Transcript
Do you Mind?
Reflecting on the impact of H. Gardner's latest theory on our current education.
May 22, 2010Urutesol Regional Encounter
Irene Carro
Envisioning our children’s future
The old, the new and...us.
☒ The capacity to know more is more crucial than what is currently known. (G. Siemens, 2006)
☒ Certain skills need no longer cultivation.☒ Ability to see connections is a core skill. (Idem)☒ Conceptual Age: swimming or sinking? (Pink,
2005)
Shift happens... (Karl Fisch)
The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.
Translation: we are preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet.
Howard GardnerFive minds for the future, 2007
“With these 'minds',(...) a person will be well equipped to deal with what is expected, as well as what cannot be anticipated; without
these minds, a person will be at the mercy of forces that he or she can't understand, let
alone control.” (p2)
The Quintet (Gardner, 2007)
Disciplined MindSynthesizing MindCreating Mind
Respectful MindEthical Mind
The Disciplined Mind
☒ Ways of thinking of major disciplines☒ Subject matter vs. Discipline☒ Improving beyond formal education☒ Mastery: at least 10 years
Features
☒ Period of development: Begins before adolescence and continues as lifelong learning
☒ Pseudo forms: following the letter of procedures without a sense of the purpose of the discipline
How do we discipline a mind?
☒ Identify truly important topics or concepts within the discipline
☒ Spend a significant amount of time on this topic☒ Approach the topic in a number of ways☒ Set “performances of understanding“
The other one...
“An individual is disciplined to the extent that she has acquired the habits that allow her to
make steady and essentially unending progress in the mastery of a skill, craft or
body of knowledge.”
Do we Mind?
“Through education we need to help students find pleasure in what they have to
learn.” Plato
The Synthesizing Mind
Selecting crucial information from the copious amounts available; arraying that information in
ways that make sense to self and to others.
Features
o Period of development: starts in childhood, becomes more deliberate over time and continues perennially.
o Pseudo forms: offering integrations that do not stand up for scrutiny.
Kinds of Synthesis
☒ Narratives☒ Taxonomies☒ and..
Embodiments without words
Rules and aphorisms
“I think, therefore I am“
Complex concepts
E=mc2
Theories
Powerful images and metaphors
Components of a Synthesis
A goal A starting point Selection of Strategy, method and approach Drafts and feedback
Do we Mind?
Next time you think about carrying out a project with your students or colleagues...
“I think intellect...
...is a good thing unless it paralyzes your ability to make decisions because you see too much
complexity. Presidents need to have what I would call a synthesizing intelligence.” Bill Clinton
The Creating Mind
Going beyond existing knowledge and syntheses to pose new questions, offer new solutions, or fashion
words that stretch existing genres.
Features
Period of development: Robust personality begins to develop early. Informed challenges await the partial mastery of disciplined and synthesizing thinking.
Pseudo forms: offering apparent innovations that are superficial variations of long-existing knowledge.
According to Csikszentmihalyi, creativity occurs with the proper interaction of...
The individual The cultural domain
The social field
Do we Mind? Educating a creator across the age span
Childhood
*Foster exploration
*Pursue hobbies and activities that feature more than one right answer
*Show several ways in which a problem can be solved
Adolescence
*Foster constructive criticism
*Envision possibilities that are quite different from their current realities (utopias, counterfactual historical accounts)
Adulthood
“When I was young, ideas came to me; as I age, I must go halfway to meet them.” Sigmund Freud
The Respectful Mind
Responding sympathetically and constructively to differences among individuals and among groups.
Seeking to understand and work with those who are different, extending beyond mere tolerance and
political correctness.
Features
Period of development: supportive environment is crucial from birth, at school, work and in the media.
Pseudo forms: Exhibiting mere tolerance. Paying homage to those with more power and status. Not acknowledging the qualities of specific individuals.
“learn to live with the differences”
When people see some things as beautiful, Other things become ugly.
Difficult and easy support each other.Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each otherBefore and after follow each other.
Tao Te ChingLao-Tzu
The value of respectfulness
Teamwork depends more on the management skills than on the technical expertise of their leaders.
The Ethical Mind
Abstracting crucial features of one's role at work and one's role as a citizen and acting consistently
with them.
Features
Period of development: awaits the time of abstract thinkingPseudo forms: practicing ethics in a small arena while acting irresponsibly in the larger sphere.
Good work
“If education is preparation for life, it is in many ways the preparation for a life of work. Educators should prepare young people for a life marked by
good work.”
Good work markers
A good worker has a set of principles that she or he can state explicitly and they are consistent to one anotherShe is transparentShe takes corrective actionShe passes the hypocrisy test
Do we Mind?Being a professional
What does it mean to be an educator?What are my rights, obligations and
responsibilities?What does it mean to be a citizen of my
community?What are the core values of our profession?
Conclusions: Individuals without... One or more disciplines will be restricted to
menial tasks. Synthesizing capabilities will be overwhelmed
by information and unable to make decisions. Creating capacities will be replaced by
computers Respect will not be worthy of respect by
others. Ethics will yield a world devoid of decent
workers and responsible citizens.
Some final thoughts... Some final thoughts...
“The empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.” Winston Churchill
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther King
Thank you Thank you
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