Why it Works
It is well established that
students learn in different ways and that students have different intelligence
strengths. Howard Gardner, of Harvard School of Education’s Project
Zero, first presented the theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983 with
his seminal book, Frames of Mind. This theory posits that intelligence
is not uniform, and that people possess at least eight exclusive intelligences
including the musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical- mathematical, linguistic,
spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Gardener states
that, “An intelligence entails the ability to solve problems or
fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting
or community” (Gardner 1993, 15). ( For more information on Howard
Gardner and his Project Zero work with intelligences at Harvard, see
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/.)
These separate capacities are of coequal value and are possessed by
individuals to different degrees. However, traditional US academic achievement
measures rely almost exclusively on linguistic and logical/mathematical
intelligences. Students who do not excel in these areas are found to
be deficient learners requiring remediation. New York State Department
of Education regulations, for instance, define a learning disability
as, “…a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in using language, spoken or written, which manifests
itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, write, spell,
or to do mathematical calculations” (NYSED Commissioner’s
Regulations 2002).1 Failure in other
intelligence areas, for example interpersonal intelligence, carries
virtually no weight in assessing student achievement outcomes despite
the fact that high interpersonal intelligence is a significant predictor
of life success (Goleman 1997, 38-39).
Photo by Shannon White |
The current standards movement
requires that schools demonstrate academic achievement using testing
instruments that rely entirely on mathematical and linguistic intelligences.
This movement was born in 1994 when President H. W. Bush’s Goals
2000 Educate America Act (PL 103–227, signed into law in March
1994) required most states to develop a high-stakes testing structure.
Emphasis in education, generally, and geography, specifically, has shifted
from process—problem-based, creative, and infused with critical
learning, to product--high achievement and accountability on the part
of students, teachers, and administrators (Palmer-Moloney 1998). Now,
the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President
G. W. Bush in January of 2002, requires that all states develop systems
of accountability that include yearly math and English language arts
testing for children in grades 3-8.2
Educators anticipate that this law will result in an investment of state
energy and funds on improving achievement in the linguistic and logical/mathematical
intelligence areas. Unfortunately, multiple intelligences and their
associated learning styles do not fit into the narrow parameters measured
on current standardized tests; often they are pushed into the background
or eliminated altogether (Palmer-Moloney 1998). Students who excel in
other intelligence areas have fewer opportunities to demonstrate their
learning and mastery of subject matter.
Unlike history and the other
social sciences (economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science),
geography focuses on the use of the spatial intelligence. Spatial intelligence,
also known as “visual” intelligence, involves the ability
to solve problems associated with navigation, the use of notational system
of maps, and the use of space in the visual arts (Gardner 1993, 21-22).
In our research we have observed that students who are classified as learning
disabled frequently perform at exceptional levels when allowed to use
their spatial intelligence. These otherwise “slow” students
are strong visual learners who see and understand the graphic presentations
offered by GIS displays. GIS provides spatially intelligent students with
an alternative route by which to acquire information that would have otherwise
bypassed them if delivered solely by traditional pedagogy. GIS-based modules
allow these students to shine among their classmates, a particularly satisfying
outcome for a teacher who wants to see all her pupils experience genuine
success in academic classes.
Photo by Shannnon
White |
GIS helps students and teachers
at any grade level to engage in studies that require and promote critical
thinking, integrated learning, and multiple intelligences. In addition
to all of these pedagogical considerations, students, were generally
highly motivated to take on the challenging GIS technology because they
enjoyed doing something that they perceived as “fun.” GIS
adds a hands-on element to the lessons and, to the eighth graders, produces
impressive, professional-looking maps.
In our earlier work, we demonstrated
that geography is underrepresented in the New York State (NYS) middle
school classroom for a variety of reasons (Palmer-Moloney and Bloom
2001, 641-654); most significant among them is the lack of representation
of geography on the NYS social studies assessments.3
The constrictions of time, the breadth of the required history curriculum,
the lack of resources, and the special characteristics of young adolescents,
force teachers to make curricular decisions about what they must omit.
Pressure to demonstrate achievement on assessments means that teachers
eliminate information that is not assessed. A primary content area to
be eliminated is geography in the interest of history, which has a dominant
place on the state exams (Palmer-Moloney and Bloom 2001).
The question then becomes
how to integrate geography in such a way that teachers do not perceive
it to be extra curriculum. In our work we have found that GIS enhances
the history curriculum and provides a way to teach geography, as it
smoothly integrates places with time. We have created units that are
aligned with the NYS social studies standards and that meet the needs
of a wide variety of learners. GIS is about the integration of information
and we have employed it to allow students to recognize the interrelationships
between the physical and human factors that drive history.
