The Sucess of Multiple Intelligences - Term Paper Example

Taking the Roads of Psychomotor, Cognitive, and Affective: A Study of Three Learning Domains in College-Level From infancy to adulthood, an individual is a continuous work in progress. Development, in this context, falls under several major areas that work together to achieve a well-rounded product-a total manifestation of successful progression as defined by each stage. The typical manifestation of this development is measured in the college level, which is the final stage of required learning. The psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains are the prime areas for discussion, all of which play relevant roles in the psychology of learning. By definition, psychomotor skills refer to how the physical body responds to stimuli found in the environment. These are complex movements born out of repeated practice of various actions (e.g., driving, typing, or throwing a ball), and are measured to check an individual's ability and development. Motivation and practice frequency are the most important factors of the psychomotor domain, as well as feedback gained from experience. Here, motivation is considered to be the top consideration, because it has been proven that motivation helps increase one's speed and ability (Think Quest). Cognition is the general term to define an individual's capacity to glean and process knowledge from ideas presented to him. In fact, when Wilhelm Wundt established his laboratory in 1879 to identify and analyze human thought processes, the pioneering effort was considered the birth of modern psychology. In this domain, introspective feedback is deemed the most essential-the effect of learning as validated by one's own thoughts. The commonly-known idea of information processing falls in this category, as it studies the capability of the human mind to process specific ideas and contexts. The iconic psychologist Benjamin Bloom designed the Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, primarily to classify and evaluate various learning objectives in the realm of experience and identification of knowledge. On a more process-oriented level, Jean Piaget developed his own theory of cognitive development that analyzes how the human mind adapts to both abstract and symbolic thinking (Huitt, 2006). On the other hand, the affective domain of learning ascribes its history and significance to the importance of emotion. It has been acknowledged how emotion can be complex, and that it can completely affect not just one's social and personal development but plays a major role in intellectual maturity as well. Studies have proven that some of the brain's particular parts are directly associated with emotion, and through this discovery, the concept of emotional intelligence was recognized. It is important to define certain terms, often loosely used in everyday language: 1. Emotion is the result of one's mental application in processing feelings and relationships. 2. Emotions are mainly experiences, always subjective, that may include several parts-from physical, expressive, and subjective connotations. (Huitt, 2003). The significance of emotions in the learning process is definite and whole, a complete area of the process through which advancement may depend. Learning is adjudged to be in progress and working towards specific goals when these three domains are in place and are noted. Education, received in school, is the structured management of each factor, that points to achieving full mental and physical maturity. In this light, the college level is assumed to hold individuals of complete development in all domains. However, it is also at this time when a person, judging from his or her psychomotor, cognitive and affective skills, shows preference for specific areas. This is where a new branch of learning comes in, one that caters to multiple intelligences. Developed by Howard Gardner, this refers to, literally, an array of intelligences, that declares how each individual excels in various areas-and one cannot be deemed more intelligent than the other, just by judging a specific domain (Brockman, 1997). College students are the best samples of study using this ideology, because there will be enough evidences from previous years of their inclinations towards certain disciplines. Jeanne Chall, prime writer, researcher and teacher, has introduced a more specific aspect of learning-that of reading. She contested conventional knowledge, which took as truth the idea that children learn to read and comprehend for meaning and context from the initial stage. Chall's Stages of Reading Development (1983) emphasized the results of her study showing how children first learn to read, followed by their reading in order to learn. These also coincide with a child's progress in the various domains, re-affirming the foremost goal of achieving maturity (Monaghan, 2002). To give specific examples on how a child exhibits progress in the different stages, from 6 months to college age as defined by Chall, a summary is provided as follows: Chall's Stages of Reading Development vis-a-vis Other Aspects of Child Development Works Cited Monaghan, E. Jennifer. Jeanne Chall (1921-1999). http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1819/Chall-Jeanne-1921-1999.html Huitt, W. "The cognitive system." Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University, 2006. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/cogsys.html Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. "An overview of the behavioral perspective." Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University, 2006. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/behsys.html Huitt, W. The affective system. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University, 2003. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/affsys/affsys.html Brock, John. Truth, Beauty and Goodness: An Education for all Human Beings/ A Talk with Howard Gardner. http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gardner/gardner_p1.html Think Quest. Psychomotor skills. http://library.thinkquest.org/C005704/content_lt.php3 www.childdevelopmentinfo.com www.calgaryandareacfsa.gov.ab.ca www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopment www.advocatesforyouth.org www.medem.com Read More