MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES IN GEOSCIENCE CLASSROOMS: BEYOND LECTURES, LABS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory is a powerful basis for new modes of teaching and learning. Geoscience has an advantage over other disciplines, including some of the other sciences, in our ability to tap easily into spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and naturalist intelligences (in addition to linguistic, logical-mathematical, and existential) in many skill-based projects. Learning to make and interpret geologic and topographic maps, for instance, can utilize all three of these facets. We also regularly manipulate tactile materials, from rock samples to silly putty and other physical models. Moreover, we can engage students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences by shifting our understanding of learning and teaching from a singular encounter that involves one learner, one teacher and a particular subject, to that of a learning community, engaged in studying authentic and complex systems. Robert Compton’s pioneering introductory course and text, Interpreting the Earth (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977) influenced my pedagogical approach of a) centering courses at all levels around complex problems, b) using a multiple intelligences approach to help students understand geologic processes, and c) emphasizing group work.