"I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Knowledge is not the same as morality, but we need to understand if we are to avoid past mistakes and move in productive directions. An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do... Ultimately, we must synthesize our understandings for ourselves. The performance of understanding that try matters are the ones we carry out as human beings in an imperfect world which we can affect for good or for ill. (Howard Gardner 1999: 180-181)"(Smith, 2002-2008.
Howard Gardner, to me, the pioneer of multiple intelligences believes that intelligence is the ability and skills needed to seek the knowledge needed to creatively solve problems and contribute to a culture. The quote above depicts his personal desire to educate children so that they can become active members of society, understanding how their personal contributions con either contribute to the betterment or facilitate the negative of society. To me, that is what being an early childhood professional is about, fostering the development of children so that they can one day change their world. As Lillian Katz once said, “Remember that whoever might be president of our country in 40 or 50 years is likely to be in someone’s early childhood program today; and I hope she is having a good experience!” (Katz, 2001) As early childhood professionals we have the obligation, maybe more important, the opportunity to provide children with the skills to clearly view and change their world.
Smith, M. (2002,2008). Howard Garnder Multiple Intelligence and Education. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from Infed: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
Katz, L. G. (2001). Last Class Notes. Retrieved December 17, 2010, from CEEP: http://ceep.crc.illinois.edu/pubs/katzsym/katz.pdf
Friday, December 17, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Testing for Intelligence?
“High-stakes testing has significant negative impacts in terms of narrowing the curriculum in order to teach to the test. “ (Education Interantional, 2009) Not only does standardized testing limit curriculum, it measures only a small portion of a child’s ability, as it only test one intelligence. Howard Gardner, to me, the pioneer of multiple intelligences believes that intelligence is the ability and skills needed to seek the knowledge needed to creatively solve problems and contribute to a culture. According to Gardner, intelligence is not limited to one combined function of the brain to be assessed through standardized testing, but rather, there are 9 different intelligences located in different areas of the brain. All humans possess the nine intelligences to some degree, the variances in which intelligences are more prominent makes not only each person’s intellectual composition different and unique, but each person’s learning style unique as well. The nine intelligences include:
• VISUAL/SPATIAL - children who learn best visually and organizing things spatially. They like to see what you are talking about in order to understand. They enjoy charts, graphs, maps, tables, illustrations, art, puzzles, costumes - anything eye catching.
• VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - children who demonstrate strength in the language arts: speaking, writing, reading, listening. These students have always been successful in traditional classrooms because their intelligence lends itself to traditional teaching.
• MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - children who display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving. This is the other half of the children who typically do well in traditional classrooms where teaching is logically sequenced and students are asked to conform.
• BODILY/KINESTHETIC - children who experience learning best through activity: games, movement, hands-on tasks, building. These children were often labeled "overly active" in traditional classrooms where they were told to sit and be still!
• MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - children who learn well through songs, patterns, rhythms, instruments and musical expression. It is easy to overlook children with this intelligence in traditional education.
• INTRAPERSONAL - children who are especially in touch with their own feelings, values and ideas. They may tend to be more reserved, but they are actually quite intuitive about what they learn and how it relates to themselves.
• INTERPERSONAL - children who are noticeably people oriented and outgoing, and do their learning cooperatively in groups or with a partner. These children may have typically been identified as "talkative" or " too concerned about being social" in a traditional setting.
• NATURALIST - children who love the outdoors, animals, field trips. More than this, though, these students love to pick up on subtle differences in meanings. The traditional classroom has not been accommodating to these children.
• EXISTENTIALIST - children who learn in the context of where humankind stands in the "big picture" of existence. They ask "Why are we here?" and "What is our role in the world?" This intelligence is seen in the discipline of philosophy. (Smith, 2002,2008; Katz, 2008)
By understanding the different intelligences, as well as each child’s strengths and weaknesses, early childhood professionals ascertain a picture of the whole child, as well as knowledge of individual learning styles. In turn, the information can used to can improve education by providing children with learning that meets their individual learning styles while at the same time strengthens areas of weakness. This requires evaluating intelligences through a multidisciplinary approach, which assesses knowledge through observation and assessments which are based on student performance on real learning tasks, as this is more useful and accurate for measuring achievement and milestones. Because schools often use the results from standardized testing to base curriculum and teaching methods, using a multidisciplinary approach would provide a more accurate measure of areas needing improvement and learning styles that are not being addressed.
Korean children must endure an even more rigorous academic schedule than children of the United States. Perhaps, because education is viewed as a privilege, and an appreciated view to future success, as it was once not easily obtained. South Korea, like the United States uses standardized testing to assess academic progress, which creates the same negative results. According to the article, South Korean Teachers Fired over Standardized Testing, written by Education International, “The South Korean education system is highly competitive, with government policy compelling all elementary and middle school students across the country to sit the standardized tests. High school students endure extremely intense schedules of study seven days a week in advance of critical university entrance exams.” (Education Interantional, 2009)
Education Interantional. (2009, January 20). South Korean Teachers Fired over Standardized Testing. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from Education International: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=944&theme=statusofteachers&country=korea
Katz, J. (2008). TEACHING TO DIVERSITY: CREATING COMPASSIONATE LEARNING COMMUNITIES FOR DIVERSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS THE EFFECTS OF DEMYSTIFICATION ON SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from The University of British Columbia: http://www.sec.gov.qa/research/samples/MultipleIntelligences.pdf
Smith, M. (2002,2008). Howard Garnder Multiple Intelligence and Education. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from Infed: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
• VISUAL/SPATIAL - children who learn best visually and organizing things spatially. They like to see what you are talking about in order to understand. They enjoy charts, graphs, maps, tables, illustrations, art, puzzles, costumes - anything eye catching.
• VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - children who demonstrate strength in the language arts: speaking, writing, reading, listening. These students have always been successful in traditional classrooms because their intelligence lends itself to traditional teaching.
• MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - children who display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving. This is the other half of the children who typically do well in traditional classrooms where teaching is logically sequenced and students are asked to conform.
• BODILY/KINESTHETIC - children who experience learning best through activity: games, movement, hands-on tasks, building. These children were often labeled "overly active" in traditional classrooms where they were told to sit and be still!
• MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - children who learn well through songs, patterns, rhythms, instruments and musical expression. It is easy to overlook children with this intelligence in traditional education.
• INTRAPERSONAL - children who are especially in touch with their own feelings, values and ideas. They may tend to be more reserved, but they are actually quite intuitive about what they learn and how it relates to themselves.
• INTERPERSONAL - children who are noticeably people oriented and outgoing, and do their learning cooperatively in groups or with a partner. These children may have typically been identified as "talkative" or " too concerned about being social" in a traditional setting.
• NATURALIST - children who love the outdoors, animals, field trips. More than this, though, these students love to pick up on subtle differences in meanings. The traditional classroom has not been accommodating to these children.
• EXISTENTIALIST - children who learn in the context of where humankind stands in the "big picture" of existence. They ask "Why are we here?" and "What is our role in the world?" This intelligence is seen in the discipline of philosophy. (Smith, 2002,2008; Katz, 2008)
By understanding the different intelligences, as well as each child’s strengths and weaknesses, early childhood professionals ascertain a picture of the whole child, as well as knowledge of individual learning styles. In turn, the information can used to can improve education by providing children with learning that meets their individual learning styles while at the same time strengthens areas of weakness. This requires evaluating intelligences through a multidisciplinary approach, which assesses knowledge through observation and assessments which are based on student performance on real learning tasks, as this is more useful and accurate for measuring achievement and milestones. Because schools often use the results from standardized testing to base curriculum and teaching methods, using a multidisciplinary approach would provide a more accurate measure of areas needing improvement and learning styles that are not being addressed.
Korean children must endure an even more rigorous academic schedule than children of the United States. Perhaps, because education is viewed as a privilege, and an appreciated view to future success, as it was once not easily obtained. South Korea, like the United States uses standardized testing to assess academic progress, which creates the same negative results. According to the article, South Korean Teachers Fired over Standardized Testing, written by Education International, “The South Korean education system is highly competitive, with government policy compelling all elementary and middle school students across the country to sit the standardized tests. High school students endure extremely intense schedules of study seven days a week in advance of critical university entrance exams.” (Education Interantional, 2009)
Education Interantional. (2009, January 20). South Korean Teachers Fired over Standardized Testing. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from Education International: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=944&theme=statusofteachers&country=korea
Katz, J. (2008). TEACHING TO DIVERSITY: CREATING COMPASSIONATE LEARNING COMMUNITIES FOR DIVERSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS THE EFFECTS OF DEMYSTIFICATION ON SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from The University of British Columbia: http://www.sec.gov.qa/research/samples/MultipleIntelligences.pdf
Smith, M. (2002,2008). Howard Garnder Multiple Intelligence and Education. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from Infed: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)