How Children Learn

As I mentioned in a previous posting, my children took violin lessons. During that time, I had the opportunity to meet Julie. In addition to being very personable, Julie was a gifted violinist, poet, and athlete. However, despite her many exemplary extracurricular performances, Julie received demeaning comments from her teacher and below average grades on her fourth grade report card.

Julie’s situation reminded me of Gardner’s (1989) theory of multiple intelligences that a friend of mine had told me about previously. Gardner postulated that musical prowess, interpersonal acumen, linguistic skill, and athletic ability were four of seven distinct forms of intellect (1989). Unfortunately, for Julie and many other children, the school system almost exclusively focused on “linguistic symbolization and logical-mathematical symbolization” (1989). The system did not support Julie’s learning strengths (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Furthermore, instead of receiving help working on her weaknesses (2000), Julie only seemed to get perpetual criticism from her teacher. While Julie initially wanted to be a competent student, eventually her interest in school started to wane. Gardner (1999) believed that children who are taught in an environment where disciplines such as music are revered will want to “enhance their own skills and achieve disciplined expertise” (1999, p. 171).

Fortunately, Julie had her parents, music teacher, and coaches, to help guide her development (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Yet, Julie may have had a more positive educational experience if a different “teaching and assessment model” (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2009, p. 117), such as Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory, had been utilized. In additional to memorization, Sternberg believed that education should focus on “analytical, creative, and practical” (Snowman, McCown, & Biehler, 2009, p. 117) skills. For example, to support Julie’s creativity, the teacher could have asked Julie to write a poem about one of the founding fathers for a social studies assignment. Undoubtedly, incorporating Julie’s strengths into her educational program would have bolstered Julie’s academic performance.

Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. (Expanded ed.). Washington: National Academy Press.
Gardner, H. (1999). A disciplined approach to school reform. Peabody Journal of Education, 74(1), 166-173.
Gardner, H., & Hatch T. (1989). Multiple intelligences go to school: Educational implications of the theory of multiple intelligences. Educational Researcher, 18(8), 4-10.
Snowman, J., McCown, R., & Biehler, R. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching (12th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin , p. 117)