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Kelsea Trefethen
Chapter 12 of MI offered a unique application of the MI theory that I had yet to consider. I completely agreed with the chapter when it expressed that how students think is more important than what students think. The level of thinking and the depth of thinking anyone uses is a crucial tool. If students can exercise that higher ordered thinking for topics of their choice they would probably be more capable of applying that sort of thinking to other topics. I really liked when the chapter talked about memory. It is totally true that some people are really good at remember something while they are absolutely terrible at remembering others. I, for instance, am awesome at remembering names, but could not remember a date to save my life. I am also an interpersonal learner, so I think this makes sense. I had never considered that my interpersonal attribute affected those abilities. It seems obvious now though. When the chapter started talking about ways to incorporate the MI theory with problem solving I instantly thought of logical/mathematical learners. It was just instinct. I really want to get away from that sort of stereotype though; I think all educators could benefit from doing the same. When I hear something like memory, or problem solving, I want to see the big pictures and consider all the different possibilities. The “Christopherian Encounters” was a completely new idea for me. I’m not sure I fully understand what it means still. What I gathered from the examples and description was that it is a higher order thinking exercise that really makes students rethink and push beyond the surface knowledge. I really like this idea. It reminded me of the existential learning style.

Leanne Fasulo
“MI Theory and Cognitive Skills” is the twelfth chapter of //Multiple Intelligences//. In recent years the way students think has become as increasingly important as what they are actually thinking. The MI theory works with this in the eight intelligences. The intelligences are ideas on the best way for how a student will learn. A person’s memory is one of the most important things in learning. If a student cannot commit the knowledge presented by the teacher than that student has essentially not really learned the material. When someone cannot remember something it usually is from his or her weaker intelligences. However, if the weaker intelligences are linguistic or logical than the student could be in a traditional classroom be labeled as having a poor memory. This is why it is important to differentiate learning so that all students will have a chance to learn the material and do well in school. In the UBD model our class has been tailoring our lesson plans to accommodate the intelligences. While it would be hard to cater every lesson to all the intelligences, I believe that it is important to use the eight intelligences in the classroom. Even if the intelligence does not seem to fit into the subject there are always ways to make it work. For example on my unit for an English class it would seem pretty hard to focus a lesson with a naturalist, but one of my plans is to have a student take photographs outside of the same landscape but in different positions. This will show that different points of view can change a story or a perspective.

Christina L Quach
Chapter 12 of MI discusses Howard Gardner’s idea of the eight “memories”. Armstrong says, “After students have been exposed to memory strategies from all eight intelligences, they will be able to pick out those strategies that work best for them and be able to use them independently during personal study periods (163-164).” Teaching this way gives students a learning and memorization strategy that they can carry on even out of school. He also says, “Once students can choose from a cognitive menu the approaches that are likely to be successful for them in any given learning situation (166).” The chapter also has a few lists of how to incorporate all eight intelligences to memory skills. Armstrong also brings up how Gardner believes in “Christopherian encounters”. This is a way to expose learning to students in a way where they have to, “confront the contradictions and disjunctions in their own thinking (167).” I really enjoyed this chapter. I have never thought about memory in this way; I assumed that if someone could not memorize something, then they just could not memorize things. Looking at memory through this perspective opens up so many opportunities for students who do not memorize things in the way that things are most often presented. Logical, visual, auditory intelligences are not the best way for everyone to learn, so it makes sense that they would not be the best way for everyone to memorize things. I think that memorizing and learning are intertwined, but often students will memorize things just so that they can pass tests, and then they will soon forget the information. When setting MI theory up for students’ memorization, I believe that students are more likely to carry the content with them because they learned it in a creative way that worked for them.

Johnny Buys
Chapter 12: MI Theory and Cognitive Skills

Cognitive psychology and encouraging successful thinking strategies is becoming more and more a focus of education (161). According to Armstrong, “the eight intelligences in the model are themselves cognitive capacities” (161). One aspect that Multiple Intelligence Theory and cognitive psychology align is on memory. Multiple Intelligence implies that memory is attached to intelligence strengths (162). Armstrong argues that using memory and Multiple Intelligence Theory effectively in the classroom focuses on, “the solution, then, lies in helping students gain access to their ‘good’ memoires in other intelligences” other than the frequently featured linguistic and logical-mathematical (162). Teachers must develop memory strengthening skills as without them their classroom can become irrelevant. So the responsibility for teachers with memory and Multiple Intelligence is, “to help students associate the material to be learned with components of the different intelligences: words, numbers, pictures, physical movement, musical phrases, social interactions, personal feelings ad experiences, and natural phenomena” (163). Similarly, to Multiple Intelligence Theory’s relationship with memory is the relationship between problem solving and Multiple Intelligence Theory. Teachers need to encourage students to solve problems beyond technique of logical-mathematical but in all eight intelligences (164). Finding ways to encourage higher-order thinking and understanding should be the focus of education rather than surface level content coverage. Multiple Intelligence Theory encourages Christopherian Encounters based off of Christopher Columbus’s experiential and self-discovery to disapprove the notion that the world is flat (167). This form of education, “challenges naïve beliefs, provokes questions, invites multiple perspectives, and ultimately stretches a student’s mind to the point where it can apply existing knowledge to new situations and novel contexts” (167).

Kyle Kuvaja
Chapter twelve of //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom// discusses how multiple intelligence theory can be applied to cognitive skills. Many educators feel that memorizing, problem solving, and higher-order thinking are important cognitive aspects of education. Armstrong feels that MI theory can apply to the eight intelligences. Gardner believes that a person’s memory is all dependent on the manner in which an action is being presented. Some people might easily learn how to play chords on a guitar, while others can learn dance moves with little effort. Educators can use this to associate course material with a particular intelligence. Problem solving is another aspect of education that Armstrong brings up. Many people will associate problem solving with mathematics, but this encompasses all problems. MI theory aids educators in delivering problems and be understanding in the answers that they receive. Progression through Bloom’s taxonomy can accomplish in any of the eight intelligences. Many of the points in this chapter seem to be repetitive, but everything as a whole is important. Educators need to realize that not everyone can recite off math equations at the top of their head and it is not all that important. Armstrong (and Gardner) make me realize that students could memorize lessons using an intelligence that they utilize more and use the time saved to further their learning. The table about Bloom’s taxonomy should prove most useful in the future. Everyone is difference and MI theory is just one way that educators can look at their students to help guide them.

Kalib Moore
Chapter 12 of //Multiple Intelligences// by Thomas Armstrong discusses MI Theory and Cognitive Skills in students. At this point it has become clear that this book as a whole is going to be a great resource for in the classroom. I think that it is important to recognize all of the detail that Armstrong has put into each chapter. He has given examples on top of examples of ways to integrate multiple intelligences into the classroom with many tips for individual intelligences. I plan on taking the time to use Armstrong's tips in my own classroom as a way to provide a great learning environment for my students. One of the examples Armstrong gives in this chapter is spelling. For the intelligences, he gives tips such as having students sing out how to spell a word if they are musical learners, or they spell words in groups for interpersonal learners. On the whole, Armstrong's tips were very useful.

Tyler Oren
Chapter twelve of Multiple Intelligences by Thomas Armstrong discusses cognition and how multiple intelligences can help teachers understand student cognition and thinking. Once a student’s intelligences have been assessed it gives a great insight into how they think which Armstrong attaches great importance to as it is a powerful aspect of learning and understanding. Armstrong details memory and the insights that the multiple intelligence theory can provide to teachers. Armstrong asserts that students and learners do not have “bad” memories such a statement is easily a fallacy. These students most likely have exceptional memories their cognition just allows them to remember and absorb information more effectively in different ways. Most often when a student is labeled with a bad memory their memory simply works better when engaged in a different way than they are being taught. Armstrong recommends that teachers begin to teacher to student’s unique cognitions to address issues with cognition, for example a naturalistically inclined student may benefit from studying for a spelling test by going outside and spelling out their words with elements in nature like twigs, stones, and dirt, Armstrong suggests. Armstrong lauds the possibilities of “Christophorian Encounters”, academic encounters that are designed to tackle common misconceptions and address them in a way that students can apply them to outside instances that will teach real thinking.

Evgeni Bouzakine
Students are taught the material and expected to remember it for tests and quizzes. An important goal in this chapter is to make the students remember the information for longer than one semester. This chapter helps us understand what helps a student retain information better. If I teach someone about basketball and the way I teach it to them uses their best intelligence, most likely that person will retain that information longer. This person will keep the information with them longer, than if I taught to one of their weaker intelligences. The book goes over how the intelligences help student learn efficiently. It is important to develop their lower intelligence, but focusing on the stronger ones will give the teachers better results on tests and quiz. It should also stick longer with them. As a teacher I can only hope that my students find me interesting enough, so they listen to me. And I would also be grateful if I can reach all their stronger MI’s. If I am able to accomplish that, I am doing my job as a teacher.

Brittany Blackman
Chapter 12 is about cognitive skills, as in memory. They claim that there is no good or bad memory. If you want students to remember something, you need to teach it to them in their strongest intelligence. The example they give is different ways to learn spelling. We actually did something like this in my elementary school. We had a spelling packet and there were different activities that we had to do like rewriting the word, putting it in sentences, making some sort of arts and crafts, and a lot of others. I think that was my teacher’s attempt at including the MI theory with spelling, whether she knew it or not. They also talk about different ways for students to problem solve. I think this is a good idea, but honestly I think a lot of students do this on their own. They know how they think best, and that’s how the go about thinking about a problem. They ended the chapter with talking about the MI theory and Bloom’s Taxonomy. There is a chart on page 170 that gives examples of each stage for each intelligence. I think this chart is important, because it shows that you need each of the blooms taxonomy. A lot of people think that knowledge is a “lower” intelligence, and you should shy away from it, but clearly students need to know things like memorizing the name of the tree’s and knowing what the bark feels like. That is just as important as being able to evaluate different aspects of the trees.

Richie Johnson
First off, the more I read of //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom//, the more I am amazed at how well covered and thought-out the theory is! Chapter 12 addresses students’ cognitive skills- how individual students perceive information. This is fascinating; once again, I had not ever given much thought to this prior to the reading. Identifying “thought” as a tool is smart in itself! The correlation between thinking and memory is also interesting- it is funny how one is able to remember certain things very well and others hardly at all. This reminded me of my mom a lot- she is very good at remembering bits of books and movies and things, but is absolutely horrible at remembering anything to do with numbers. I think I might be sort of the same way, come to think of it. Anyway, I really enjoy the notion of pushing students to think outside of what may be their typical realm in order to strengthen their abilities of processing information. Such would undoubtedly be useful all throughout life!
 * //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom//: Chapter 12**