselves as adult learners and develop a personal learning profile, c) be able to understand and apply adult learning theory, and d) design a plan for personal and professional development.

The class was designed to combine traditional graduate school academics with multiple intelligence knowledge and performance. In addition to the main text (Peak Learning, by Ronald Gross), the following three books were utilized: Learning in Adulthood by Merriam and Caffarella, Sparks of Genius by Drs. Root-Bernstein, and Intelligence Reframed by Howard Gardner. The MI components required that students 1) get together in small teams and use three intelligences to represent a key concept in adult learning and 2) individually use three intelligences (including their weakest) to demonstrate the deep understanding of an adult learning concept that is very meaningful in their lives.

The class met 12 times for three-hour classes during the summer. The students consisted of seventeen K-12 educators, two college Deans and one Principal. During the first class, students filled out one of two Multiple Intelligences Questionnaires. The Multiple Intelligence Developmental Assessment Scale (MIDAS) was then given to all students who received their results the following class. The MIDAS strives to provide objective information on intellectual development and realistic data for making informed choices about personalized educational plans based on strength and potential (Shearer, 1996). All students were instructed to create a Brief Learning Summary in order to a) ensure the accuracy of their M.I. Profile, b) help them identify both strengths and weaknesses, and c) motivate them to increase intellectual development, academic success, and personal fulfillment.

Results of MI Questionnaire 1.0 indicated that all students were familiar with MI theory but that 33% did not apply it often in their work. Moreover, 50% of these adult learners, who ranged in age from 26 to 55, did not apply MI into their lives at all.

Students initially responded to the class with mixed emotions. Many were uncomfortable with the format, preferring the usual — to read a lot, write a paper or two, and take a final exam. The instructor personally demonstrated the use of the multiple intelligences in every class. During the first class, he used juggling to teach personal responsibility. Twice thereafter he used three intelligences to model what they were required to do. First, he played the violin, told a story, wrote a song, and demonstrated intrapersonal awareness. Later on he brought in a bodywork table to demonstrate a variety of therapeutic touch concepts and techniques, told a story, and use diagrams and anatomical drawings to illustrate the muscular system. His weakest intelligence (logical mathematical) was illustrated by stories of overcoming analytical and quantitative challenges (learning to use multivariate statistical tools and asset allocation models) and overheads of personal profiles (the MIDAS and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Inventory-HBDI).

Meanwhile, students learned about visual literacy (Kessler, Ditson, Anderson-Inman and Windham, 1996) and experienced the thrill of upside down drawing (Edwards, 1999). They were also exposed to the importance of imagination and introduced to a common set of 13 thinking tools at the heart of creative understanding: observing, imaging, abstracting recognizing patterns, forming patterns, analogizing, body thinking, empathizing, dimensional thinking, modeling, playing, transforming and synthesizing (Root-Bernstein & Root Bernstein, 1999).

Gradually, the class overcame issues of ambiguity, confusion, trust, role, lack of a familiar structure, frustration, and self-consciousness. To keep the students on task and comfortable, they were regularly required to hand in a one page summary of various academic topics and articles (neuroplasticity, androgogy, self-directed learning, peak learning, perspective transformation, etc). Their academic work was satisfactory with a few superior efforts. They were also, from the outset, given key concepts and questions in adult learning to prepare for a final exam.

The team MI performances were quite good and got better with each class, but it was not until the final two classes the beauty, power and effectiveness of MI became apparent to the class and instructor. In these last two classes, each student was to use three (3) intelligences, including their weakest, to demonstrate something about adult learning that was personally very meaningful to them. Both classes were held in an auditorium instead of the regular classroom.

The “performances” were startling in their force, variety and depth. Most obvious was that many adult learners were fully engaged in their “creativity projects” and able to represent their understanding several different ways. One student told a story of her awakening to co-dependency, slowing taping to her clothes labels such as “Enabler,” “Peacemaker,” “Never Says No,” until you could not see her blouse. As she explained her increased awareness, the labels were carefully removed, until nothing was left but the startling silence and stunned emotions of the class. Another student played the drums in a multitude of styles and told stories of being a rock and roll star and then going to Viet Nam. Others demonstrated overcoming fears of singing, drawing, moving, seeing, breathing, or playing an instrument. Some preferred to stay in their comfort zones and were inspired by the courage, talent and wisdom and honesty of their peers. Only one or two students seemed uninvolved with their own activity, and even they appeared moved by the MI performances of their colleagues.

The results of MI Questionnaire 2.0, given before the last two classes, indicated that many students benefited from the MI format. Seventy percent said their MIDAS Profiles helped with their presentations and that the MI format made the class more interesting and enjoyable. Sixteen students agreed or strongly agreed to the statement “This class will change the way I teach.” Fifteen students agreed or strongly agreed that “This class will change the way I learn,” and seventeen students affirmed that “This class will change the way I lead.”

Some comments to the following questions illustrate student perceptions.

A. The main advantage of MI in this class

1. "Everyone will get a chance to learn"

2. "The opportunity to learn about yourself and challenge yourself as you learn"

3. "Realizing how important it is in everyday teaching applications"

4. "I can see how effective and engaging it is with my own learning. I can only imagine the benefits for the kids"

B. The main disadvantage of using MI in this class

1. "It will take time and students may not be cooperative"

2. "That you are made to face your areas of weakness (this is not really a disadvantage”)"

3. "The unfamiliarity causes confusion and anxiety"

4. "I have to plan more"

5. "It is difficult for someone who is structured to get used to this type of method (not impossible)"

C. The most significant thing I learned in this class

1. "Be comfortable being uncomfortable"

2. "Knowing your weaknesses and strengthening them"

3. "being disoriented isn’t so bad"

4. "Be open and receptive to new things"

5. "Don’t just sit there. Get after ‘it’"

D. The most important thing I learned about myself in this class is

1. "Not to be fearful of new experiences'

2. "I can adapt"

3. "I can be creative and figure answers out for myself when I am unsure what the expectations are"

4. "To understand others and tolerate value and respect their opinions"

E. The most important thing I learned about my colleagues

1. "People are awesome and have so much to offer"

2. "We’re all in this together! Some of the personal projects brought me to tears!"

3. "I should not be so ‘pompass’ – leave that to my students"

4. "People are giving, kind and knowledgeable"

5. "Everybody is different and together we can learn using our strengths and weaknesses"

Discussion

What these graduate students, all of them educators, show, is that it is not sufficient to know “about” the multiple intelligences. To be more effective teachers, we must personally experience these intelligences first-hand before we can understand them. The only way to know them is to do them and keep on doing them. This pilot study suggests there is value is pursuing further research into MI applications in graduate school teaching.

This research, of course, should not be confined to education departments. Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein (1999), who have identified a common set of 13 thinking tools, make an excellent case for synthesizing education so that we teach universal processes of invention in addition to the acquisition of knowledge products. Wonderful things happen when the arts are placed on an equal footing with the sciences. Ideas in every discipline come forth in many new forms — intuitive, analytical, visual, kinesthetic, empathic, musical, etc.

Perhaps we need not change what we teach, only how we teach. Adding the fourth “R” of Representation to the 8 intelligences and 13 thinking tools gives us a most challenging and potentially rewarding research agenda.

Of course, all this is easier -- much easier -- to say than to do. But the saying is not so easy either, and much credit needs to be given to the scholars in cognitive science, neuroscience and educational psychology who have gotten us this far. A collaboratorium might be established to map out a theoretical focal point and practical research agenda. Such a team could include academics, visual and performing artists, rogue scholars, and instructional scientists. The business sector, which might benefit substantially from this research, should be involved. Leadership and management should not be solely in the hands of academics.

Some challenges include a) identifying exemplars who can bridge disciplines and model their techniques, insights and processes, b) defining, improving and discovering appropriate research methodologies and assessment techniques, c) and finding the visionaries and the funds to support, sustain and disseminate new discoveries in intelligence and creativity. Other difficulties, but not impossibilities, are certain. But let us not prematurely dismiss the ideas as speculative, grandiose, and quixotic.

Conclusion

Knowledge is sometimes conceptualized as declarative (“knowing about” or “knowing the answer to”) and procedural (“knowing how to”). The goal in such a system is to convert declarative knowledge into procedural. Graduate schools today are challenged as never before to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse group of learners. There could be significant benefits to applying many intelligences into the graduate curriculum and researching the outcomes.

The purpose of education should be understanding rather than simply knowing, and we should aim to help everyone think simultaneously as artist and scientist, musician and mathematician, dancer and engineer (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 1999). In searching for more authentic forms of assessment than classical short-answer examinations, why not instead ask people to do things? (Gardner, 1999).

The results of this pilot study are of the most preliminary nature and suggest that while most graduate students in education are familiar with MI theory, many neither apply it in their work nor into their lives. However, when given a practical, user-friendly and “actionable” assessment tool (the MIDAS), and when shown how to apply several intelligences to teach a certain idea, event, or process, and when required to do several intelligences individually and as part of a team — many students can overcome hesitancy, doubt, fear, confusion and ego and enter into new realms and deeper levels of understanding and awareness.

Bibliography

Edwards, B. (2002). The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence. N.Y.: Penguin Putnam Inc.

Felstehausen, J., Boldrey, T. & and Herrmann-Nedhi, A. (2001). ABCDs of Whole-Brain Instructional Technology. Lake Lure, N.C. The Nedd Herrmann Group.

Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21^st Century. N.Y.: Basic Books.

Kessler, R., Ditson, L., Anderson-Inman, L, & Windham, G. (1996). Symbol-Rich Concept Maps: Drawing as a Thinking Tool in Science. Paper presented at the National Science Teachers Association Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA.

Root-Bernstein, R. & M. (1999). Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People. N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Shearer, B. (1996). The MIDAS: A Professional Manual. Kent, Ohio: MI Research and Consulting.

Dr. Rohn Kessler is Adjunct Professor of Educational Leadership at Florida Atlantic University

4. Predicting Physical Activity Through Multiple Intelligences by Michael J. Brumm

My thesis is called Predicting Physical Activity Through Multiple Intelligences. My plan is to see if there are any correlations between how active a college student is and what type/s of intelligence they are. I am using the stages of exercise behavior change to find out how active the student is. I am going to be giving a survey to 800 students which asks two things: What stage they are at concerning there physical activity, and questions to develop a multiple intelligence profile of themselves. If anyone would like to see the survey portion dealing with the multiple intelligences, you can see it at www.surfaquarium.com/MIinvent.htm. What I am looking for in this study is to see what types (if any) of intelligences are more physically active than others.

Now I am not sure if anyone has done this type a research before. I have yet to find any writings on it. What I am looking for is any research dealing with multiple intelligences and physical activity. The next thing I would like to get is any research article that talks about multiple intelligences. In this way, I can state that there is a need for this research and maybe more importantly learn about multiple intelligences. Thus, if anyone that reads this newsletter could help me out in some way, it would be greatly appreciated. My email address is brumm.mich@students.uwlax.edu

5. Tallmadge High Freshman Receiving the MIDAS Touch by Nancy Fluke

During the Freshman Target Hour, our students complete the Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales (MIDAS). The MIDAS helps students to recognize that there are many ways of demonstrating intelligence and their own unique profile of strengths. Tallmadge High School staff has been learning how to initiate lessons and activities that appeal to or develop the various types of intelligences. In the Target Hour, students analyze their personal Multiple Intelligence (MI) profiles. We are fortunate to have Mr. Branton Shearer, Ph. D., from Kent State University to assist in this program. Students are asked to take home their profiles to have parents verify their personal assessments. One result of the activities is that students find that various study techniques that will appeal directly to them. The relation is drawn to their course selections that will help to develop their own interests and gifts. They will see how involvement in certain activities may be helpful in their personal growth. They will investigate careers that require certain MI strengths. Relationships can be drawn to college majors that will create foundations for satisfying futures.

The counseling staff will follow up in the next months with career guidance inventories that will help students to appreciate their interests and their abilities along with the things that they value. They will be exposed to the vocational offerings available throughout our Six District Vocational Compact. Students will be able to select a specific career that they wish to shadow. Tallmadge has a grant that allows us to take the freshmen out into the workplace for several hours to visit a career area. Another activity that will be done with the freshmen in November is the Colors activity. Students will identify their personality types and how those frameworks affect their lives and their choices. The information gathered regarding the freshman class will be compiled and available to every staff member. The staff will then be able to understand each student’s gifts and to assist them in growth and enjoyment of learning. These foundational activities will empower our students to make better choices in their educational pursuits and in their lives.

Nancy Fluke is a guidance counselor at Tallmadge High School, in Tallmadge, Ohio.

6. Two Claims for Multiple Intelligences Theory: H. Gardner - Comment by C. Morris
If you are a long-time reader of this newsletter, please excuse the following brief quote as to why MI continue to interest me. You probably have already read various versions of this message numerous times before. The message comes from Howard Gardner. As such, his comment serves as an excellent introduction to the novice MI-News reader.

In the October 2000 (Volume 16, Number 4) issue of Negotiating Journal, there was a question-and-answer format-type article (Using Multiple Intelligences to Improve Negotiation Theory and Practice) by Howard Gardner (see pp. 321-324). In her opening question, guest editor Sara Cobb asked Gardner how his MI theory figured "in understanding negotiation?" (see p. 321). As I cannot match his words (from the beginning of his answer to her initial question), I shall quote him directly:

The theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory) makes two complementary claims. The first is that all human beings have eight or nine basic intelligences. School (including law school) focuses particularly on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. But the other intelligences, ranging from musical to naturalist, are important, as well. The second claim: No two individuals, not even identical twins, have exactly the same profile of strengths and weaknesses; nor does strength in one intelligence (say musical) predict strength in other intelligences (say, intrapersonal or bodily-kinesthetic).

With this (Volume 4, Number 4) issue, we complete our fourth years of publishing the MI-News. It has been an enjoyable, interesting, and productive MI journey. Based on the varied emails received, I feel confident in stating that our readership continues to expand into new corners of the globe. It seems that there are many who have only begun to know MI. We thus thank all the teachers, parents, researchers, and graduate students who have kindly emailed us with their innovative MI programs. Have an enjoyable Christmas season.

The next issue of the MI-News (vol. 5, no.1 -- Spring 2003) is scheduled to this web site location in mid-March.