3rd Grade Classroom - Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell is a third grade teacher in Marysville, Washington. He implemented MI into his classroom by separating his classroom into seven learning centres, one for each intelligence. At the beginning of the day he has a little lecture and discussion with his class to briefly discuss what they're going to learn that day, for example the Solar System. After that he sets a timer and students are grouped into threes or fours. Each group goes to a different centre, when the timer rings, they rotated around the centre so everyone gets a go at each center.
Each centre concentrates on learning through one intelligence so students get to learn about that subject in seven different ways. For example, in the Interpersonal Intelligence centre (Working Together Centre), they discuss the topic they're learning, brainstorm ideas and stimulate each other's understanding of the topic, debating about it. Through this not only do they learn about the topic at hand, but also skills such as cooperation and working with their peers. After they've finished rotating around the centers, they share and discuss their work with each other. After that students spend the rest of the day working on their own independent projects where they apply the skills and use the knowledge they've gathered from the centers.
At the same time that Bruce Campbell was carrying out this program in his classroom, a research was taking place in his classroom to investigate the effects of this program. Various methods were used to find out the effects of this program including a daily detailed teacher's journal, several surveys taken continuously throughout the year by students. The research results show that overtime:
It is obvious from the results that many student's learning have improved. Besides gaining new knowledge, they also gain new skills such as leadership, self-direction and independence. Many also discovered new sides to themselves, such as their musical and artistic side, their mathematical side and more. The teacher himself, Bruce Campbell also see growth in himself.
"I find I am pushing my students from behind rather than pulling them from in front. Also I am working with them, rather than for them. I explore what they explore, discover what they discover, and often learn what they learn. I find my satisfaction in their enthusiasm for learning and independence, rather than in their test scores and ability to sit quietly. And most importantly, because I am planning for such a diversity of activities, I have become more creative and multimodal in my own thinking and my own learning. I can now comfortably write and sing songs. I am learning to draw and paint. I see growth and development within myself. I sometimes wonder who is changing the most, my students or myself." - Bruce Campbell
Each centre concentrates on learning through one intelligence so students get to learn about that subject in seven different ways. For example, in the Interpersonal Intelligence centre (Working Together Centre), they discuss the topic they're learning, brainstorm ideas and stimulate each other's understanding of the topic, debating about it. Through this not only do they learn about the topic at hand, but also skills such as cooperation and working with their peers. After they've finished rotating around the centers, they share and discuss their work with each other. After that students spend the rest of the day working on their own independent projects where they apply the skills and use the knowledge they've gathered from the centers.
At the same time that Bruce Campbell was carrying out this program in his classroom, a research was taking place in his classroom to investigate the effects of this program. Various methods were used to find out the effects of this program including a daily detailed teacher's journal, several surveys taken continuously throughout the year by students. The research results show that overtime:
- "The students develop increased responsibility, self-direction and independence over the course of the year
- Discipline problems were significantly reduced
- All students developed and applied new skills
- Cooperative learning skills improved in all students
- Academic achievement improved"
It is obvious from the results that many student's learning have improved. Besides gaining new knowledge, they also gain new skills such as leadership, self-direction and independence. Many also discovered new sides to themselves, such as their musical and artistic side, their mathematical side and more. The teacher himself, Bruce Campbell also see growth in himself.
"I find I am pushing my students from behind rather than pulling them from in front. Also I am working with them, rather than for them. I explore what they explore, discover what they discover, and often learn what they learn. I find my satisfaction in their enthusiasm for learning and independence, rather than in their test scores and ability to sit quietly. And most importantly, because I am planning for such a diversity of activities, I have become more creative and multimodal in my own thinking and my own learning. I can now comfortably write and sing songs. I am learning to draw and paint. I see growth and development within myself. I sometimes wonder who is changing the most, my students or myself." - Bruce Campbell
