Proposal to Integrate Music and Math Education

Notes by Howard Gardner

As a serious lover of music (of various genres), I’m delighted when anyone recommend that musical thinking/ musical intelligence be part of school curricula. Indeed, it is tragic that in so many American schools, music (and other art forms) are the first to be marginalized—athletics almost never is!

As is argued in this article, music can often provide a promising ‘entry point’ to the understanding of various curricula—from mathematics to history to science.  And it can work especially well for those who are blessed with strong musical intelligence.

Yet, I get nervous when people suggest that we should use music instrumentally (no pun intended). We do not justify the teaching of mathematics just because it might heighten one’s musical intelligence. Once we use music only to raise math scores, music becomes vulnerable if we find another way to raise math scores even more.

Part of education should be the ability to appreciate and to create in various art forms.  Involvement with the arts enriches life. Ask anyone whose life is rich with the arts whether they would willingly give up the arts, and I guarantee that the answer is ‘no’. As far as they are concerned, as far as I am concerned, if the arts help with math or SAT scores, that’s just a bonus.

Two Surprising MI Fans

Howard Gardner’s most well-known contribution to psychology, the theory of multiple intelligences (MI), has been extensive employed in educational contexts since its proposal in the 1983 book Frames of Mind. Today, thousands of educators across the world use MI theory as an integral part of their classrooms or as a foundational philosophy of their schools.

As the United States presidential election of 2016 approaches, many politically-relevant articles have been published profiling the major players. In two of these pieces, both Hillary Clinton and Charles Koch have been revealed as MI fans!

First, via The Huffington Post, journalist Susan Ochshom discusses Clinton’s 1996 book It Takes A Village about the future of America’s children, in which she reveals an interest in multiple intelligences theory. This issue has been brought back to the fore due to Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic candidate for the presidency.

Second, in an interview with The Washington Post, conservative businessman and donor Charles Koch describes an early realization that he was gifted in mathematics and his broadened understanding of human intelligence through MI theory.

While coming from two sides of the political spectrum, Koch and Clinton’s appreciation of MI is an interesting demonstration of the theory’s wide applicability. Click the two links above to read the articles in full.

Stay Up to Date with the ASCD Multiple Intelligences Network Newsletter

The ASCD releases a publication through the Multiple Intelligences Network  on a periodic basis that serves as an excellent resource for MI enthusiasts. Readers are kept up to date on new developments in MI, MI research, uses of MI in the classroom, and even the occasional guest post from Howard Gardner. If interested, contact editor Tom Hoerr at trhoeer@newcityschool.org or trhoerr@AOL.com.

To view this month's newsletter, click here.

Multiple Intelligences Featured by French Education Site

Notes by Howard Gardner

French junior high school teacher Lucas Gruez reached out to my offices in November of 2015. He is an educator and MI trainer for the French Ministry of Education. In this capacity, he helps colleagues to develop projects using the principles of MI. In his words, MI is very useful for 'model thinking' to design pedagogical projects and to teach students that they can be smart in different ways.

To better share this information with his students and colleagues, he curates a site dedicated to education topics including MI. On this site, you can find a plethora of articles relating to MI and even some MI Oasis blog posts, too. I recommend following his posts, especially to stay up to date on MI work being done in France.

Why Teachers Should Embrace Multiple Intelligences

In a recent Huffington Post article, founding editor of Future Kerala Dipin Damodharan made the case for teachers to utilize Multiple Intelligences in the classroom. In "alternative" education, educators believe that the goals of education should be knowledge and growth. This view of education is in conflict with the idea that education is simply a means to land lucrative careers. As Mr. Damodharan states, MI can be used in "alternative" education settings as a tool to encourage students to gain a deeper understanding of the curriculum they're being taught and to become global citizens. By utilizing two key components from MI theory, individuation and pluralization, teachers can tailor make their modules to play to their students' strengths, improve upon their weaknesses, and keep their minds engaged.

Read the blog in its entirety here.