NEWS AND REVIEWS IN ART, TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

Integrating MI Theory & Technology

Visualize this. You are eight years old and standing in a circle with your classmates. You close your eyes and cup your hands together, palms turned upward, to create a 'chandelier' with ten lightbulbs. Nine of these bulbs represent your basic strengths; the tenth represents your emotions or feelings.

Then imagine that, although every child in the class has the same chandelier, the individual bulbs on each chandelier are lit differently. Some burn brightly like a neon light, some glow modestly like a reading lamp, while others are weak like night-lights.

These glowing 'chandeliers' are a simple metaphor for Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence. To date, Gardner and Harvard's Project Zero team have identified nine intelligences: Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, and Existential.

First introduced in Gardner's 1983 book, Frames of Mind, MI Theory is an idea whose 'time has come.' More and more, teachers are abandoning the 'chalk and talk' mentality and shifting to a model that seeks to motivate students by recognizing, respecting, and addressing their individual differences. As research in the field of cognitive psychology ushers 'brain based' learning into the classroom, teachers are discovering, that integrating MI Theory with technology is a 'match made in heaven."

Technology is an ideal way to grab the attention and sustained interest of students, to add luster to some of their less vibrant 'bulbs.'

MI Smart! Schools

"In the most simplistic terms, an MI approach to teaching validates some of the activities we enjoy doing most with children, things that involve the Arts, Music, or Drama" says Jane Carlson-Pickering, coordinator of the M.I. Smart! Program in Rhode Island's Chariho Regional School District. M.I. Smart! which began in 1994, has four MI teachers working in four elementary schools, one middle school, and one senior high. The technology aspect of the program began last year and already has spawned an internationally respected Geology project Sands of the World.

Peek into an MI Smart! classroom and you'll see a vibrant group of learners working individually or in small groups. They are using puppets, making models, performing skits, painting pictures. Others are working with computers, using Alpha Smart word processing tools, peripheral tools like 'Snappy,' creating their own web pages, or using computer graphic programs, such as Inspiration, to create 'mind maps' or visual representations of written or oral presentations.

Carlson-Pickering says the pictorial content of web sites or software programs, encourages students to 'turn off' the linguistic mode of processing information and tap into a wide range of learning modalities.

"Computers offer students a multi-sensory smorgasbord," she says. "Sights, sounds, imagery, color, textures, lines, shapes, videos, changes in volume, pitch É all activate that part of the brain which responds to wavelengths of color, lightness and darkness, motion, form and depth."

An intriguing new lingo is developing around cognitive learning strategies. Educators talk about triple coding content (presenting a topic through at least three different modalities to ensure deeper understanding), intrinsic motivation (a highly inspired state) and creating a state of 'flow (a state where students are so totally immersed in their work, they are oblivious to their surroundings.

But the jargon, says Carlson-Pickering, belies the common sense concept readily acknowledged by any teacher willing to acknowledge that a large number of their students aren't responding to 'drill and kill' teaching strategies.

For starters, she says, teachers, have to view themselves as lifelong learners. If they sense that a multi-dimensional model of teaching will engage and motivate more of their students, they should "go with their gut feeling and just do it." (See MI& Technology: A Winning Combination! )

Assessment: Project SUMIT (Schools Using Multiple Intelligence Theory)

The jury is still out on how to accurately and authentically assess the effectiveness of MI Theory in the classroom. Many programs are just now working on measuring and documenting their success.

Harvard's Project Zero team is engaged in the third and final year of research of 41 Project SUMIT schools. In recent interviews, schools where MI Theory is the prominent influence, reported improved test scores, improved discipline, improved parent participation, and improvements for students with learning disabilities.

Patricia Bolanos, principal of Indianapolis' Key Learning Community, home of the first MI school in the country, says technology is a critical tool to the success of their program.

"We have technology wherever you look, five internet hookups in each classroom," says Bolanos. "The more we have, the more we want. I don't know of any child who refuses to try to use technology. They are all driven to it."