Approaching the Multiple Intelligences of Howard Gardner
Title: Impressionism, incorporating Multiple Intelligences (MI), and the French Artist Claude Monet's (1840-1925) painting "Water lilies."
Target Group: 8 and 9 year-old students
Unit Objectives
- Students will be able to recognize and choose an impressionist piece of artwork.
- Students will be able to describe how impressionist painters look at light and paint.
- Students will feel joy and accomplishment through their own creation of artwork that reflects their ideas.
- Students will be able to create a water lily from mixed media.
- Students will feel joy and accomplishment through their own creation of artwork that reflects divergent ideas.
Materials
- Monet prints and books
- Ample artwork, brushes, paint trays, tempera paints, and canvas
- Scissors, glue, and mounting paper
- Tape player and tapes
Activating the Multiple Intelligences
- Visual - Spatial: Creating a painting, lily, and assembling whole.
- Bodily - Kinesthetic: Usage of hands, painting, cutting, and gluing.
- Musical: Listening to impressionistic sounds (music of Claude Debussy) while working.
- Interpersonal: Understanding Monet's (and Debussy's) viewpoint.
- Intrapersonal: Awareness of the ability to create and achieve painting.
- Naturalist: Learning the anatomy of the lily and the optics of color theory.
Evaluation
Using MI allows grade four students to be credible in form while retaining the integrity and basic beauty of why individuals create. The usage of MI tends to exceed ones initial expectations. Specifically, users are often surprised to learn how much of their own MI strengths that can be attended to in the art domain of learning.