Howard Gardner's Five minds for the future.

Howard Gardner's latest book divides 'intellectual approaches' into 5 types of minds for the future. These are:

1. The disciplined mind- schooled in basic subjects like art, history... and master of one


2. The synthesizing mind- able to make sense of disparate information


3. The creating mind- asking new questions and finding imaginative answers


4. The respectful mind- an appreciation of different cultures


5. The ethical mind- responsibility as worker and citizen.

This is an interesting way to divide 'minds' and instead of developing a heirachy as Bloom and Bereiter have done, he has different categories of mind. The focus of this is for management in the work place, rather than education (not that it should make a difference).

I would consider respectful and ethical to be in the same type of category- but that may be because I am a social studies educator from NZ. I would also like to see a focus on being connected through networks, which I see as more than synthesizing, and essential in the creating process.