NEW KINDS OF SMART!

There was a great article in the Times Educational Supplement this week...

We all know from Howard Gardner's work on multiple intelligences that he identified seven distinct intelligences. This approach emerged from research and "documents the extent to which learners possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways". Gardner argues that "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Where individuals differ is in the strength of these intelligences - the so-called profile of intelligences -and in the ways in which such intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains." In the first of an occasional TES series professors Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas argue that the science of learnable intelligence should also be changing the way we work. They debunk these myths:

• intelligence is essentially a one dimensional commodity;
• intelligence is relatively fixed;
• intelligent activity is focused in the mind;
• intelligence is rational and conscious;
• ntelligence is a personal possession;
• intelligence is an individual not a social concept;
• intelligence is universally valid;
• intelligence is an intellectual function.

In their book, New Kinds of Smart, they explore the science that is overturning the way we see intelligence and the advantages of this apporach for teaching and young people's learning. They argue that:

• intelligence is composite;
• intelligence is axpandable;
• intelligence is practical;
• intelligence is intuitive;
• intelligence is distributed;
• intelligence is social;
• intelligence is transferable;
• intelligence is ethical.

It's true that if we are going to build world class learning in our schools and colleges we must accept that we can develop and grow young people's intelligence and that one of the keys is coaching. It true then we can all get smarter!
Chris