Chapter 12: MI and Cognitive Skills

Chapter twelve in Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom titled "MI Theory and Cognitive Skills" discussed how the cognitive development of students and their own personal learning styles affect their ability to think and remember different materials that are presented during the class. Many comments were made about how much of the material being learned and then not retained. Students are presented the materials in a way that are not specific to their own personal learning style which affects how it is stored in their long term memory. It is almost as though current teaching styles are encouraging rote learning. Another cognitive skill that was discussed was problem solving and how students from the United States are one of the lowest ranked in the world in their ability to solve problems. A students ability to process and solve problems is also related to their particular learning style. Gardner’s idea of “Christopherian encounters” was also discussed. The chapter concluded by discussing Bloom’s taxonomy and the multiple intelligence theory and how they are interrelated.

Overall, the general consensus on this chapter was incredibly interesting because cognitive development, the ability of students to recall details, and think in depth is becoming more and more of an issue. Many of us have emphasized the desire, as future teachers, to teach our lessons and materials in various learning styles so that long term memory will be increased and more learning will take place in the classroom. The section on problem solving was also great to read because it reinforced the importance of multiple intelligences on our students learning abilities.

Multiple Intelligence in the Classroom Chapter 11

The big idea that is presented in the chapter, and voiced through my peers reflections, is that multiple intelligence is a great way for students who have a learning disability to comprehend the material. When material is presented in a manner that is understood by any student, whether they have a learning disability or not, they tend to not only comprehend the material, but they begin to apply their knowledge. Therefor, it is extremely important for teachers to try and teach to all the intelligences. For instance, if a student has dyslexia they have a hard time reading for the most part, and if most of the lessons being taught have to do with reading information to learn this student may become completely lost. If teachers teach to all the intelligences then the student with dyslexia should be able to learn the material through oral or visual presentations. This is why teachers need to create lessons that incorporate as many of the multiple intelligences as possible so that they can reach out to the different kinds of learners in their class.
This chapter seemed to be rather useful; generally everyone hit upon the same notion that it is important for teachers to recognize that all students are different in there learning needs, therefore teachers must take the time to develop ways to incorporate all of intelligences when delivering a lesson. One way to help teachers deliver a lesson to students who have a disability is to develop a IEP. Individualized educational programs are designed to help students, teacher, parents, and administrators figure out the best possible way to help this child learn the material. The most important part in an IEP is understanding how the student learns and accommodating, through multiple intelligence, the students learning needs.