Teaching Gardner’s multiple Intelligences Theory as a tool for differentiation:

1. Teaching Gardner’s multiple Intelligences Theory as a tool for differentiation: Intelligence for opening doors Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

2. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (MI) • Need for innovation • New approaches to teaching psychology • Propose MI as useful tool • Existing cognitive theory • Provides a useful framework for differentiation to accommodate learner diversity Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

3. Importance……. • Not determined by acceptance of Gardner's definition of intelligence • Defined by the usefulness of MI for teaching effectively and meeting student needs • Proposed that Gardner's psychological framework transcends discipline content • It may be effectively used to teach psychology Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

4. The purposes of the case study • To examine the reactions, responses and results of 98 tertiary post graduate students • completing their pre service teacher training • when required to incorporate Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory into their plans to support the learning of primary aged students in classroom mathematics activities • to showcase the potential of Gardner’ psychological framework to applied work in the school context. • Secondly, to explore the potential of the MI framework to support the effective teaching of psychology. Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

5. Students were required to….. • Identify own relative strengths and limitations as learners • Become aware of their preferred ways of learning new processes and content • Engage with student profiles sourced from real classroom cohorts of pupils and design tasks and strategies to meet learner needs • Critique and justify views on appropriateness of tasks already designed for these pupils Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

6. Continued…….. • Generate HOT questions for group discussion relating to prescribed book of readings and text • Maintain reflective learning journals for the duration of the course • Design interactive concrete materials to support pupil learning, drawing heavily on their own relative strengths Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

7. Results • Students • Demonstrated increased knowledge of the discipline content and the learning process • Acquired an understanding of learner diversity and an improved capacity to cater for learner differences • Developed a strong sense of collegiality • In turn, this resulted in improved grades, greater student satisfaction with the course and increased sense of student competency Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

8. The Framework.. • Gave students opportunities to… • Know themselves as learners and use their relative strengths to support new learning • Have strategies to learn new processes and content • Solve problems related to real cohorts of students • Evaluate tasks and strategies using own criteria (developed by students themselves) Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au

9. Understand and apply the cognitive processes described in the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy as analysing and evaluating (critical thinking) • Engage in reflective practice to inform learning (describe, analyse, plan) • Create materials to support professional practice. • Put theory into practice……. Maura.Sellars@newcastle.edu.au