Name:M.I. Smart! Program
Brief Description of the Site:
This site emphasizes the importance of addressing multiple intelligences. The web site seeks to support learning by "nurturing talents and abilities of all children" recognizing multiple intelligences. What those intelligences are is clearly defined by links from the Home Page in the link to the "M.I. Map". Various units of study in social studies and science are offered according to grade level and school presenting those units. Grade levels, instructional goals, and lessons aligned with Rhode Island learning standards are all part of the lesson plant offerings. Despite the adherence to Rhode Island's Learning Standards, there are connections that educators from other states can easily make to align with other state standards and curriculum. Work sheets in support of those lessons are convenient for use. Suggestions for games as extensions of lessons are also available and relatively easy to implement.
How to use the site:
In promoting the use of multiple intelligences as a program, this site offers links to information on the origin of M.I. and its theorist, psychologist Howard Gardner. The program hopes to foster self-esteem while integrating technology and daily lessons in the support of skills acquisition. The use of multimedia presentations and internet activities is an important part of the theory as well as the site's premise. Beyond activities, the site informs with explanations of the nine intelligences that are part of the theory. Resources, Bibliography, a sample Student Project Contract, Resources, and suggestions for Software use are links worthy of perusal for possible use. There's an emphasis on tactile activities that will please the elementary school student who may attend a school holds a different philosophy or implements a different program. Lessons seek to demonstrate the need for different learning strategies to address the varied ways in which children learn and acquire skills. The "Lunartics" lesson offers Moon related vocabulary, and a hands on lesson on Gravitational Force (bring your golf ball, a ping pong ball, a flat pan and goggles as you learn about Galileo). A worksheet is provided. "Fly Away Moon" and "Artificial Gravity" are also relatively easy to understand using paper plates, string, and other often available materials. It should be noted that the site shows signs of expansion with some lessons still to be posted, so that there appears to be more available than actually is. The citations are up for teachers to pursue, and what is available is useful, worthy of a visit from educators whose students exhibit a penchant for different learning styles.
Submitted by:
Jane Carlson-Pickering
West Kingston, RI
Edited by Doci Mou (student of PS 56)
