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Reprinted from ArtLinks, October/November 1998 "Thanks for your article "Busting the Myths". I thought it was sensible and well expressed." --Howard Gardner |
In the post-Sputnik era, when most research funding was going toward science and mathematics, Harvard University's Project Zero emerged to focus on arts education and school reform. Its founders looked at the arts as being cognitive in character, and launched the thinking skills movement as well as portfolio assessment techniques. From this intellectual wellspring came Dr. Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which has become a major force in education throughout the world. This article comes from material presented in Gardner's own lectures and writings about Multiple Intelligences. When Harvard University's Dr. Howard Gardner first put forth Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory in 1983, he was unprepared for the huge and mostly positive response among educators. For twelve years he did not speak up about the hundreds of different interpretations and applications of his theory, but was content to let the theory fend for itself. He was awakened from his silence when he learned that a group in Australia had used the theory to endorse racist practices. He has since spoken out about the following myths and practices that have grown up around MI theory, and also around art education, intelligence, understanding, and general school practices: Myth #1: Arts education is a subject that should be separate from the rest
of the curriculum because it is unteachable and appeals to the emotions, not
the intellect.
Myth #2: Human beings possess a single intelligence.
Myth #3: Intelligence is a relatively fixed quantity measured by a simple
paper-and-pencil test that can reliably predict who will succeed in school
and in life.
Instead of being of fixed quantity, the intelligences are raw biological potentials. Individuals can differ in the intelligence profile with which they are born and the profile they end up with. Gardner says while "standard tests may predict who will get into a prestigious college, whether you do well once you leave is probably going to depend as much on the extent to which you possess and use the other intelligences." Myth #4: All schools should be uniform and teach the same core curriculum,
presenting a standard cannon of knowledge.
Out of Gardner's MI theory comes a vision of a more individual-centered school. According to Gardner, the purpose of school is to develop the various intelligences so that people might reach vocational and avocational goals that are appropriate to their particular spectrum of intelligences. Myth #5:
Getting back to basics in education means obtaining knowledge and
mastering the three R's--reading, writing and arithmetic.
It has been shown that a great number of our students, even the ones with the top scores, do not truly understand the material they have studied. They are not able to use knowledge outside of set formulas and they can not make connections outside of school. Students in school must spend a greater part of their time with activities that ask them to put their understanding to work. These could include building an argument, constructing a product, generalizing, finding new examples, carrying out applications, creating works of art, and other activities that demonstrate understanding through multiple learning styles and forms of expression. Myth #6: All subjects should be taught using all eight intelligences.
Myth #7:
Intelligences should be exercised and evaluated in and of
themselves without regard to content or context.
Likewise, grading students on how linguistic or bodily-kinesthetic they are is likely to introduce a new and unnecessary form of tracking and labeling. Individual descriptions of a child's strengths and weaknesses should be used to help students perform better in meaningful activities. Myth #8: There is a single acceptable educational approach based on MI Theory.
Continued... |
