FOCUS QUESTIONS

1. How do cognitive, affective, and physiological factors influence learning?
2. How can teachers respond to different learning styles?
3. Is gender a learning style?
4. What are the classroom implications of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences?
5. How does emotional intelligence influence teaching and learning?
6. How are the needs of learners with exceptionalities met in today’s classrooms?

CHAPTER PREVIEW

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, basic educational concepts are being redefined, reexamined, and expanded. What does “intelligence” really mean? How many kinds of intelligences are there? What is EQ (emotional intelligence quotient), and is it a better predictor of success than IQ (intelligence quotient)? How should classrooms best be organized to meet the needs of different learning styles?

Gender issues are an issue in schools as some argue that girls’ and boys’ learning differences create the need for separate schools. Are single-sex schools a good idea? Do girls and boys learn differently? We want you to begin thinking about how teachers can recognize differences in learning styles while avoiding the dangers of stereotypic thinking, and the current gender debate is a good place to begin.

Another educational transformation is the increasing numbers of schoolchildren now identified as learners with exceptionalities—students with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, mental retardation, and emotional disturbances— all of whom deserve appropriate educational strategies and materials. Students with gifts and talents represent another population with special needs too often lost in the current educational system.

This chapter will broaden your ideas of how students learn, and, based on this, how teachers should teach.