Prof. Howard Gardner, Ph.D.

Howard Gardner is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a leading thinker about education and human development; he has studied and written extensively about intelligence, creativity, leadership, and professional ethics. Gardner’s most recent books include Good Work, Changing Minds, The Development and Education of the Mind and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons. His latest book Five Minds for the Future was published in April 2007.

Diese Vorträge werden in englischer Sprache gehalten. Nach Möglichkeit werden wir die Präsentationsfolien auch auf Deutsch zeigen.

Abstract

Talents: The Perspective of Multiple Intelligences

Whereas most theorists of intelligence see the human mind as a single, all purpose computer, I believe the human mind is better construed as a set of relatively independent computational devices—which I have named the ‘multiple intelligences.’ At present, I’ve recognized eight, possibly nine intelligences.

As a bonus, I can now supply the two educational implications that have stood the test of time. In my view, two principal educational implications follow from multiple intelligences theory:

l. Pay attention to individual differences. And to the extent that you can individualize education, do so.

2. Decide on what is really important in your discipline or field and teach it, convey it, in several different ways. By that approach, you can reach more children. Moreover, you demonstrate what it means to have a keen understanding of a topic. Those with such a well-worked out understanding can present the topic in several ways. If you can only present your topic in one way, your grasp of it is likely to be tenuous.

Abstract

The Five Minds we need in the Future

At the start of the third millennium, we are well attuned to considerations of ‘the future’.  In conceptualizing the future, I refer to trends whose existence is widely acknowledged:  the increasing power of science and technology, the interconnectedness of the world in economic, cultural, and social terms, and the incessant circulation and intermingling of human beings of diverse backgrounds and aspirations. 

As one who has witnessed discussions of the future all over the world, I can attest that belief in the power of education—for good or for ill—is ubiquitous.  We have little difficulty in seeing education as an enterprise—indeed, the enterprise—for shaping the mind of the future.

What kind of minds should we be cultivating for the future? Five types stand out to me as being particularly urgent at the present time. One by one, let me bring them onto center stage.