Hi all,
I'm curious as to professional development you might be offering
practitioners in your states around multiple intelligences. Is it part of a
larger course, e.g., what Wendy is doing with differentiated instruction, or
a stand alone? 
Are teachers using multiple intelligences concepts in their instruction? Are
there instructional practices changing? I found the reports of the teacher
researchers from the NCSALL Adult Multiple Intelligences study interesting.
You can find these reports at: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26#mip
Any feedback from students?
Kaye

Kaye Beall
Project Director
World Education
6760 West Street
Linn Grove, IN 46711
765-717-3942
kaye_beall at worlded.org
www.worlded.org
 

-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Wendy
Quinones
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 9:57 AM
To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1941] Re: Debunking Multiple intelligences

Tom and all,

I am the developer and facilitator of the Multiple Intelligences and 
Differentiated Instruction course under discussion here.  I acknowledge
Tom's 
point about the dearth of empirical evidence about the efficacy of using MI.

But isn't that true of virtually everything in adult education?  We are 
starved for the very resources that would make such studies available; until

our government funds more adult literacy research, we can base very little 
on empirical research.



With respect, Tom, I wonder if you aren't thinking a little too narrowly 
about what the research actually tells us about multiple intelligences. 
There has been a great deal of research done on MI, and a great deal 
continues to be done. (Please note that I am not discussing learning styles,

nor are they addressed in my course.  Confusion between these two concepts 
is common.)  For some past studies (Project SUMIT, Multiple Intelligences 
Schools), as well as ongoing work in various aspects of MI, you can check 
out the Project Zero website http://www.pz.harvard.edu/index.cfm at the 
Harvard Graduate School of Education, where Howard Gardner developed his 
theory of multiple intelligences.  This began as a psychological theory 
based on exhaustive study of neurological and brain research; it was we 
educators who jumped on it for pedagogical purposes.



Granted, most MI research has been done with K-12 in mind, but that's true 
of much of the research we use in adult education.  I was, however, 
privileged to be one of the teacher-researchers in the Adult Multiple 
Intelligences study, which dealt exclusively with using MI in adult 
classrooms, both ABE and ESOL.  The project, which lasted for 3-4 years, was

a collaboration between Project Zero and the New England Literacy Resource 
Center/World Education under the auspices of NCSALL, then located at the 
Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Much of the material we produced is 
available on the web through NCSALL 
http://www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com/u/NCSALL?q=multiple+intelligences+and+
adult+literacy&sa=NCSALL+Site+Search

including an issue of Focus On Basics devoted to the project: 
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=161



You might also consider research that isn't even directed at MI, but which 
points to precisely the intelligences that Gardner posits.  For example, 
research has shown repeatedly that what have been called multi-modal 
approaches are virtually a necessity in reaching native-English speakers 
with learning disabilities.  The Wilson method uses tapping, which would 
draw on both the bodily-kinesthetic and musical intelligences.  Other 
proven, research-based methods use writing in air, flour, or sand, which are

certainly bodily-kinesthetic activities.



The NIFL publication "Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults" 
(http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/adult.html ) 
advocates a number of research-based strategies that draw similarly on the 
intelligences:  activating prior knowledge (intrapersonal), cooperative and 
group learning (interpersonal), think-alouds for comprehension (again, 
intrapersonal), graphic organizers (spatial), and so on.



My course is intended to give teachers a solid grounding in MI theory so 
that they can intentionally, systematically, and creatively use these 
strategies and others that they may devise themselves, to improve practice. 
Studies, my own included, have shown increased retention, engagement, and 
learning gains attributable at least in part to the use of MI.