Are you out there, Leonardo? I spent the day today in Brighton with a great guy (Hi Mick!) who is a Teacher – and a very good one. He is passionate about developing young people, and is especially gifted in using drama to do this. The education system, however, views his work as more and more “peripheral” to the “real business” of education – which seems to be getting more and more narrow in focus every year. About SAT’s, rather than developing rounded individuals who contribute to society. It struck me how unlikely it would be in 21st Century Britain to produce another Leonardo Da Vinci. Albert Einstein was a day-dreamer who failed mathematics in high school. Thomas Edison was beaten at school because his teacher considered him “addled” for asking so many questions. Churchill did poorly at school too, and talked with a stutter and a lisp. All three had learning styles that were not suited to the teaching styles prevalent at the time. And that same mismatch continues today for millions of others. It’s easy to criticize “the system” – and feel that there’s little we can do to influence it - so let’s look closer to home. This week’s tip concerns the importance of valuing different kinds of learners in the training that you design and deliver – probably to adults. Most of you will be familiar with Learning Styles (David Kolb; Honey & Mumford; Bernice McCarthy) and some of you will also be familiar with the idea of Multiiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner and others) By the way, if you’d like a way to remember Gardner’s eight intelligences more easily – here’s an acronym: Lovable Lads In India Make Very Bad Noodles (i.e. Linguistic, Logical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Musical, Visual, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Naturalist). I don’t know why but say this phrase to yourself a few times, and you’ll be stuck with it forever! Yet many of our training designs still operate as if each person is identical. Possibly the worst educational innovation of the last century was the so-called intelligence test. Two French psychologists, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, developed the first modern tests in 1905. Two American psychologists, Lewis Terman and Maud Merrill, both at Stanford University, later adapted the French work into what became known as the Stanford-Binet tests. These did a good job of testing certain abilities. But they confused logic with overall intelligence, and linguistic ability with overall ability. Youngsters are still being herded into the mythical “gifted” and “non-gifted” streams based largely on testing only two intelligences! Worse they gave rise to the concept that intelligence is fixed at birth. This is simply not true – we now know that everybody has the ability to improve and expand their own intelligence. Better still, we each have access to many different intelligences, or talents. Your learning style is a combination of three factors: There was some interesting research by Ken and Rita Dunn, from St John’s University, New York, who discovered that: How much training in your organization is still using predominantly methods that are a mismatch for many of the learners? Are you designing in enough variety in your learning methods – and are you offering enough options or choices in HOW your participants learn something? And if people “resist” the learning methods, or the content – are you “labelling” them as trouble-makers, or stupid? I thought I’d leave you this week with what it’s like in a very different school – the first American school to be based almost entirely on Howard Gardner’s principles. It’s the Key Elementary School in Indianapolis. Walk into this school and you’ll find youngsters learning in all the different intelligences. You’ll find all the traditional “subjects” being covered, but not as separate, stand-alone topics. You’ll also find everyone involved in music, painting, drawing, physical activity and discussion. For four periods a week, children meet in multi-aged groups called pods, to explore a whole range of interests such as computers, gardening, cooking, “making money”, architecture, theatre, cultural differences and other real-life skills. Outside specialists visit the school regularly to demonstrate an occupation or craft – and most of these are parents. The school is closely involved with the Center of Exploration at the Indianapolis Museum. Students are encouraged to enter into an apprenticeship of several months – in which they can engage in such activities as animation, shipbuilding, journalism or monitoring the weather. Key School is alive with projects, and every ten weeks or so the whole school introduces a new theme (like “Connections”, or “The Renaissance – then and now”, or “Mexican Heritage”) and the school curriculum shifts to reflect these themes. In brief, the Key School encourages all students to learn through all their intelligences – those where they’re already strong, and those where they are building; it focuses on massive variety in learning styles; it encourages thinking and experimentation; and it builds real-life skills through apprenticeship and mentoring models.
Are you guilty of “death by powerpoint”?