5minds howard gardner

HOWARD GARDNER

Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero.

Best known for theory of multiple intelligences. Author of several hundred articles and two

dozen books.

Ph.D., Harvard University

5 MINDS FOR THE FUTURE Five minds are different from the 8 or 9 human

intelligences.

Five minds make use of our several intelligences.

Better thought of as a broad use of the mind that can be cultivated at school, in a profession or at the workplace.

Book is meant to convince the reader of the need to cultivate these minds and illustrates the best ways to do so.

Gradner wants policy makers in Education to be aware of the five minds.

They should know what kind of individual will emerge from education.

This book helps policy makers to posit explicit goals for the future.

5 MINDS FOR THE FUTURE

5 MINDS:THE DISCIPLINED MIND

THE SYNTHESIZING MINDTHE CREATIVE MIND

THE RESPECTFUL MINDTHE ETHICAL MIND

THE DISCIPLINED MIND

DISCIPLINE: TWO CONNOTATIONS IN THE DISCIPLINED MIND

“Mastery of at least one way of thinking a distinctive mode of cognition that characterizes a specific scholarly discipline, craft, or profession.” (Gardner, 2008,p.3)

Training to perfect a discipline (it takes around 10 years to become an expert in a certain discipline).

“An individual is disciplined to the extent that she has acquired the habits that allow her to make steady and essentially unending progress to the mastery of a skill.” (Gardner, 2008, p. 40)

Possess discipline and continue practicing it.

Students may have obtained plenty of factual or subject matter knowledge but they have not learned to think in a disciplined manner.

A discipline constitutes a distinctive way about thinking.

• Not about facts that have been committed to memory

• About the connections, underlying questions, and structures that give meaning to the information.

In the future, individuals who wish to thrive will need to be experts in at least one area-they will need a discipline.

HOW TO 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.”

Individuals learn in a variety of ways

(This is where this mind encounters Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences)

“performance of understanding” give students opportunity to perform their understanding in a variety of conditions.

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34

(Gardner, pp 32-34)

THE SYNTHESIZING MIND

SYNTHESIZING MIND

Synthesis requires us to put together elements

(information) that were originally discrete or disparate.

The ability to knit together information from disparate

sources into a coherent whole is vital.

The ability to synthesize ideas is a vital future skill - a

skill basic to innovative leadership.

Broken down into 8 common kinds of synthesis:

1. NARRATIVES 2. TAXONOMIES

3. COMPLEX CONCEPTS 4. APHORISMS

5. POWERFUL METAPHORS, IMAGES, AND THEMES

Global Warming

6. EMBODIMENTS WITHOUT WORDS

Picasso’s “Guernica”

7. THEORY 8. METATHEORY

THE CREATIVE MIND

“It brings forth new ideas, poses unfamiliar questions, conjures up fresh ways of thinking, arrives at unexpected answers.” (Gardner, 2008, p. 3)

WE as parents, educators, and community members, must take care to nourish the seeds of creativity.

“Recognizing, nurturing and amplifying students diverse talents will underpin successful future schools” (Gardner, 2008, p. 94).

EXTRAORDINARY EXAMPLES OF THECREATING MINDS:

Martha Graham

(1894-1991) American dancer, choreographer, and teacher, was a world

leading innovator of modern dance.

Founder of: Dance Repertory Theater in New York; Bennington School of Arts at

Bennington College in Vermont, and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in

New York

Bill Gates

Co-founder of Microsoft Software Company

Philanthropist in areas of global health and learning

Self-made billionaire.

THE RESPECTFUL MIND

“Responding sympathetically and constructively to differences among groups; seeking to understand and work with those who are different; extending beyond mere tolerance and political correctness.” (Gardner, 2008, p.157)

Respect begins shortly after birth.

Responsibility of promoting respect among different

groups, and displaying respect publicly should be

distributed across society.

Respect is NOT political correctness .

A truly respectful individual offers the benefit of the

doubt to all human beings

PROMISING ACTIONS

School programs with philanthropic tendencies

Barenboim-Said Middle Eastern orchestra Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project

((intercultural) Commissions on Peace and Reconciliation

(South Africa, Ireland, India, etc)

THE ETHICAL MIND

Higher level of abstraction than respectful mind

Conceptualizing oneself as a (good) worker Conceptualizing oneself as a (good) citizen Acting appropriately in both roles How this plays out in an educational or

corporate community

We as educators cannot guide children to good work because the children do not know what work they will be doing in the future. But as role models we can provide the examples to grow to the ethical mind of good work.

THE 4 M’S TOWARD THE ETHICAL MIND

Mission Models

Mirror Test-Individual Mirror Test- Professional

Responsibility

TIMELINE FOR 5 MINDS IN FORMAL EDUCATION

Respect

Discipline

Synthesis

Ethics“Creativity goes hand in glove with disciplinary thinking.” (Gardner, p. 162)

WHY DOES PROFESSOR GARDNER BELIEVE OUR FUTURE REQUIRES THESE 5 MINDS?

Individuals withoutcreating capabilities will

be replaces by computersand will drive away those

who do have the creative spark.

Individuals without synthesizing

capabilities will be over-whelmed by information and

unable to make judicious decisions about personal or

professional matters.

Individuals without respect will not be

worthy of respect by others and will poison

the workplace and the commons.

Individuals without ethics will yield a world

devoid of decent workersAnd responsible

citizens none of us willwant to live on the

desolute planet.

Individuals without one or more disciplines will not be able to succeed at any demanding workplace and will be restricted

to menial tasks.

5 MINDS FOR THE FUTURE

These 5 minds will be crucial in the current world and those who succeed in cultivating the minds are most likely to thrive.

It is up to the Education system as a whole to ensure that this ensemble of minds is cultivated.

In the workplace, managers must challenge individuals to maintain the 5 minds, sharpen them and offer them as role models for future recruits.

Managers should address deficiencies in one or more of these kinds of minds.

REFERENCES

Gardner, H. (2008). 5 Minds for the Future. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press.