1.
Michele R. Acosta
Writing Sample: Scholarly Article
(2004)
Beyond Curriculum #2:
A Research Project that Reaches the Multiple Intelligences
Multiple intelligences instruction has the potential to reach and teach vast numbers of
students, but incorporating it effectively while still meeting curriculum requirements and
ensuring that students are developing their verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical
intelligences is no small feat.
In the first part of this series, I asked the question: How do you effectively incorporate the
multiple intelligences, meet the requirements of your school's curriculum, and make sure that
your students are developing their verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences all
at the same time?
I also answered the question: you don't—at least not all at the same time. But some
assignments can meet all of these requirements, and better yet, they have the potential to
reach all of the multiple intelligences (as opposed to two or three). I use a mini research
project as an introductory activity for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; however, the
assignment would work with any small scale research project. The purpose of the project is
for students to gather information about an era (in my case it was the Roaring Twenties), and
share that information with each other. Since the goal of the lesson is the communication of
knowledge, it doesn't matter how the information is disseminated.
I give students the opportunity to work alone, in pairs, or in groups of three or four. Each
student is required to select his or her own topic to research. If students choose to work with
classmates, their individual research is to be integrated into one presentation. As preparation
for their projects, students brainstorm methods for demonstrating knowledge. The form of
the final product is left to the students' discretion. As a result, students can use the
combinations of intelligences with which they are most comfortable.
The final products created by my students tell the success story:
One student wrote and presented a first-person narrative of Amelia Earhart's life. Her
presentation was accompanied by a freehand drawing of a world map on which Earhart's
fatal flight was charted. This student used her verbal-linguistic intelligence to write and speak
her narrative and her spatial intelligence to draw the map. She also used her
logical-mathematical intelligence to organize her research into a presentation.
Two students wrote a newsletter about sports in the 1920s. They concentrated specifically
on Babe Ruth and on the 1919 World Series which was fixed. These boys used their
verbal-linguistic intelligence to write their articles, their spatial intelligence to format their
newsletter, and their interpersonal intelligence to cooperate. They also used their
logical-mathematical intelligence to organize their research into a newsletter.
Two other students wrote and presented a 20-minute dialogue between Bonnie and Clyde.
They wore costumes for effect. By selecting this method of presentation, they not only
presented the historical and biographical information about the exploits of Bonnie and Clyde,

2.
Michele R. Acosta
but also managed to examine Bonnie & Clyde's emotional and psychological state. In order
to accomplish this, these students needed to draw on their intrapersonal intelligence. These
students used their verbal-linguistic intelligence to write and speak their dialogue, their
interpersonal intelligence to collaborate together, and their logical-mathematical intelligence
to arrange their research into a coherent dialogue.
Three other students found a Benny Goodman radio sketch and acted it out vocally. They
also wrote a commercial about fads of the 1920s which was inserted into their sketch. In
order to truly communicate the "radio" element of their topic, these students made an audio
cassette of their presentation and played it for the class. These girls used their
verbal-linguistic intelligence to verbally "act out" their radio sketch, their interpersonal skills
to work together, and their logical-mathematical intelligence to organize their research into a
presentation.
Another student taught the Charleston to the class, using her bodily-kinesthetic intelligence,
while yet another student used his musical intelligence to present the Blues.
Students learn more from this project because they are allowed to express themselves in
ways that give them confidence to experiment. Whether they are readers or not, they begin
the unit in a positive frame of mind and are more willing to tackle the challenge at hand
because of their recent success.