Kids, Fun,..... and Science?

Incorporation of the Intelligences

 In an effort to reach all students present in the classroom, we attempted to incorporate all seven intelligences into the science lesson on plants. 

The first lesson on the strawberry plant parts and functions, incorporated both spatial and linguistic intelligences.  Spatial was incorporated by the visual presentation of the strawberry plant diagram, which the parts of were named by the class; and linguistic was integrated as we discussed the functions of each part.  The story we read the class, “What Plants Need - The Rabbit Who Knew”, and the discussion that followed was also an example of a linguistic teaching activity.

The lesson on soil and the apple analogy about soil, incorporated three types of intelligences; linguistic, logical-mathematical, and spatial.  Linguistic was covered by the discussion on different aspects of soil and the explanation of the apple analogy.  Logical-mathematical was incorporated in a subtle way with the cutting of the different fractions of the apple.  While cutting the apple, we talked about how different fractions or parts could not grow food.  We explained how one half, one quarter, or even one eighth of the apple would be discarded because it represented the desert, arctic, swamp, etc.  Spatial intelligence was covered by the visual presentation of the apple diagram and because the children were asked to imagine that this apple represented the world.

The vegetable lesson covered four of the seven intelligences;  linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and logical-mathematical.  Linguistic and spatial intelligence were again incorporated by discussions and visual presentations, respectively.  Interpersonal intelligence was integrated by placing the children in groups and having them decide, as a group, which part of the plant the vegetable was from. 

The musical intelligence was obviously covered by the song, “The Roots of the Plant” that was sung with the class.  The intention of the song was to teach the children the different parts of the plants and how they each have a function.

The planting of the marigold transplants was a hands-on learning experience that taught the children about how to plant their own seedling and how to take care of a plant, therefore this involved the intelligence for bodily-kinesthetic.

The final intelligence that has not been discussed so far is intrapersonal.  There was not an activity that was specifically taught for this intelligence, however the children would have applied this intelligence in performing almost all of the other activities.  The children used their own self-knowledge to answer questions posed to them, self-motivation was applied in the attempt to think of the answers to the questions, and self-discipline was utilized to remain focused on the lesson, raise their hands before answering questions, and not speak out of turn.