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Ms. Fogarty provides guidelines that serve as a bridge between theory and practice in the intelligence-friendly classroom.
IF WE KNOW that intelligence is emotional, then it just makes sense to use visceral hooks. If we know that intelligence is nurturable, then it just makes sense to create rich environments. If we know that intelligence is constructed, then it just makes sense to provide tools for the mind. If we know that intelligence is experiential, then it just makes sense to challenge through doing. If we know that intelligence is multiple, then it just makes sense to target many dimensions. If we know that intelligence is modifiable, then it just makes sense to mediate learning. If we know that intelligence is elusive, then it just makes sense to vary the ways we measure it.
If we know all these things and believe what we know to be true, then the "intelligence-friendly classroom" should be a given. It is as simple and logical as an "if . . then" syllogism.
Defining Intelligence-Friendly Classrooms
Let's look more closely at the term "intelligence-friendly classroom" and see just what it means. An intelligence-friendly classroom is a classroom in which the teaching/ learning process is governed by what is known about developing the intellectual potential of human beings. Literally, intelligence-friendly means "friendly to intelligence," which can be translated into friendly to the growth patterns of human intellect and friendly to the learner in fostering intelligent behavior for problem solving, decision making, and creative thinking. Figuratively, the intelligence-friendly classroom serves as a caring companion and mindful guide to the intellect of each and every child in it. Just as a friend in the real world furnishes certain kinds of support that are reliable, time-tested, and tried and true, so intelligence-friendly classrooms provide similar systems of support that foster the ongoing development of human intelligence potential.
In brief, intelligence-friendly classrooms are classrooms that celebrate the joy of the learner's emotional and intellectual world, not through rhetoric and repetition, but through richness and relationships. In this article, I'll take a closer look at these intelligence-friendly classrooms and investigate their theoretical underpinnings briefly and their practical implications in more depth.
Theoretical Underpinnings
Guidelines for the intelligence-friendly classroom are grounded in the works of the...