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For the past four years I have crafted a "search" experience for my students. I have developed the MI (Multiple Intelligence) search based on Ken Macrorie's "I-Search" and Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Students choose topics based on their own interests, curiosities, and questions and explore these following a step-bystep process. Their investigations culminate in a ten minute multimedia presentation for an audience of their peers. I have taken sixth and ninth graders through the process and have had superb results with both grade levels. This article represents the evolution of a search process. Although the article is written from my perspective, Frank Castner contributed the section "Presearch: In the Library," which underscores the critical role the librarian plays in research.
We accomplish several goals through the MI search:
Students understand the process of conducting a search using library resources and technology.
Students become experts on topics and issues they are passionate about.
Students create a professional presentation.
Students explore topics through multiple intelligences (verbal, visual, logical, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal).
In " `Multiple Intelligences' as a Catalyst" Gardner discusses the advantages of approaching learning in this way:
Not only does this approach increase the likelihood that more youngsters will be served and served well; it also raises the probability that the precious treasures contained in texts and the invaluable activities of reading and composing will thrive in an increasingly diverse and multimedia environment. (17-18)
I introduce Gardner's theory to my students to encourage them to think consciously about their own learning processes and to suggest that learning in multiple ways strengthens understanding. I emphasize this idea by reading the book Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young. This striking picture book translates the ancient tale of the seven blind men who come upon an elephant. Each man touches a part of the elephant-the tail, an ear, the trunk-and is confident he knows what lie has in his hands. It is the last man who, by exploring the whole elephant, discovers what it truly is. Through the MI search, students come to understand the moral of this story: "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole" (35).
Presearch: In the Classroom
After reading and discussing Seven Blind Mice,...