Multiple intelligences

This morning in my Facebook there was a link to a talk by the ‘education’ guru Howard Gardner who introduced the concept of multiple intelligences in 1983. This replaced the earlier idea of intelligence as a single entity called G. There is now general agreement about the initial eight and there is ongoing discussion about a further four.

Individuals have more or less of the various intelligences. So what should the education system do (a) build on existing strengths or (b) help to develop weak areas?

I note that there is now thought to be Existential Intelligence which includes sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here. Since the late 1960s I have remained aware of the possibility of ‘neurotic nihilists living in existential vacuums’. Most people that I know steer clear of such big think topics. They rest content with, and vigorously defend, ‘what’ they know, and avoid consideration about ‘how’ they know.

Hang on to what you got
You ain’t got much but it’s all you got
Hang on to what you got
Little things mean a lot. (Clark, 12 June 1970)

A big think approach is to recognise that ‘reality’ is a cultural creation rooted in individuals by nature, nurture and serendipity. It is ‘nothing to kill or die for’ but rather something to be discussed and renegotiated on an ongoing basis.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Gardner 

http://bigthink.com/articles/researchers-find-link-between-tolerance-for-boredom-and-level-of-intelligence# -level-of-intelligence#  Howard Gardner on types of intelligence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligenceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences eight intelligences were recognised in 1983. There are now thought to be at least twelve.

http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htmhttp://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm – short definitions of the nine types

Becalming Doodles

Doodling lies in the middle of a spectrum that goes from colouring-in through to drawing (fine art).

COLOURING-IN >>>>> DOODLING <<<<< FINE ART

Most bookshops these days have sections set aside for colouring-in books. They are popular with grown ups as well as kids. Shapes are already given – all that you do is colour them in. They have a becalming effect.

The Fine Art end of the spectrum is for experts. Youtube has many fabulous examples of the process of pencil drawing. Doodling does not call for such levels of skill although the becalming effect can be common to both.

At all points on the spectrum your busy brain can switch to a calmer way of doing things. You enter  a state of no-self and drop involvement with the past and future. It is a state that athletes call the Zone, musicians call the Groove, and more normal people call the Flow. It is a form of meditation that might be called bliss.

Over the last xxx years I have produced over 800 A4 b/w doodles. They took between 15 minutes and an hour to produce. The time was spent in the bliss of flow.

‘I’ am not involved with the creativity that underpins the doodles. There is a sitting with pen and paper and soon marks are made on the page. It does not feel that the stuff comes from consciousness. It is thus felt that it comes from the unconscious. There comes a time when the urge to add things passes so the date is recorded on the lower right of the page and the doodle is filed.

There have been several attempts to classify the doodles. The present system recognises two basic categories – ABSTRACT and REPRESENTATIONAL. The numbers belonging to the different categories have not been counted.

The Abstract ones are made up of lines and shapes and have no meaning.

The Representational ones include:

• Faces (heads) -solo or group [emoticons]
• Full body – solo or group
• Social Scenes
• Landscapes

MATERIALS

I use black ink pens with a range of nib sizes and white, A4, 80gsm paper.

INVOLVEMENT

I use doodles on my blogs. They help to make the pages more approachable. ’My’ doodles are rooted in my nature, nurture and serendipity and are to some extent unique. It would be interesting, (a) to see what categories of doodles emerge from other people’s unconsciousness and (b) the extent to which doodlers get blissfully becalmed.

No sermon

I was a troubled youth:

“Having seen beyond he dares not disturb the pond
He has a sermon that never will bear preaching” - Clark, (1968)

The sermon noted the evidence for evolution which has no purpose. The cosmos came into being with the big bang and will end when it self-destructs. In between there will have been three phases of evolution - cosmic, biological and cultural. On planet earth a curious and courageous few were experimenting with cultural evolution. The mealiemouthed majority avoided the existential challenge by clinging to the myths and magic of their stone age ancestors.

As an idealist (submissive introvert variety) I would have liked more people to get involved in the cultural revolution. But , even in the swinging sixties, there was resistance to change – even in Portsoy. People resisted the notion that the only constant thing is change. But, as a youth, it was my duty to respect and obey my elders and betters.

Hang on to what you’ve got
You ain’t got much but it’s all you got
Hang on to what you’ve got
Little things mean a lot.”- Clark (1970)

Forty years later I still feel uneasy about expressing the scientific view of reality in informal settings. Why should I go up against the conventional wisdom of the dominant group? (What Waddington called COWDUNG). It is perhaps best for most people to strongly and simply accept the myths and magic of their natal culture. ‘Better the devil you know’.

IF people find solace through believing in a transcendent and omniscient father figure who created everything and has a pleasing patriarchal plan for the chosen ones THEN why change their minds?

In my part of the world there are some god fearing, church going, unca guid characters. Some groups are evangelical and feel obliged to convert and save lost souls. They were once the moral majority but that mantle has passed to the Sunday, supermarket shoppers.

Aha –

‘I’ notice some stirrings of anger. It is less than ideal that most people view ‘reality’ through the lens of religious myths and magic that are up to 7000 years old.

‘I’ notice some stirrings of pity. It is less than ideal that most people should remain ignorant of mindfulness and other secular techniques for changing their minds so as to experience Non-egoic bliss.

It might be argued that, given (a) globalisation and the internet, and (b) the recent findings from neuroscience and, evolutionary and cognitive psychology, that the time is now right for a massive existential mindbrain turn around. (MEMTA?)

When I was a biology teacher I had no problem dealing with evolution. I felt it to be my duty to lead the students into an appreciation of the laws of nature as they have been adapted and applied since the big bang. (The ‘Big History Project’ offers a fine framework)

In more recent times I have been taking a cross disciplinary approach to the charting of human evolution. And this led to reviewing study skills (in Belize) and the possible structures and functions of leadership, management and administration (in Lesotho).

To cut a long sermon short, the world would be a better place if everybody (especially policy wonks and decision makers) developed a mindfulness practice.

PS – the Presbyterianism of John Knox (1513-72) is still alive, well and active in my unguarded moments

“There’s a voice inside you it’s the voice of other men
it’s the voice of people dead and gone
whose preaching makes the world go on -  or off. (Clark, 1970)

I am a reasonably untroubled geriatric.

interdisciplinary meaning

E O Wilson

The meaning of meaning in science (5 branches)

a main man at the cutting edge

hear him talk