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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