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DISCOVER
“Personalized Education”
Overview
Background
Justification
Components
Project
Design
Model
Schools
Standards-Based
Curricula
Strength
Profiles
Technology
Infusion
Overview
For many parents and educators, school reform
is a critical issue facing our education system.
The resulting demand for change has spawned
numerous, high-quality reform models, emphasizing,
among other things, the importance of small
classroom and school size, parental and teacher
involvement in school planning, high expectations
of students, performance and standards-based
testing instruments, and technology infusion.
These components, and others, are changing schools
from the bottom up, raising test scores, while
increasing student engagement and teacher satisfaction.
Yet they form only part of a burgeoning movement
that has the potential to completely reshape
definitions of teaching and learning.
In this movement (with significant contributions
from the DISCOVER Projects at the University
of Arizona) classrooms are oriented around problem
solving (instead of drill and practice), hands-on
learning, and integration of fine arts (for
their own significance and as learning enhancements).
The entire methodology of learning is different.
Students are assessed in their strengths according
to the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner,
1983; 19__), and they have a certain degree
of latitude in choosing the learning methods
they find most engaging and effective (student
choice). Classroom organization is different,
as are teaching strategies.
The project discussed here proposes to develop,
test, and distribute on a large scale, core
elements of the above methodology that do not
yet exist or are mostly theoretical models or
small pilot projects. Its elements will
provide students, parents, teachers, and administrators,
powerful new tools, making possible a “customization”
or “personalization” of education. Specifically,
the project will develop national standards-based
curricula for all grade levels, K-12, based
on all of the above criteria. Additionally
it will enhance the already successful DISCOVER
Assessment with a wide range of new “hi-tech”
data collection techniques that will allow development
of what is called a “Strength Profile”, to provide
a detailed interpretation of the Assessment
results. The Strength Profile will tie
the Assessment directly to the new Curriculum,
allowing teachers to tailor or “personalize”
the lesson plans to individual students or groups
of students. This approach, although seemingly
impractical at first glance, has proven effective
and popular with teachers in pilot projects.
Many schools already are implementing small
prototypes.
The following pages detail how these methods
will be developed, researched, tested, and made
available. Our mission is to further DISCOVER’s
philosophy of developing assessment and teaching
methods that work well with all children,
regardless of race, economic status, environment,
or culture. Diversity will be a key component
of the project, and implementation will occur
throughout the United States, as well as internationally.
Background
The DISCOVER Projects began in 1987 under the
direction of Dr. C. June Maker at the University
of Arizona. At the time Dr. Maker had
been analyzing various new theories of intelligence,
the most notable of which was Howard Gardner’s
Theory of Multiple Intelligences. She
also had been studying groups of gifted children,
as well as successful scientists who had overcome
disabilities, to isolate factors contributing
to exceptional success. She eventually
determined the most important component of exceptional
success was the superior ability to solve complex
problems. The DISCOVER Projects were created
to study, categorize, and measure a broad spectrum
of “problem solving strategies” used by various
age groups of differing ethnic, economic, and
cultural backgrounds.
Dr. Maker
and staff soon realized that even though patterns
of problem solving ability emerged, individual
strategies differed substantially according
to the category of problems presented.
It became obvious that there were very few “generic”
problem solving skills. Instead, an individual
might solve certain types of problems in a superior
way, yet be average or below average with others.
This observation fit perfectly with Gardner’s
theory and other theories suggesting that we
all have more than one type of intelligence,
and the DISCOVER staff began categorizing problem
solving strategies according to identified intelligences
(then seven). Eventually Maker’s research
not only verified many aspects of multiple intelligences
theory but also showed overwhelming evidence
that different intelligences can be effectively
measured by observing how many and which problem
solving strategies an individual uses.
A fascinating two-way correlation appeared—the
amount of any given intelligence possessed by
an individual can be assessed by observing problem
solving skills and conversely, problem solving
skills and overall leaning capacity can be improved
by learning “through” or “by applying” one’s
strongest intelligences.
As an
example of how problem solving relates to different
intelligences, consider the following problem:
a heavy rock needs to be moved to the top of
a hill. A person with a high degree of
Linguistic Intelligence may employ strategies
such as asking other people what ideas they
have, or may find it helpful to organize a plan
of action by first writing out thoughts.
A person with high Spatial Intelligence may
approach the problem by drawing a diagram of
the various components needed to do the job,
or by making a physical model of the process.
A person with a dominant Musical Intelligence,
or related artistic abilities, might not care
whether the rock gets moved at all but might
become excited about contributing to strategies
that move the rock in a “novel” “showy” or otherwise
“interesting” way and likely will be more concerned
about aesthetics and elegance of the project,
rather than cost or practicality. On the
other hand, a person with higher Logical-Mathematical
Intelligence may first want to know why the
rock has to be moved to the top of the hill
in the first place and is there an alternative…or
if not, how much does it weigh and what resources
are available, or would it be more efficient
to make the hill smaller first! Of course,
such extreme reliance on only one intelligence
is rare. Individuals are a complex combination
of all the intelligences, in various degrees.
After thousands of observations, 119 effective
problem solving strategies were recorded and
organized into a performance-based assessment
instrument now known as the DISCOVER Assessment.
Observers rate the level of different intelligences
possessed by an individual based on their problem
solving skills in that area. The Assessment
can be used, in its numerous forms, with children
ages three and up, as well as with adults.
The Assessment’s effectiveness has attracted
considerable attention, especially as an alternative
to traditional assessment methods for identifying
gifted students and as an “ethnically and linguistically
fair” assessment of abilities. Today the
DISCOVER Assessment is used in many states and
several countries, despite its continued evolution
as a research project.
But simply assessing children’s intelligences
and their use of effective problem solving strategies
was not enough. Teachers needed curriculum
ideas that would take advantage of the Assessment
results.
DISCOVER researchers began looking at connections
between three components—problem solving, multiple
intelligences, and learning ability. They
determined that each of us approaches all problems
primarily through the filter of our dominant
intelligences; we learn best by first applying
natural areas of strength. This fact alone
suggested that children sitting quietly behind
a desk listening to an instructor may not be
the best model for learning and, in some cases,
actually may be detrimental. For example,
high-energy, high Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
children are often misdiagnosed as having Attention
Deficit Disorder and given drugs to calm them
down when exactly the opposite should occur.
These children learn best (and very effectively)
by moving their bodies in the learning process—for
them, lack of movement actually retards learning!
The scope of the DISCOVER research grants at
that time was not large enough to develop full-scale,
multiple intelligences-based curricula for all
grade levels. So researchers opted instead
to design experimental curriculum models in
the form of guidelines for schools or individual
teachers, demonstrating how they could reshape
their exiting curricula. As a result,
each school using the models developed their
own “version” or prototype of a DISCOVER Curriculum.
There were many variations and, of course, some
were more effective than others. Part
of the curriculum component in the current proposal
will be to collect and analyze these examples
for good ideas that can be incorporated into
the final DISCOVER Curriculum.
The key
idea of the curriculum models (and central to
the new DISCOVER Curriculum) is that students
use their dominant intelligences to stimulate
learning in all subjects, especially weaker
ones. After a child is assessed and a
profile developed to show his or her combination
of strengths, the learning experience can be
customized, allowing the student to learn weaker
subjects by using the familiarity and comfort
of natural strengths. For example, a child
with low oral and written linguistic skills
will not learn math effectively by listening
to lectures or reading a textbook, but may catch
on quickly when the concepts are presented in
another way. Consider the high-energy
child example above. This child might
have difficulty concentrating during a traditional
addition/subtraction lesson but will understand
the concepts quickly and permanently if allowed
to walk or jump forward and backward the proper
number of spaces along a number line on the
floor. Probably this child will learn
the alphabet more quickly by forming the shape
of the letters with his or her entire body.
On the other hand, a child with high musical
intelligence will learn letters best by singing
the “ABC” song, whereas high Spatial Intelligence
children might respond best to letters that
are three-dimensional, colorful, and graphically
detailed, or to making letters in a tray of
sand.
Classrooms
using DISCOVER Curriculum models may look similar
to traditional classrooms but actually are designed
to teach the same lesson many different ways
at the same time. All children in the
class eventually learn the same core subject
matters, but by using methods of their own choosing,
as guided by their teacher(s). As a bonus,
this teaching method not only improves learning
but also increases students’ task engagement,
resulting in fewer discipline problems.
Data from numerous pilot projects and implementation
experiments show the DISCOVER Assessment and
Curriculum Models, used together, do increase
test scores and overall academic performance.
Of course, significant change often takes years
because of the difficulty of changing attitudes
and methodologies. But the eventual results
well justify the efforts. In Tucson, Arizona,
Maker’s staff worked with one particular school
for seven years, along-side other like-minded
organizations and projects (in a school reform
effort), and saw the students’ average standardized
test scores rise from a percentile in the low
20s the first three years, up to the mid 60s
in the seventh year. Currently DISCOVER
staff are analyzing results of a multi-year
project on a much larger scale, where an entire
district in St. Paul, Minnesota uses the DISCOVER
Assessment with 8,000 children every year.
Justification
Many testing and teaching methods in use today
are grossly out-of-date and do not take advantage
of the significant changes in knowledge that
have occurred during the past 50 years.
We desperately need to increase the effectiveness
of modern teaching, testing, and assessment
methods, to keep pace with our rapidly changing
society. We must ensure that each child’s
natural abilities are identified, encouraged,
and challenged, regardless of economic status,
culture, or any potential barriers. Many
teachers and parents are actively searching
for alternatives to standard methodologies that
simply are not working any more. Children
are changing as rapidly as the world around
them. They need a flexible learning environment
that captures their interests and imaginations,
while propelling them to academic excellence.
To date the DISCOVER Projects have focused on
research and development of the Assessment instrument,
with periphery development of Curriculum and
Strength Profile components. The Assessment,
despite it potential impact for reshaping how
we measure intelligence, only scratches the
surface of potential change unless accompanied
by full implementation of the proposed Curricula
and Strength Profiles. The combination
of the three will provide educators the same
power that specialization and customization
have brought to science, medicine, and industry.
One size does not fit all students’ learning
styles and we now have the ability to maximize
their learning potential like never before.
This proposal will build the tools necessary
to integrate many years of research and field
tests into mainstream education, potentially
affecting millions of children around the world.
Components
Project Design
The
project has four primary goals: model schools,
curricula, Strength Profiles, and technology
integration. Each is explained in detail
below. The project will span a five-year
period, with concurrent segments of development,
field-testing, and implementation. During
the five-year period, DISCOVER staff will work
with a minimum of 10 schools, up to a maximum
of 20, with school selection based on obtaining
a maximum diversity of characteristics: geographic,
cultural, economic, ethnic, differing grade
levels, and differing teaching strategies.
By the
end of the five-year period, the resulting products
will be ready for distribution, and each participating
school will receive staff development on how
to disseminate the materials to other schools
in their district. Other non-participating
schools will be able to take advantage of the
products, as well, after having received appropriate
training.
Technology integration into the entire process
will be fundamental. Yet we recognize
that some non-participating schools, while wanting
to take advantage of this project’s outcome,
may not have sufficient resources to purchase
all of the necessary equipment. This situation
is unfortunate but should not preclude usage
of techniques that otherwise can still be effective.
Therefore all of the below components will be
designed to allow “low-tech” usage, if necessary.
Although less versatile and not as effective,
even this “low-tech” implementation will be
a vast improvement to the learning environment
of most classrooms.
We envision the project’s funding to come from
a collaborative effort of several foundations
and state agencies, as well as contributions
from participating schools and donations from
organizations, companies, tribes, individuals
and international groups. This partnership
will operate with the common goal of helping
reshape the methodologies of education within
their sphere of influence. Schools will
be asked to pay for travel and some staffing.
Other funding sources will be asked to cover
the bulk of required staffing, specifically:
1) technology development and support, 2) assessment
trainings; 3) curricula teams; 4) general development;
5) teacher training and school staff development;
and 6) project administration. Non-school
funding sources will be sought, also, to cover
materials for general operations and project
development, as well as equipment for schools,
and to provide notebook computers, digital cameras,
and other equipment for assessment.
Model Schools
A school wishing to participate should display
characteristics of “model schools”, or a willingness
to adopt these characteristics. The “model
school” characteristics include: 1) student
choice in learning—for example, incorporating
centers designed around multiple intelligences
where students learn according to their interests
and strengths; 2) schools are small—less than
600 students—or are large schools that have
been divided into smaller internal sections;
3) parents are significantly involved in reform
efforts and school planning, as well as with
on-going activities; 4) teachers participate
in some form of one-to-one mentoring or other
activity that helps students feel personally
understood and valued; 5) a majority of the
teachers want school improvement and believe
in philosophies presented in this proposal;
6) the principal believes in school reform philosophies
and actively supports the objectives of this
project; 7) the school is willing to replace
poor teachers; 8) multiple intelligence-based
assessment and curriculum are used; 9) learning
is performance-based—for example, students are
graded and advanced based on demonstrating understanding
of underlying concepts in addition to content,
perhaps using portfolios; 10) learning is hands-on
and varied according the domains/categories
of intelligences; 11) learning is active, incorporating
many forms of movement; 12) class size is small,
allowing more individual attention from the
teacher; 13) learning is problem solving-based,
with lesson plans designed around problems that
progress from simple and closed to complex and
open-ended; 14) students are held to high standards
and high expectations; 15) programs implemented
by the school are research-based, to assure
reliability and validity; 16) various forms
of fine arts are integrated throughout the curriculum,
to enhance learning.
Additionally, the principal and a majority of
teachers and parents must be familiar with DISCOVER
philosophy and committed to working with DISCOVER
for the duration of this project. Schools
must also agree to form cooperative planning
groups with other participating schools and
actively collaborate on project goals.
Additionally, schools will be asked to fund
the following components: 1) travel and related
expenses for DISCOVER staff when conducting
Assessment trainings, training teachers, or
working with Curriculum writers; 2) travel and
related expenses for teachers and Curriculum
writers to visit the University of Arizona,
attend project-related conferences, and visit
other participating schools; 3) half the salary
for a site coordinator (the other half will
be funded externally) who will act as the on-site
DISCOVER representative, along with expenses
necessary to cover travel and training for this
individual; 4) stipends necessary to cover leaves
of absence for any teachers who will participate
in some phase of the Curriculum writing or who
will participate in more extensive staff development
to become a DISCOVER certified representative,
to the local district, for Assessment trainings,
teacher Curriculum workshops, and other similar
activities; 5) salary and training for an on-site
technology manager who will support the Assessment
teams in the collection of various forms of
digital data. This person also will prepare
and upload data to the DISCOVER database for
use in the Strength Profiles, and support teachers
in understanding and troubleshooting technology
used in the curriculum being field tested; 6)
necessary technology and software, if not covered
by foundation funds, grants, or donors.
In return, participating schools will receive:
1) full training to establish local Assessment
teams that will conduct DISCOVER Assessments
at that site; 2) a new Strength Profile for
each child assessed—as available; 3) staff development,
support, and use of the new Curricula—as available;
4) support for implementing components of “model
schools”; 5) technology package, including portable
computers, web cams, digital camera or video,
digital sound equipment, DISCOVER database hub
software; 6) leadership training that will prepare
local staff for implementation of the Assessment,
Strength Profiles, and Curricula at other schools
in the district (not included in this project);
7) facilitation of teacher exchanges, school
visitations, conferences, and other forms of
support.
Standards-Based Curricula
The new Curriculum will be based on the current
field-tested models and on additional research
conducted throughout this project. Curriculum
writers will be organized into teams, with some
team members based at the University of Arizona
and others on-site at each participating school.
Team members will communicate regularly, taking
full advantage of technology. Internet
chat rooms, Internet long distance, and web
conferencing, will help reduce costs of interaction
between writers, especially those based overseas.
Face-to-face meetings will occur, as well, during
bi-annual conferences involving all writers,
DISCOVER staff, and other participants or interested
observers. Individual team members occasionally
will visit the other sites, as needed, to maximize
flexibility and diversity in the Curricula.
Funding for a basic amount of travel is anticipated
in this proposal. Some team members will
be full-time writers and others will be teachers
or content experts (scientists, artists), contributing
to the project in the course of their regular
career. A portion of project funds will
be allocated to cover leaves of absence for
teacher-writers. Teams also will interact
with reviewers—field experts who do not write
curricula but advise regarding its content.
Technology experts will offer support throughout
the writing process. All primary writers
will be experienced teachers (either past or
present) and experienced curriculum writers,
but substantial contributions will come from
qualified student curriculum writers, as well.
Different subjects will be written and tested
sequentially. Language Arts curricula
will be written in the first year and tested
in the second. Mathematics curricula will
be written in the second year and tested in
the third. Science curricula will be written
in the third year and tested in the fourth.
Social Sciences curricula will be written in
the fourth year and tested in the fifth.
Fine Arts and technology will be integrated
throughout the 5-year period, into all the curricula.
Curricula
will be created for grade levels K-12, to cover
all content areas contained in the National
Standards. Students will engage in hands-on
exercises designed specifically for the various
identified intelligences. Learning will
be active and oriented around student choice
in how they learn the core content areas (with
emphasis on Centers—see below). All lesson
plans are to be oriented around a structure
of progressively more difficult problem solving,
and students will advance on to new concepts
as their performance shows mastery of the subjects.
The new Curricula will be tied directly to the
Assessment, through the Strength Profiles, and
thus designed with built-in flexibility, to
be implemented according to the Assessment results.
The new Curricula will be flexible in scope,
allowing it to be used either as written, or
as a companion to curricula already used in
a school.
One of the central features of the Curricula
will be establishment of an “Exploratorium”
in each school, essentially a large room full
of “Centers” where students explore different
content areas. Centers will contain “tools”
of the eight intelligences: 1) Linguistic; 2)
Spatial; 3) Logical/Mathematical; 4) Bodily/Kinesthetic;
5) Interpersonal; 6) Intrapersonal; 7) Musical;
8) Integrative (Naturalist); and other areas
of interest, as identified by Dr. Usanee Anuruthwong at
the Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok;
9) Emotional Quotient; 10) Social Studies; 11)
Invention; 12) Computing; 13) Decoding; 14)
Natural Phenomena; 15) Critical Thinking; 16)
Problem Solving; 17) Imagination; 18) Five Senses.
The Centers will be designed to challenge and
engage students, in age-appropriate, ever-deeper
exploration.
The Exploratorium will have additional uses.
It will act as a place to demonstrate how teachers
can move from a structured to less-structured
environment. In this environment, teachers
will act more like consultants to students,
helping guide their choices. The Exploratorium
also will serve as a consistent place to observe
students and field test new components of the
Curricula.
Strength Profiles
Creating what we call “Strength Profiles” will
form a powerful bridge between the Assessment
and Curriculum. The prototype that currently
exists is useful, but limited. It is a
paper report, only, and rates the 119 problems
solving strategies over five categories.
The child being assessed receives a rating between
1 and 5 in these five categories. The
combination of ratings signifies the areas of
strengths and gives a rough idea of how the
child might learn best.
The new Strength Profile will expand the number
of categories from 5 to 26, by rating the 119
problem solving strategies over Gardner’s Core
Capacities (a more detailed breakdown of the
Intelligences). Furthermore, problem-solving
strategies will be classified, within each intelligence,
according to more general traits, such as creativity
(e.g. fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and
originality) and motivation (e.g. follow-through,
and focus). The resulting profile will
be a far more specific and useful picture of
abilities. It also will be completely
digital, with video, pictures, sounds, and other
data relevant to the child. The new Strength
Profiles will be accessed through the Internet.
The new Strength Profile actually will appear
in four different forms to serve different audiences:
1) Student Form—for younger students,
a simplified and fun explanation of their combination
of strengths and what this might mean to them;
for older students, a more detailed explanation,
complete with suggestions for how they might
use their strengths to learn more effectively,
with possible suggestions regarding career and/or
higher education subjects. The DISCOVER
web site eventually will be equipped with additional
information, such as sound bites from professionals
in various careers, telling about what they
do in their jobs; 2) Parent Form—a detailed
analysis of the child’s strength patterns.
It will include suggestions for how they can
help encourage their child’s development, based
on his or her strengths, and how they can provide
an environment rich in materials that might
stimulate the child’s interests and learning
potential. This version of the profiles
also will give suggestions for possible topics
of conversation with the child’s teacher(s)
regarding the child’s learning progress; 3)
Teacher Form—a detailed analysis of strengths
for each child in the class, along with a classroom
summary. This report also will include
suggestions for how the DISCOVER Curriculum
can be tailored to each child and ways it can
best serve the class as a whole, based on the
distribution of strengths; 4) Administrator
Form—a summary of strengths for an entire
school (or grade), useful for planning and designing
school-wide programs, as well as for placing
students in these programs.
We estimate a period of approximately two years
necessary for completing the Strength Profile
infrastructure. The required staffing
will consist primarily of writers and tech personnel.
The process will involve writing hundreds of
“strength description components” that will
be stored in a new database, which in turn will
be linked to an expanded version of the current
DISCOVER main database. Generating the
Strength Profiles will be a fully automated
process that searches for necessary data and
assembles the various reports, made ready for
distribution on the Internet. To accomplish
this task, DISCOVER personnel will need to establish
a server with sufficient resources to handle
data transfer and remote access for the Strength
Profiles and other information.
Technology Infusion
Technology will play an important role in this
project, as well as in subsequent usage of the
resulting products. The DISCOVER Assessment,
in particular, will receive a substantial infusion.
In the new Assessment, data will be entered
automatically as much as possible, or will be
entered in more efficient ways, such as through
the use of localized portable computers.
The use of paper forms for data collection (except
products created by children such as drawings,
constructions, and written stories) will be
minimized. The new Assessment process
will require a technical staff person who will
assist in preparing and processing data for
each student. Each school
will be given DISCOVER software (yet to be created)
that will organize the data into the proper
format for direct transfer into the DISCOVER
main database (thus allowing the automated creation
of Strength Profiles). Along the way,
the main DISCOVER database will be modernized
and expanded to store video, pictures, sound,
scanned images (such as written products of
children) and all other pertinent data.
As described above, the Strength Profiles database
also will be constructed, along with related
programming, and the entire network will be
integrated with the DISCOVER web site.
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