Creative Engagement of Digital Learners with Gardner’s Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence to Enhance Their Critical Thinking

Abstract

Although we owe a debt of gratitude to Howard Gardner for articulating in 1983 that all human beings have many intelligences, the recognition that there is a multiplicity of intelligences (MI) among humans and that some are more endowed with and have greater dexterity in some of the intelligences than that in others is nearly as old as mankind. It is well understood that critical thinking is essential for success in all human endeavors. Unfortunately, critical thinking is not explicitly taught in most learning contexts. This paper is guided by the cognitive principle that teaching that aligns with the learner’s stronger intelligences and learning style can facilitate active learning and critical thinking. This is a strong pedagogical reason for us as pedagogues with the privilege of training teachers, to make sure that our students adopt this cognitive principle to facilitate learning among all their students—not just those gifted in the orthodoxy skills of language and logic. This paper uses the example of Gardner’s bodily-kinesthetic MI to illustrate how trainee and practising teachers can apply some of the latest digital technologies to mobilize the MI of digital students endowed with the bodily-kinesthetic MI to enhance their active learning and critical thinking.

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