Project Spectrum Continued VII- Domain Specific, Correlation, and Strength (The Arc of Learning)

Howard Gardner and the research team were interested in the following questions:

      1.   Do young children have domain-specific as well as more general strengths?

      2.   Is there any correlation between performances in different activities?

      3.   Does a child's strength in one domain facilitate or hinder performance in other domains?

In Question  #1, the majority of the children's strengths and weaknesses were identified in relation to the group. In all cases, areas of strength and weakness were identified for each child. In Question #2 the results indicated little correlation between the activities. In Question #3 there was some evidence that a child's strength in one area might facilitate performance in another. In regards to a child's working style Gardner and his colleagues were interested in two issues:

      1.   Do children utilize distinctive working styles when solving

           problems from different domains? (And if so, what is the

           nature of the differences in a child's areas of strength and

           weakness?)

      2.   Are some working styles more effective than others in

           particular domains?

With the first issue "...the majority of children, while one or two working styles were usually obtained across domains, other working styles depended more on the content of the area being explored."  In the second issue, "some of the children who exhibited a consistent working style were clearly helped by their content - Neutral Style, whereas others were probably hindered by it. Project Spectrum revealed outstanding strengths that had not otherwise been identified in eight out of the seventeen children, all together Spectrum identified twelve strengths that had not been identified by parent or teacher. The domains of strength included science, visual arts, music, and social understanding.

The Seven Multiple Intelligences

*MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE

      Parts of the brain play important roles in perception and the

      production of music.

*BODILY-KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE

      Control of the body's movement is localized in the motor cortex.

      "Body movement undergoes a clearly defined developmental

      schedule in children."

*LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL

      Problem-solving abilities

*VISUAL-SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

      Ability to create visual-spatial representations of the world.

*INTERPERSONAL

      The ability to work effectively with others, to understand them,

      and to notice their goals, motivations, and intentions.

*INTRAPERSONAL

      The ability to be deeply aware of inner feelings, intentions, and

      goals.

*VERBAL

      Reading and writing skills. Sensitivity to nuances, order, and

      rhythm of words.

Working Styles - Project Spectrum Continued Part VI (The Arc of Learning)

Howard Gardner and his colleagues wanted to determine how a child approached a task. To do this, they had to look at cognitive or working styles and intellectual capacities. The working styles describe how a child interacts with the materials of a content area. An example would be planning an activity, reflecting on a task, and the level of persistence. At the time, fifteen areas of cognitive ability and eighteen stylistic features are stressed.

      The fifteen areas of cognitive ability examined in Project Spectrum are:

NUMBERS:

            Number Concepts

            Counting Skills

            Use of Strategy etc.

 SCIENCE:

            Measure a child's mechanical ability

            Logical Inferences

            Generation of Hypothesis etc.

 MUSIC:

            The child's ability to maintain accurate pitch

            Discrimination

            Song recognition

 LANGUAGE:

            Vocabulary and Sentence Structure

            Descriptive Language

            Dialogue

            Level of detail etc.

 VISUAL ARTS:

            Portfolios

            Detail

            Representation

            Drawing etc.

MOVEMENT:

            Dance

            Creative Movement

            Expressiveness

            Body Control

            Responsiveness to music etc.

 SOCIAL:

            Observe and Analyze

            Interaction with Peers

            Patterns of Behavior

            Social Roles etc.

      In a Project Spectrum classroom, the children are surrounded by rich and engaging materials that provide for the use of a range of intelligences. Materials are used that embody valued societal roles or end states, they draw on relevant combinations of intelligences. In the naturalist corner students examine and compare specimens to other materials. Sensory capacities and logical analytical powers are used here. In the story-telling area, students create imaginative tales using props and storyboards. In this area, they use their linguistic, dramatic, and imaginative facilities. In the building corner, students make models of their classrooms and "manipulate small-scale photographs of the students and teachers in the room". This area makes use of spatial, bodily, and personal intelligence. It is said that children need to observe competent adults or older peers at work or play in these areas.

      With observation, children come to appreciate "the reasons for the materials as well as the nature of the skills that equip a master to interact with them in a meaningful way. (Gardner, 1993). Over a year, children have ample opportunity to explore the learning areas and for the most part, teachers can readily observe a child's interests and talents during the year. At the end of the year, the research team summarized the information obtained on each child in a brief essay called a Spectrum Report. The Spectrum Report describes each child's strengths and weaknesses and gives information about what might be done at home, in school, or in the community to build on the child's strengths and weaknesses.

    The analysis presented is based on data collected during the 1986-87 and 1987-88 school years.

Project Spectrum Part V Multiple Intelligences(The Arc Of Learning)

The introduction of Project Spectrum marked a new approach to assessment. Researchers in cognitive and neural sciences provided fresh support for a diverse perspective on cognition. They proposed that the mind is divided into distinct realms of functioning (Gardner, 1993). Gardner defined intelligence as the ability to solve problems and create products that are valued in various cultural settings. According to his theory on multiple intelligences, he suggested that all normal individuals are capable of at least seven "relatively autonomous forms of intellectual accomplishment," each based on a biological potential. He also stated that individuals exhibit a mix of several intelligences. He emphasized that after early infancy, intelligences become embedded in symbol systems such as spoken language and picturing systems.

These systems are notational, such as maps and musical or mathematical notation, as well as fields of knowledge like journalism and mechanical engineering. Gardner pointed out that education represents the cultivation of intelligences over time in culturally fashioned systems. These intelligences are considered biopsychological constructs as they constitute cognitive resources that allow an individual to forge a meaningful connection to a content area. Once the intelligences have been identified, there is a need to assess them. This is the main focus of Project Spectrum. It is "an innovative attempt to measure the profile of intelligences and working styles of young children." The project, a long-term collaborative research effort by several researchers at Harvard Project Zero and David Feldman at Tufts University, focuses on preschool children and aims to detect early individual differences reliably. The project also addresses the predictive value of early identification.

The information gathered from this project can benefit both parents and teachers by providing insights into a child's cognitive competencies, especially during a time when the young child's brain is especially malleable, and schools are likely to be more flexible in their curricula. Initially, the Spectrum Project sought the early indicators of the seven intelligences, but it became apparent that many more competencies warranted examination. Gardner and his colleagues delved into production and perception in music, invented and descriptive narrative in language, and expressive and athletic movement in the bodily-kinesthetic domain.

They also used the notion of adult end states to focus on skills and abilities relevant to achieving significant and rewarding adult roles in society. Instead of concentrating solely on school-related skills, they examined competencies that utilize scientific inventiveness and the child's ability to tell a story or describe an experience.