New Horizons for Learning: The Cornerstone

During the last twenty-six years, the focus of our work has been to identify, synthesize, communicate, and help to implement more effective ways of helping people to learn at every age and ability level in homes, schools, and communities. It is the synthesis of this information that makes it useful, but we are well aware that information alone means nothing unless it is put into practice, evaluated, and results are fed back into the system. This process can lead to what Malcolm Knowles calls "systems that are capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation." Learning in such systems can lead to the development of individuals who are able to do the same. We believe that it is the right of every human being to discover his/her innate strengths, to develop new ones, and to use these strengths to learn, unlearn, and relearn in a rapidly changing world. Only through developing our fullest potential in mind, body, and spirit can we take an active part in helping to create communities of wiser, self-actualizing human beings who will facilitate the ongoing transformation of our world into a healthier, more peaceful, happier place to live.

In 1995 New Horizons for Learning created a website ( http://www.newhorizons.org) to communicate constantly updated resources for teachers, parents, school administrators, professors and students of education, policy makers, and others interested in educational change. The cornerstone of the organization is formed of the following principles, which have been the foundation of our work with educational systems and other learning organizations:

The human brain can change functionally and structurally as a result of learning and experience--for better or for worse. The research of Marian Diamond, Professor of Anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley (author of Enriching Heredity and Magic Trees of the Mind ), and other neuroscientists have proved that the human brain has plasticity at any age and ability level, although the first three years of life hold the greatest opportunity for significant effects on the brain's development. It is apparent that enriched environments that are positive, nurturing, stimulating, and that encourage action and interaction stimulate the growth of better neural equipment. Diamond and other neuroscientists stress the critical role of emotion on learning and human development, and she does not hesitate to point out the critical need that human beings have, from the very beginning of life, for love.
What was originally a theory of plasticity based on observations of animal and human behavior and information from surgery is now substantiated through the use of advanced, noninvasive technologies that allow us to see changes in the human brain as a result of learning and experience. Through action MRI's we can now actually watch the human brain while it is in the process of thinking and learning, and we can see changes taking place.
Intelligence is modifiable at every age and ability level. The work of Reuven Feuerstein (Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability; see Don't Accept Me As I Am by Feuerstein and Changing Children's Minds by Howard Sharron), J.P. Guilford and Mary and Robert Meeker (The Structure of Intellect, now supported by the Bridges programs of SOI materials, teacher training and other professional services by Intellectual Development Systems. SOI Systems offers products and support for this program.), is being applied throughout the world. There is now conclusive proof that "intelligence is not a static structure but an open dynamic system that can develop throughout life."

The modifiability of intelligence has been demonstrated by thousands of research studies on Feuerstein's work, including a recent study of a youngster who at the age of nine, because of uncontrollable seizures had his left hemisphere removed, after which he learned to talk, read, and learn for the first time. This young man was a presenter at the 1999 Teaching for Intelligence conference in San Francisco, and plans to become a teacher of students with disabilities. Programs teaching intelligence are being applied in every setting from homes to schools to board rooms, at every ability level, and at every age. Motorola is working with all three of the above theories in developing the intelligence of their employees worldwide.
Intelligence is not all in our heads. (See Distributed Cognitions, edited by Gavriel Salomon)
- Intelligence is also throughout the human body. We not only remember better what we physically do, but many learners can more easily understand complicated abstractions when they take concrete form in their hands. Cuisinaire rods, models, constructions, and dramatizations utilize this kind of intelligence.
- Part of our intelligence is also in our interaction with other people. Some of the most powerful learning is social, and is activated in discussion, dialogue, and debate. "Communities of practice" provide useful opportunities for us to learn from others and even learn about our own inner resources as we hear ourselves explain our ideas.
- Some of our intelligence lies in resources both in nature that offers continual opportunities for new learning, as well as in those that human beings have created such as books and libraries, films and TV, data bases and the Internet. That kind of intelligence knows how to explore these resources and where to find what we need to know.
- Much of our intelligence is developed by and is in the cognitive tools we use such as words and numbers. It is also in the tools we have created such as hammers and chisels, pens and paper, printing presses, paint brushes and musical instruments, calculators and computers. Robert Sternberg, Yale psychologist, suggests that "a major factor behind the massive IQ gains in each generation is an important force that has penetrated all but the most remote regions of the globe--technology." (See article in Summer 1997 issue of Technos.) We see the evidence in students who use computers to go beyond drill and practice to exploring the world of ideas on the Internet and to creating complex multimedia projects. The computer is only one of many tools that can help students to develop higher order thinking skills such as questioning, analysis, synthesis, logic, creativity, and wise decision-making.
Intelligence takes many forms. Robert Sternberg (see The Triarchic Mind) suggests that there are three kinds of intelligence, only one of which can be tested with conventional I.Q. tests and is highly valued academically. He calls it Componential Intelligence, largely verbal and logical/mathematical. In addition, there is Contextual Intelligence, the source of creative insight; and Experiential Intelligence, seen in active learning and hands-on projects. Clearly the second two are also of enormous value to society that needs both creative thinkers and people who will carry out tasks from beginning to end.

Howard Gardner (Harvard psychologist and co-director of Project Zero) proposes in his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, that there are at least eight kinds of intelligence including verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence. (See Frames of Mind and numerous more recent books exploring his theory.) This theory cuts through individual differences that separate, and offers common languages that everyone can use to communicate, to create, and to learn.
It is essential to recognize that people from different cultural, social, economic, and educational backgrounds and those with different levels of ability have very different ways of learning, thinking, and behaving. These differences can result in alienation, apathy, or even violence when they are not acknowledged and recognized as potential strengths to the individual and the group. Every person has a unique set of intelligences that can be utilized for learning and developing his/her fullest possibilities.
The abilities to learn and to become more intelligent are not sufficient without the development of the highest human qualities. In our unstable world we can see many examples of highly intelligent and well educated people who lack altruism and sensitivity to the needs of others. At the extreme are those who are capable of doing hostile and violent acts against humanity. It might be well for all of us to keep in mind Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs and how self-actualization develops. We know that empathy, compassion, generosity, integrity, and understanding of other people do not develop spontaneously. Civility, responsibility, independence, and the ability to work with others are qualities that can be learned. They begin developing early in life through observing the behavior of good role models and they are learned by doing. Community service and collaborative projects in homes, schools, and the workplace help to develop the kinds of qualities desperately needed in the world today.
All people can learn more effectively. The word "learning," in its fullest sense, means not just memorizing information, but being able to comprehend and apply what the mind has taken in. As its ultimate goal, learning will lead to our becoming more intelligent and eventually to developing the wisdom, founded on learning throughout life, to make just decisions and to contribute generously to our world. Raising expectations that all students will learn is not sufficient. For successful learning to take place, it is critical that students of all ages have opportunities to identify and develop their strengths and be equipped with the tools to learn. At an even more basic level, their physical and emotional needs must be met. Those who live in poverty, who experience violence in their lives, who do not have proper food and clothing, and who do not have appropriate role models find it difficult and often impossible to learn. Since educational systems alone cannot deal with such problems, there is a growing need for community learning centers linked to social service, health, welfare, cultural, and recreational agencies that offer learning as a collaborative enterprise.

If we accept the above principles as valid, then as educators we must continually question how we ourselves learn, how we teach, and how we help others to learn. Such reflective practice is an essential part of our responsibilities.

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