The MI News
Spring 2003 Edition  Volume 5, Number 1
Publisher Branton Shearer | Editor Cliff Morris | Email administrator Larry Wilson

Last modified by Cliff Morris on Sunday, 23 March, 2003. ~

This electronic-only (spring, summer, fall, and winter) newsletter is provided free by Branton Shearer's Multiple Intelligences (MI) Research and Consulting.  Since 1999, we have published two version of the newsletter: this web version and a corresponding email version.  Both contain the same content.  Here are five items about the email version.

  1. To subscribe to the email version, send a message to the following address: join-MI-News@ds.xc.org
  2. For a listing of back issues available via email retrieval, send a message to the following address: mi-issues@xc.org
  3. For a listing of past individual articles, send a message to the following address: mi-articles@xc.org
  4. For addresses changes or other subscription problems, contact the technical administrator, Larry Wilson lwilson@xc.org
  5. To unsubscribe, send a message to the following address: leave-mi-news-390403N@ds.xc.org
If you have interesting ideas about Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI), have a tried-and-tested MI-based lesson plan, or you have some practical MI suggestions that you feel our readers would enjoy viewing, please email me, Cliff Morris.  While we foster readers to become familiar with our MI newsletter, we also bring to your attention two (2) other fine MI publications.  Both are excellent newsletters and contain practical articles, meaningful programs, and innovative approaches.  To read all the issues of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) MI-SIG' newsletters, click here.  And to read another series of newsletters, published by the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), click here.

Table of Contents

  1. Using The MIDAS with At-Risk High School Students by Sally Pooler
  2. Drama and History Tap the Personal Intelligences for Teaching Math by Mark Wahl
  3. 20 Years of MI: Its Impact on Quality Education and Future Directions by Cliff Morris
  4. MI Inspired Lesson Plan by Anisi Daniels Smith
    5.
  5. For Your Multiple Intelligences Only by Cliff Morris

1.  Using The MIDAS with At-Risk High School Students by Sally Pooler

Early in my teaching career, I recognized the need to teach to the individual student rather than to the average student within the context of the whole class.  Now, as an alternative educator, working with at risk students, this individual scrutiny to actually encourage productive learning and achievement becomes even more important.  I stumbled onto information about the MIDAS Profile (and its creator, Dr. Branton Shearer) which identifies degrees of multiple intelligences (MI's) in students, on the Internet while completing a research proposal concerned with learning styles/inventories for a graduate course at Drake University which led to my Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership.

Our alternative school, Futures High School, administers MIDAS to each student (grades 9-12 and 16 years old and above) at their orientation.  Results are given to facilitators, students and parents.  Individual time is spent with each student to explain the results of the profile and how such results can help the youth with his/her current education and planning for desired careers.  The connection of specific intelligences and assignment options at Futures is explained to the students and their ability to either choose assignment activities which match their predominant MI's or those which expand their abilities in their lower and mid range MI's.  They may also ask the facilitators for adaptations which fit their MI's when there is only one assignment option given.

For six (6) years I have been offering assignment options to students at the alternative school so they may show, in their own way, how well they understand the material they are expected to study.  That works out well.  I find that many students prefer to do a kinesthetic or spatial activity rather than something which is linguistic in origin.  I now receive posters, artwork, and surveys rather than written material to cover a topic of study.

In Iowa, we have educational excellence incentives called Phase I, II, and III which have been funded by the state.  Phase I and II deal with salary additions, whereas Phase III projects are tied directly to increasing student achievement.  This year, our district's Phase III goals needed to be tied to student achievement but to coordinating standards, benchmarks and assessments, that is, to begin building a portfolio of artifacts for the new Iowa teacher evaluation process.  Thus, I chose a project which allowed me to write curriculum for a new course.  I still am including assignment options, but this time, I am identifying which MI each option incorporates.  It was an eye opening project for me.  Even though I had been using options which I considered nontraditional, I was still using linguistic assignment alternatives.  It was thought provoking, indeed, to realize that and then try to hit each of the eight (8) MI's equally throughout the document.  I am anxious to see how the students will perform once they start this course; moreover, I will be excited to present this concept to the regular secondary staff.

Each day, week, or month, I see more evidence that the MIDAS philosophy works.  We have a number of students at our alternative school who have some form of attention deficit disorder (ADD).  It is extremely difficult in these cases to keep the students focused on their assignments.  One young man kept postponing research on his favorite artist which involved a one page-word processed document.  However, after doing a required Power Point presentation on the laptop computer for Speech class, he told me how much he loved working on the presentation.  Just the fact that he was creating in a different way, with visuals rather than word processing, was enough to make an enjoyable assignment for him.  Therefore, I suggested that he do the same thing for his art assignment.  That is, instead of handing in a word processed paper, I suggested that he do a Power Point presentation.  The young man worked much longer and more diligently than he ever would have done with the original assignment.

I am thankful that I found the MIDAS and that I have the opportunity to offer variety in assignments to the students.  The walls of our school are now covered with student projects instead of word processes papers hiding in the files.  All students can learn has never been more evident.

by Sally Pooler
Coordinator / Facilitator
Futures Alternative High School
Boone Community School District
Boone, IA  spooler@willinet.net

2.  Drama and History Tap the Personal Intelligences for Teaching Math by Mark Wahl

My use of the “personal” side of math, both in the form of fantasy and historical stories for instruction goes back to when I was working on my master’s thesis in math.  It required investigation of complex proofs in the University of Maryland library’s musty math journals.  Commonly, while picking through a baffling formula for hours, I would gradually descend into that early sleep stage known as hypnagogic, where strange dreamlike episodes often make people wake with a jerk.

In my dreams, the mathematical entities I was studying would begin to animate, Alice-in-Wonderland style, becoming people with mathematical traits.  That is, the negative numbers became negative, the powers did “power trips,” and all were all trying to do complex “operations” on each other.  There was some kind of major episode going on with characters trying to resolve a problematic situation.  While getting emotionally involved in this drama, I would pop awake, details rapidly fading, but with a fleeting sense of having observed a complex “soap opera."

Over my many years of math mentoring students of all ages I have noticed this “opera” reappear in pieces as I search for metaphors and connections that convey math concepts.  For instance, when teaching addition and subtraction of negative integers, especially to pre-adolescents, I find that moods are the best metaphor.  A –9 mood is pretty grumpy while a +20 is ecstatic.

The expression –7 – (–2) describes a person starting out with a –7 mood, receiving a compliment that removes (subtracts) –2 (two negatives) from his mood and now he is in a –5 mood.  Later, students can use the mnemonic shortcut that two dashes together, i.e., a –(– ) can crisscross to form a +, making the expression become –7 + 2.  Without conceptual development or the mood model, though, a student will retain no “gut feeling” as to why the answer to –7 – (–2) must be –5.

Continuing the personal approach, I speak of two different “lands,” Multiplication Land and Addition Land. In multiplication land, there are factors that multiply, but there are other things that go on there like division, powers and square roots.  In Addition Land, only addition and subtraction happen.  Zero is the “nobody” of Addition Land because it goes over to, and adds with, a number and the number doesn’t even think anything happened.  It just shrugs and walks away unchanged.  But if zero takes a vacation and goes to Multiplication Land, look out!  It feels very powerful as it annihilates anybody it comes into contact with!  On the other hand,  one (1) is the “nobody” of Multiplication Land. Yet when it goes to Addition Land, it can at least cause numbers to gently change.

The expression “5 to the zero power” means that there are zero factors called 5.  This happens in Multiplication Land, so the absence of any factors, when nothing is happening, gives us the nobody of Multiplication Land, one. When “nothing is happening” there we must signify it by 1.  Most new learners think “5 to the zero power”  should yield zero, the nobody of Addition Land, but “5 to the zero power” has no taint of Addition Land in it.  (Of course there are mathematical arguments for why “5 to the zero power”  should be 1, but “dramatic” talk like this helps a learner to expect the correct concept.)

A last example (among many possible) of the use of fantasy personalities to make number concepts meaningful and memorable is the simple teaching of addition facts.  I like to speak of ten as the “big shot” or “ruler” or “king” of our number system.  Some kids don’t believe it is the most important number in Numberland.  I say, “How do you find out who is, or has been, very important in a country?  You look at the coins and stamps.”  If you’re in Numberland, you look carefully at the numbers.  You’ll find there’s hardly a whole number that lacks the imprint of ten.  There are numbers like six-teen (meaning six and ten) and six-ty meaning “six tens” and 6 (being one of exactly ten one-digit numbers) and one hundred (meaning ten tens).

Then how does 9 feel?  (Almost important.)  We could describe 9 as “Hungry for 1.”  So when it meets 7 it says “How would you like to hang around with a ten?”  The 7 says “Wow! Of course!”  The 9 says “You only have to make one sacrifice.  You must give up one and be a 6.”  The 6 says “It’s worth it!” and hands over 1, and together they are six-teen (six and ten).  The moral of this story is that when 9 meets any number in Addition Land (even 47) it asks for one and becomes a ten.

The use of fantasy dramatic stories is one way to tap both the intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences in communicating math.  Another way is to build rich historical connections to the math concepts being used or taught: “Where did the symbol “7” come from?”,  “When and where was long division a university subject?”, “Did you know that centimeters were born in a revolution?”, “Which country was the first to use ‘x’ to mean an unknown amount and soon after became a world mathematical champion?”, or/and  “Which country had been the previous champion?”

Tossing in a provocative question like any of these is a way to segue to history.  This especially lights up those math students with active interpersonal intelligence.  Remember, those strong in interpersonal intelligence are good resolvers of personal conflicts, are magnets for friends, and are fascinated by the personal dramas that gave rise to objects and situations around them.  These same students may, like everyone else, yawn during a world civilization class full of abstract facts and dates, but they will eat up the fascinating personalized historical connections that gave rise to the well known math concepts they’ve all heard of.  That gives you a chance to entertain a dual purpose as you teach: use historical highlights to help kids appreciate math and help kids to befriend history.

A very good example of a historical connection is our amazing number system.  It is a great vitalizer and motivator in almost any math class.  Introduce this topic dramatically, when the board has several numbers written on it, and ask, “How many numbers are on the board?”  Suppose “2306” and “37” are the only numbers written. Some will say “two” (Answer, “No.”), others say “six,” counting the number of digits (“Answer, “No.”) while still others have some kind of different take on it, like “five, because zero isn’t really a number.” (“No, again.”).  They may give up.  Answer “There are NO numbers on the board!” They’ll feel like you’re tricking them.  Then write “8” and say, “Is this the number 8?” They usually say “yes.”  Draw a horizontal line splitting the 8 symbol in half and reply, “Then half of 8 is zero.”  Draw a vertical line splitting the 8 in half again and quip, “And half of eight is also 3.”  By then they’re beginning to get the idea, but add, “Then what is this?” and write “VIII” on the board.  They’ll say “eight.” Ask how VIII and 8 can both be eight when the two look nothing alike.

By then, they’re looking for a resolution of this confusion.  It occurs when you make the distinction between numbers and symbols for numbers, called numerals.  That is, “eight” truly exists only in our heads, not on boards; it is a concept.  We can symbolize eight in any number of ways.  From there, you can go, if you have researched it, into the invention and evolution of specific systems of numerals.  The Chinese, Babylonians, and Mayans had good written systems (having bases 10, 60, and 20 respectively), and each is worthy of fifteen minutes of time during enrichment intervals in your lesson plans.  But none of them hold a candle to our current system which has a unique feature that it not only records numerals beautifully but allows calculation with the symbols as well.

This system arrived relatively late on our Eurocentric scene, having stabilized in Europe in the 1600s, replacing Roman numerals.  It’s likely that the Italian-Spaniard Christopher Columbus had heard of it but was probably not personally using its symbols yet, though it was being used in southern Spain.  But where did this system come from?  Students have many wild guesses.  I quip, “No, Bill Gates didn’t invent them!”  In fact, they weren’t invented in the U.S. or Europe.  Europeans were still computing their totals with the abacus and with rocks in trays, recording these with Roman numerals, when our current elegant number system was being used for centuries in other parts of the world.  The wealthy, intellectually and artistically advanced city whose inhabitants skillfully used these numbers in the fourteenth century, way before the Europeans, was the same city that is now capital of an impoverished international outcast country ruled by a tyrant.  That country is Iraq and the city is Baghdad.  It was the hub of the giant Moslem Empire that reached from India across northern Africa to southern Spain (whose west became a home to Christopher Columbus).

But the Moslems didn’t invent these numbers either; they just used them very well and improved them as they spread them from country to country.  The inventors were the Hindu priests of India in the first through seventh centuries.  The Moslems conquered part of India in the seventh century (the Moslems and Hindus still struggle over temple sites in India today because of this) and, appreciating the fantastic beauty of this system, the Moslems “stole” it and proceeded to use it in trade and commerce.  Because Europe spent many decades conducting crusades against the Moslem “infidels,” they missed out on their number system.  With peace developing in the 1100s, there arose the gradual importation (requiring over two centuries) of this valuable tool into England, France and Italy.  One “importer” was the brilliant Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa (after whom the ubiquitous Fibonacci Numbers are named).  He helped Italy become such an important player in the new system of “ciphers” that only Italian universities were advanced enough to offer courses on long division in the 1500s (while other universities felt only competent to teach multiplication).

We have come to know that numeral system, our inherited system, as the Hindu-Arabic number system.  Here’s a research topic: when did this system reach the young America, where early colonies were coexistent with the system’s spread in Europe?  But what’s the fuss about these lowly numbers? They’re just squiggles on paper – big deal!  It was a very big deal in the history of thought to be able to write 111 and mean over a hundred instead of just three.  It was a further breakthrough to write 101 and mean over a hundred even though only two 1s were written and one of the digits means “nothing.”  Each 1 in 111 means a different thing because of its place in the number and in 101 a place is held by a 0, meaning no 10’s are present.  This is the miracle of place value that the brilliant Egyptians and Greeks completely overlooked in their number systems.  These simple concepts are so obvious they took centuries to invent!  This system was so good that no culture has been able to substantially improve on it in two millennia and today it is virtually a world language.

Each 1 in 11,111 means something ten times less than the 1 just left of it.  It wasn’t until the 1500s that a Dutch quartermaster named Stevens (and a few others) said, “Why stop this downward progression at the end ones unit?  Put a dot/marker then continue with another 1 that means something ten times smaller than one, i.e., 1/10.  And so on to 1/100, etc. writing 11111.111.  Thus, the decimal system came into existence after Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World.

This is an expanded example of how historical data can be made friendly, relevant, interesting, and motivating to math learning. There are equally engaging stories of how France’s Vieté originated algebra and became “world math champion country” in the 1600s, and  how, just before 1800, centimeters were born during the French Revolution (“when rich people were beheaded”).  My book A Mathematical Mystery Tour has several historical and cross cultural (as well as scientific and artistic) connections  for those interpersonally intelligent kids of yours, and my other book Math for Humans: Teaching Math Through 8 Intelligences gives many suggestions for relating math to the personal intelligences, in fact to all the intelligences.

To read more about Mark Wahl’s publications and information, go to MarkWahl.com.

3.  20 Years of MI: Its Impact on Quality Education and Future Directions by Cliff Morris

For five (5) days (April 21-25, 2003), two downtown Chicago hotels, The Sheraton Chicago and The Hyatt Regency Chicago, will act as co-headquarters for the 2003 annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting.  This year's meeting will comprise more than 1,300 sessions, with 3,000 presentations on a broad spectrum of topics.  The organizers plan to provide a forum for formally screened reports and presentations, as well as for informal communication to over 13,500 registrants.  In addition, a series of intensive 1/2- to 3-day research training sessions will allow participants to update their specific research skills and competencies.

In addition to the above sessions, AERA will also host some 137 Special Interest Groups (SIG), one being Multiple Intelligences: Theory and Practice.  The purpose of the MI-SIG is to provide a forum for discussing and disseminating research regarding the educational, counseling and scientific implications of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI) theory.  Throughout, there will be sessions commemorating the 20th anniversary of the (1983) publication of Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

First, here is an thumbnail sketch of the types of MI sessions.

And second, here is a more-detailed agenda of the nine (9) MI-related sessions

17.096
 Monday, April 21
 Co-sponsored by International Relations Committee & MI-SIG -- #17

Time: Location: Title:

12:00 PM -- 1:30 PM
Hyatt, Riverside Center, Exhibition Hall, Poster Fair #17
 Multiple Intelligences International Research
Abstract: This poster session will enable researchers to share the results of their multiple intelligences related research with the audience.  A diverse array of topics are investigated relating to MI assessment and school reform.
Chairperson: Jackie Chen, Erikson Institute
Sponsors: MI-SIG #17
 International Relations Committee -- Vibeke Aukrust aukrusvi@gse.harvard.edu
Participants

  1. The Development of an MI Assessment for Young Children in Taiwan by WenChuan Hsueh, Hsinchu Teachers College, Taiwan vhsueh@mail.nhctc.edu.tw

  2. A Multi-Cultural Comparison of the Factor Structure of the MIDAS for Adults / College Students by James Jones, Ball State University, U.S. jjones@bsu.edu

  3. Gardner’s Theory Applied to a Model Self-Rated Intelligence Profile by Petri Nokelainen, University of Tampere, Finland hopeno@uta.fi

  4. Integrating the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy with Multiple Intelligences: A Planning Tool for Curriculum Differentiation by Toni Noble, Australian Catholic University t.noble@mary.acu.edu.au

  5. Validation of MIDAS, a Multiple Intelligences Measurement Instrument in the Malaysia Setting by Suan Yoong, Universiti Sains Malaysia cygnet@tm.net.my

  6. Psychometric Analyses of the Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales in Chile by Raul Pizarro, Universidad de Chile  rauljepizarrosanchez@yahoo.es

  7. Breaking the Cycle of Defeat: Using the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) to Support Teachers and Students in Nine Taiwan Schools by Ji-Mei Chang, Chuing Chou & Shaulin Shann jmchang@email.sjsu.edu

20.10
 Monday, April 21
 Keynote AERA Presidential Invited Address -- Presentation #48

Time:
 Location:

2:15 PM -- 3:45 PM
 Hyatt, Regency A, West Tower, Gold Level
Keynote Address: Presenter: 20 years of Multiple Intelligences: Reflections and a Blueprint for the Future
 Howard Gardner, Harvard University
Chairperson:

Branton Shearer
Discussant:

Larry Cuban, Stanford University Cuban@stanford.edu

22.65
 Monday, April 21
 Sponsored by MI-SIG & Brain/Neuroscience and Education SIG -- #10

Time:
 Location:

4:05 PM -- 6:05 PM
 Hyatt, Regency C, West Tower, Gold Level

Title:

Does Evidence from the Neurosciences Support the Theory of Multiple Intelligences?
Chairperson:
 Commentator:

Read Diket, William Carey College
 Howard Gardner, Harvard University
Abstract: MI theory, first described in 1983 by Howard Gardner, is based, in part, on the best neuroscience evidence available at that time. This session will provide a group of neuroscientists with the opportunity to discuss, from their various perspectives, the implications of recent neuroscience research regarding the validity of MI theory.
Panel
 Discussion Participants:

  1. Branton Shearer, Kent State University sbranton@kent.edu

  2. Michael  Posner, Cornell University mip2003@mail.med.cornell.edu       mposner@oregon.uoregon.edu

  3. Patricia Carpenter, Carnegie Mellow University carpent+@andrew.cmu.edu

  4. Antonio Damasio, University of Iowa antonio-damasio@uiowa.edu

  5. Paula Tallal, Rutgers University TALLAL@AXON.RUTGERS.EDU

34.69
 Tuesday, April 22
 Sponsored by MI-SIG & Second Language Research (SLR) SIG  #1

Time:
 Location:

2:15 PM -- 3:45 PM
 Hyatt, Stetson Suite E, West Tower, Purple Level
Title:

Shared Responsibility:  Second Language Learners and the Theory of MI
Chairpersons:

Marjorie Haley mhaley@infi.net
 Yoshiko Saito-Abbott ysa@csumb.edu
Abstract: This symposium will provide researchers / practitioners the opportunity to discuss how MI is being implemented in second language classrooms to enhance student achievement.
 Participants:

  1. Chairperson: Theresa Austin, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  2. MI and Portfolios: A Window into the Learner's Mind by Evangeline Stefanakis, Harvard University

  3. MI and Emergent Literacy with Second Language Learners by Sue Teele, University of California, Riverside and by Alev Yemenici, Middle East Technical University

  4. Learner-Centered Instruction and the Theory of MI with Second Language Learners by Marjorie Haley, George Mason University

36.56
 Tuesday, April 22
 Sponsored by MI-SIG -- #14

Time: Location:

4:05 PM -- 6:05 PM
 Sheraton, Parlor C,  Level 3

Title:

From the Ivory Tower to the Dusty Classroom: 20 Years of MI in Promoting Quality Education
Type:
 Chairperson:
 Discussant:

Symposium
 Ken Martin, University of Cincinnati ken.martin@uc.edu
 Howard Gardner, Harvard University
Abstract: This panel of experienced and distinguished educators will describe how the theory of MI has contributed to the design of schools and instructional practices that promote quality education for all students. The presenters will discuss the challenges and benefits of MI implementation at all grades levels from elementary to post-secondary
 Participants:

  1. Implementing MI in the Key Learning Community by Patricia Bolanos, Principal, Key Learning Community bolanosp@mail.ips.k12.in.us

  2. How MI Informs Teaching at the New City School by Thomas Hoerr, Principal, New City School. trhoerr@aol.com

  3. What Educators Report are the Benefits of MI to Student Learning by Mindy Kornhaber, Pennsylvania State University mlk20@psu.edu

  4. Multiple Intelligences, Learning for Understanding and Creative Assessment: Some Pieces to the Puzzle of Learning by Rene Diaz-Lefebvre, Glendale Community College r.diaz@gcmail.maricopa.edu

44.18
 Wednesday, April 23
 Sponsored by MI-SIG -- #18

Time:
 Location:

11:25 AM -- 12:55 PM
 Hyatt, Grand Ballroom F, East Tower, Gold Level
Title:

Investigations into the Efficacy of MI Instruction and Teaching
Type:
 Chairperson:

Paper Discussions
 Ken Martin, University of Cincinnati ken.martin@uc.edu
Abstract: These five (5) paper discussions will allow audience members to hear the results of studies that have examined the efficacy of MI theory to enhance instruction, differential instruction, and student achievement.
 Participants:

  1. Incorporating MI Theory into Teacher Preparation Courses for Teachers of CLD Students by Jane Shore, George Washington University jshore@ncbe.gwu.edu

  2. Can I Pick More than One Project?: Case Studies of 5 Teacher Who Used MI-Based Instructional Planning by M. Hickey hickey@ipfw.edu

  3. MI, Educational Reform, and Successful Career by Wu-Tien Wu, Taiwan Normal University t14004@cc.ntnu.edu.tw

  4. The Effects of Implementation of the MI Theory on Grade 7 Students by Osman Kaya, Gazi University, Turkey onafiz@gazi.edu.tr

  5. MI and Learning Styles: Oppositional or Complementary? by Stephan Denig, Niagara University sdenig@niagara.edu

52.022
 Wednesday, April 23
 Sponsored by MI-SIG -- #15

Time: Location:

6:15 PM -- 7:45 PM
 Sheraton, Superior A, Level 2
Business Meeting:
 Invited Address:

Multiple Intelligences and School Reform:  Aspirations and Dilemmas
 by Elliot Eisner
Chairperson:

JiQie Chen, Erikson Institute jchen@erikson.edu
Abstract: Elliot Eisner, Stanford University eisner@leland.stanford.edu will present his views on the role of the theory of MI in promoting school reform since its introduction in 1983. This address will be a follow-up to his 1994 article in the Teacher’s College Record special MI issue.

53.10
 Wednesday, April 23
 Sponsored by MI-SIG -- #16

Time: Location:

7:45 PM -- 9:15 PM
 Sheraton, Superior A , Level 2 ... following the (above) MI-SIG Business Meeting
Reception:

Meet the Multiple Intelligences Researchers
Chairperson:

JiQie Chen, Erikson Institute jchen@erikson.edu
Abstract:

Light refreshments will be available during this Meet the MI Researchers social hour. You will have the opportunity to meet and discuss issues, concerns and problems associated with conducting MI research. Bring your own business card and abstract and build your MI network

56.011
 Thursday, April 24
 Sponsored by AERA -- 47 -- AERA New Millennium Paper Discussion Session II

Time:
 Location:

8:15 PM -- 8:55 AM
 Sheraton, Chicago Ballroom 6, Ballroom Level
Paper
 Discussion
 Title:

Psychometric Analyses of the Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales (MIDAS-Teens)
Authors:

Raul Pizarro, Julio Castillo, and Maria Saavedra, Universidad de Chile
Abstract:

This paper comments on a recent (2001) research investigation completed within three (3) types of Santiago, Chile, high schools (public, subsidized, and private). Some 429 10th graders from 12 high schools were administered the MIDAS-Teens scales.  Psychometric results will be outlined, including gender differences, regression analysis, and construct validity.

4.  MI Inspired Lesson Plan by Anisi Daniels Smith

I have taken two (2) workshops with Branton Shearer.  I now feel confident that MI can be used in any part of my life.  As a pastor, I am making a total overhaul of our Sunday School curriculum.  As a mother, my children are now being taught in ways they enjoy.  They actually ask to do extra work at home!  Hopefully, they will grow to respect their own intelligences and learning styles as well as those of other people.  We had an academic camp at our church this summer, and I taught this lesson.  I am reworking it within an MI context.

Objectives: Students will

  1. understand how selected organs of the body work
  2. synthesize ideas through use of stations and cooperative group work

Setting:

I will introduce this story:  Think of your body as a business.  Every part has a job to do.  But there’s a problem -- your body is being downsized.  As a board, the class will vote on who stays and who gets kicked out of the body.  Each of you will choose an organ, and convince the class (your body) why it should stay.  I will post some organs on the board, and students will each choose one.  Centers will be introduced to give them options on research and presentation.  Students will have thirty minutes to work in the learning centers of their choice over a two-day period.  They will then practice on one another, critiquing each other’s performances.

Four (4) Learning Centers:

  1. Art:  Build a model of your organ using art supplies, cardboard, string, etc.  ((Spatial, Kinesthetic)

  2. Music:  Choose some theme music from provided CDs, and write a rap, song, or commercial jingle about your organ.  You may use props. (Kinesthetic, Musical)

  3. Science and Research Center:  Choose a VCR tape about the body to watch.  How does your organ relate to other organs?  How would the body get along without it?  Ask other people what their organs do to help you draw conclusions.  Gather facts from books and magazines, or search the Internet for information.  (Logical, Interpersonal, Naturalist, Linguistic)

  4. Drama Center:  Write a short skit about what would happen if you were suddenly fired from the body (i.e. person waiting for a bus, suddenly loses a lung).  Design a setting and scenery.  About how long would the body survive without you?  (Mathematical, Interpersonal, Spatial, Kinesthetic, Logical)

Following all preparation, students will present their findings.  They will answer questions such as, “Why should we keep you?  What do you do?  Why are you so important?  Is there an artificial replacement for you that could be cheaper?  Students will vote on who stays and who goes.  After all have presented, students will be asked to write an evaluation of the lesson.  What was difficult for you?  What did you enjoy the most?  Did anything make you laugh?  What did you find out that you didn’t know?

5.  For Your Multiple Intelligences Only by Cliff Morris

5a.  The Personal Intelligences: Promoting Social and Emotional Learning by Launa Ellison

This recent (2001) book represents a novel insight into the practical implications of Gardner's two personal intelligences and how such social graces underpin so much of today's classroom learning.  Moreover, the book provides contemporary educators with a unique opportunity to create optimal learning environments for all types of students.  Writing as one who has been following the writing of Gardner since 1985, I feel that this book is also a must read for anyone seeking meaningful insight into their own personal life.  To read my revised review of this fine professional development book, please click here.

 5b.  Thinking Harder not Smarter Research Study by Cliff Morris

 I am currently field-testing a longitudinal pilot study on MI.  To that end, I require a considerable number of dedicated research subjects.  If you are interested, please click here for additional information.

The next issue of the MI-News (vol. 5, no. 2 -- Summer  2003) is scheduled to this web location in mid-June.

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