Let’s make our minds up for the future

I love Howard Gardner, as only a pedagogy geek can. I love the way his mind works, about how he helps me see others for who they are. His theory of multiple intelligences has been helping personalised learning develop for decades.

Howard’s work first came to me attention when studying early learning in Italy – in the Reggio context. The fact that he has maintained a deep, ongoing dialogue with the Reggio teachers makes my faith in his wisdom as solid as gold.

Today, I was delighted to hear of a lecture series he gave at our new “guild” – the RSA in London last April. Thanks to Teachers TV, Howard’s examination of “the mental capacities needed for the future in a globalised world” is available to all.

The kinds of minds he suggests should be cultivated are three cognitive ones: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind and the creating mind, and two that deal with the human sphere: the respectful mind and the ethical mind.

Gardener discusses how these can be best nurtured, and points out some of the inevitable tensions created between them.

After the lecture a group of teachers discuss how these ideas are used in practice in the classroom today.

http://www.teachers.tv/video/5452