Originally Posted by
rpjazzguitar
I have no difficulty believing that there are multiple aspects of intelligence.
But, the link led to papers that weren't convincing. The one referring to hundreds of supportive studies cites references for those studies, but not one of them is a peer-reviewed journal article. That doesn't prove it's wrong, but when the author refers to a 35 year accumulation of information proving Gardner's theory, how about at least one peer reviewed article? I didn't spend a lot of time on it, so maybe I missed something. But, this stuff comes across as pet theory without scientific rigor, at least in the material I checked.
The risk here is that a teacher will think s/he knows how a student learns best based on "learning styles" - but, in fact, misunderstand the student. For example, if you think dyslexia means that a student can't learn to read music and you then don't try to teach it ... well, that's just plain wrong. Dyslexia doesn't predict that.
If a student has difficulty memorizing the geometric patterns of scales, that's a useful thing to know. There are other ways to learn that material. Don't diagnose. Don't put people into boxes. Just pay attention to the person in front of you and adapt. The theory, arguably, is as likely to mislead as to inform.
People have patterns of strengths and weaknesses that are all over the map.
For the teacher of the ADHD student: the treatment is, typically, medication. But, not everybody wants to take it and not all the time. There are good reasons for that. Many ADHD people can pay attention to things like video games, apparently because they're fast moving and engaging. That observation might inform an approach to a guitar lesson. Short, intense bursts, if it's possible to do that. Minimal lecture. Lots of hands on.
I just posted above a study (one of many)
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES BASED TEACHING STRATEGY IN ENHANCING THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AND SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Better yet, consider why for almost 4 decades teachers have embraced the wisdom that can be found in this approach to education.
Ps, there are misconceptions in your post specifically addressed by Gardner, such as “putting people in boxes”. He was entirely against that. His work was to empower the learner to understand how they learn best, not to have teachers label and dictate.
fwiw, we studied his work (among others) in educational psychology classes. It’s not that I’m “passionate” about any one system of education, I just caution anyone in thinking its “debunked” because they’ve read so in a source or two.
Elias Prinz -- young talent from Munich
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