3 Definitions Of Intelligence And What Parents Can Do To Develop Your Child’s Intelligence.
Howard Gardner defines intelligence as the ability to
- Solve problems
- Generate new problems
- Create something valuable.
What can you as a parent do to develop your child’s intelligence?
1/ The ability to solve problems that one encounters in real life.
ie. The mental capability to get out of sticky situations.
eg. Apollo 13 crew jury-rigging contraption using sock, duct tape etc to reduce CO2 level.
h/t @vasanthsarathy’s article on real world problem-solving
Teaching problem-solving requires letting kids get stuck and unstuck.
Parents need to be adept at helping kids come up with strategies to get unstuck.
More importantly, parents need time to let kids work through struggles.
h/t @helyn_kim via @BrookingsInst
2/ The ability to generate new problems to solve.
ie. Asking what if something was different?
eg. How do I reduce crime rate by rethinking home security?
Amazon acquired smart doorbell startup Ring for $1bn.
Finding problems worth solving pays.
Instead of inventing problems for kids to solve, parents can ask kids to look at school and community needs.
As a bonus, kids are also empowered by discovering that they are able to enact change in the world around them.
h/t @edutopia
3/ The ability to make something or offer a service that is valued within one’s culture.
ie. Applying imagination to create something from nothing.
eg. Composing music like Mozart or Chopin.
Schools focus on two types of abilities — logical/mathematical and verbal/linguistic.
With kids whose strengths are bodily-kinesthetic or musical, parents need to make them feel supported.
Interdependencies in the school system make customised teaching prohibitive.
Parents can support kids in a way teachers aren’t able to.
Neuroplasticity has shown that intelligence is not fixed.
With perseverance and drive, anyone can develop their natural abilities.
Teachers in school simply have too much curriculum to cover and too little time to support individual learners with personalised coaching.
In order to help your child realise their potential, parents need to help their child figure out which definition of intelligence their strength lies, then support them in every way possible to solve problems, identify problems, or create artefacts and services valuable to people.
This post was created with Typeshare
