MI + MI + CI: Could MI Theory, Multidisciplinary Instruction, and A Community of inquiry, Sum Up to Math Engagement?

This theoretical piece entertains the notion of increasing math class engagement through a combination of nontraditional frameworks. Research shows low student motivation and achievement in mathematics and the inability to transfer math concepts into real-life situations. Research also shows that that these deficits result from using traditional teaching methods. In this paper I propose a pedagogical blend of three existing and progressively popular frameworks: The process of teaching to Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, as a means of maximizing student learning in mathematics, is a way for students to make meaningful connections and relationships. The process of relating and linking two or more disciplines to mathematics is a way to help students make meaningful connections to real-life situations. Thirdly, the process of enabling a cooperative learning environment, whereby group discourse is supported in a community of inquiry setting, is a way to help students build sociocultural and interpersonal relationships, as well as increase their engagement in the learning process. The letter in the word team stands fortogether everyone achieves more—John LounsburyThe purpose of this thought piece is to offer a theoretical argument that supports the relevance ofincorporating an interdisciplinary approach to teaching. By virtue of its integrated and comparativeformat, interdisciplinarity presents the potential foundation for developing our eight intelligences, andthe MI Theory provides an effective instructional framework for structuring interdisciplinary lessons.Another type of contemporary methodology that supports this marriage of the intelligences andinterdisciplinary education in its effort to develop critical thought is cooperative learning.The variable expression in the title of this paper represents a blend of these conceptual frameworksand their potential for facilitating math engagement in adolescents. My discussion focuses on the followingconceptual frameworks: Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory (1983, 1991, 1993b, 1993c, 1997) as itrelates to the multidisciplinary model of teaching, and the Community of Inquiry model (Splitter & Sharp, 1995) as it relates to cooperative learning and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development(ZPD) in small group settings (1988). As a seasoned secondary mathematics teacher in an urban high school, I have become increasingly interested in teaching to the individual intelligences (or individual strengths) of my math students via interdisciplinary lesson formats and special student-designed projects. From my pe