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Multiple Intelligences and the World Wide Web: A New Approach to Teaching About the War
Reprinted from the OAH Magazine of History Involvement of diverse learning types within a classroom setting is as much of a challenge as difficult content. Previously, traditional lecture formats served students' needs adequately; however, many contemporary students and lecturers find this system too rigid in its approach. In contrast to the idea that one method can serve all students, Howard Gardner's Methods of Intelligence postulates that a learner could favor a rhythmic/musical, verbal/linguistic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, bodily/kinesthetic, mathematical, or visual/spatial style of learning (1). By using this constructivist teaching approach, engagement of the different types of learners can be achieved within the social studies classroom simply by involving the students in every aspect of discovery. Cognizant of these varied methods students utilize in obtaining knowledge, the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War can be a wonderful topic for all to explore using modern technology.
To identify the historical milestones of the war. To group the wide variety of sources into valid, spurious, or relevant categories. To construct a purely student-generated unit.
Material: A computer with Internet access. Texts, source materials, etc.
Method One: Intrapersonal Every project needs a beginning, every document a page one. The arduous task of paring down the volumes of material available on the Internet can be tackled by this introspective intelligence type. Although this article provides many examples of where to find material on the web, much more information exists than is chronicled here. The American Studies Web Page, created by Georgetown University, and Social Studies Sources, maintained by Indiana University, are excellent launching off places. The Georgetown Reference and Research American Studies page (http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/ Method Two: Verbal/Linguistic Keeping in mind Thomas Hardy's famous words, "My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading," comprehension of the written word's profound significance during the war is an education for all intelligence types, but one tailor-made for this type of student. For the linguistic learner, a more orthodox approach might involve analyzing the race for the most scandalous headline between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World or William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. Hearst's headlines such as "Why Young Girls Kill Themselves" and "Strange Things Women Do For Love" do not rattle even the most naive reader today, but the calculated approach that Hearst took to induce the war does radically deviate from our own headline-driven media. Hearst's utterance to artist Frederic Remington, "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war," signaled a shift within the media from simply reporting headlines to creating the news. Currently, these primary sources are difficult to locate on the Internet, but articles such as "Bosnia, the Latest Glorious War" (http://slt.pobox.com/slt/revenge/war.html [link unavailable 6/13/00]), and "How Yellow is Today's Journalism?" (http://twics.com/~arandrew/yellow.html [link unavailable 6/13/00]) offer a comparison between 1898 and current events. Taking advantage of what technology offers the student armed with a modem, an unorthodox assignment involves locating Michigan State University's Vincent Voice Library's web page (http://web.msu.edu/vincent/index.html). The Vincent Voice Library is the largest academic voice library in the nation. Within the library, taped utterances such as speeches, performances, lectures, and interviews make up its fifty thousand voices. The Vincent Voice Library digitized a large number of these, and now students can access these sounds through the World Wide Web. Sound samples from United States presidents are readily available and, surprisingly, William McKinley (AU 270K, 896.33) is one of those that can be heard. Encourage the verbal student to listen to the taped clip and then transcribe it. Challenge this student to locate this small segment within his inaugural address (http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/ Method Three: Musical/Rhythmic Many history students are aware of the existence of the Buffalo soldiers but many are ignorant of their various contributions to America's military history. During the War of 1898, it is believed that the black 9th U.S. Calvary joined with the Rough Riders in the Kettle Hill attack. The Austin Learning Academy offers a wide variety of Internet sources to the student specifically interested in the Buffalo soldiers (http://www.alaweb.org/buffalo/links.htm) [link unavailable as of 4/20/00]. The once renegade now mainstream Bob Marley, singer/songwriter, created his Buffalo Soldier song to honor their memory. Although the audile song cannot be located on the web as of yet, the lyrics are available at http://www.alaweb.org/buffalo/lyrics.htm [link unavailable as of 4/20/00]. In addition to the study of contemporary music, the verbal learner could examine the lyrics of 1890s hits such as John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever," or Joe Hayden and Theodore Metz's "They'll be a Hot Time in Old Town Tonight" by logging onto The International Lyrics Server (http://www.lyrics.ch/search.html) [link unavailable as of 4/20/00]. Method Four: Visual/Spatial On the Internet, the visual imagery available concerning the 1898 War is in a state of growth; the student does not have to be confined to Remington's fabrications. The American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/) has fifteen film clips of or about McKinley. These range from McKinley reviewing troops at the Pan American Exposition to his funeral cortege in Washington D.C. For example the film clip of McKinley reviewing the troops, filmed 5 September 1901 in Buffalo, New York, takes one minute, thirty-seven seconds to view. The web also offers various photographic images. If your class cannot afford the trip to Washington D.C., the Library of Congress stores a large collection of panoramic images entitled "Taking the Long View," which are relevant to the study of the war and are only a few clicks away. The student can browse through a variety of these digitized images such as the destruction to the U.S.S. Maine. The Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection offers various images such as 1898 Spanish prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay. And, as an additional resource this student could view The Splendid Little War by the Belle Grove Publishing Company. This fifty-five minute video brings to life some of the war's events such as the battle for San Juan Hill. Although the producers chose to use dramatizations throughout the tape, the film does have a wide variety of period photographs. Method Five: Bodily/Kinesthetic Role playing is not only a popular method with students but is also very effective if done properly. Rather than assigning roles or constructing scripts for the obvious major characters in the war drama such as President McKinley or Theodore Roosevelt, a small scale physical construction of the various battles would provide more stimulation for the kinesthetic student. This type of device could be used in either in the construction of Rear Admiral Dewey's initial naval seizure of Manila Bay, Philippines, or the more famous battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill. From rearranging the desks within the room in order to represent the Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Concord, Boston and McCullock, to assigning the students to various personalities such as Bucky O'Neill, Lieutenant Jules Ord, or Colonel Wood, the role playing student has the opportunity to learn through experience rather than acquiring knowledge from a third person account. To find this type of information, the Internet does offer a wide selection of mapping sources but finding the precise one relevant to the war is a bit like finding the proverbial needle. Using a web search engine is useful; however, one of the best places to begin is the University of Iowa's Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research page, (http://www.cgrer.uiowa.edu/servers/ Method Six: Interpersonal With the passing of time, those that once served as foot soldiers during the Civil War became the leaders of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War. Decades after America's bloodiest conflict, Tampa, the launching off point for American serviceman, found itself the home of an unusual type of reunion. Those once sworn enemies of the 1860s met at the Tampa Bay Hotel (now the Henry B. Plant Museum) in order to plan strategy within its rooms, and to reminisce whilst swaying in the hotel's rocking chairs. For the interpersonal student, this unique meeting holds a wealth of hidden relationships_Northern soldiers, Southern soldiers, Indian fighters, Rough Riders, etc. The Henry B. Plant Museum's web page (http://www.plantmuseum.com/) provides a compact history of the hotel which contains information on some of the war participants. Beyond broadening interpersonal students' awareness of the war, their research of the different journalists, generals, Rough Riders, and various other hotel occupants may allow a deeper understanding of the world's power brokers. Challenge this student to question the U.S.-centered approach of this war by viewing the Sentenaryo/Centennial page (www.rochester.ican.net/~fjzwick/centennial/index.html [link unavailable 6/13/00) which contains links to materials on the cultural and political impacts of the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine American War. This work in progress provides the student with an opportunity to experience the war through a different perspective. Viewing events through the eyes of the conquered, the student can access such topics as contested history, U.S. colonialism, literature and songs of the Philippine Empire. Method Seven: Mathematical The United States Army Center of Military History offers the mathematical student a bonanza of informational statistics. Over two hundred pages of statistical information on the volunteers of this war can be downloaded (http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/spanam/spanhtm.htm [link unavailable 6/13/00]). Using such data, this student could figure out what types of injuries caused death, what mortality rates existed, which state provided the most volunteers, etc. If this is a bit lengthy for the proscribed class time, "The Splendid Little War" (http://ac.acusd.edu/History/) outlines the war in a timeline fashion. In addition to checking this document for accuracy, students could analyze the cause and effect cycle of the war. For further instruction on Gardner's work, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom by Thomas Armstrong offers applicable ideas ranging from curriculum development to special education (2). The CSS Journal (http://fwww.cssjournal.com [link unavailable 6/13/00]) is an electronic educational journal which promotes computer use in all levels of the social studies classroom. For a subscription of $10.00, all of their links can be accessed and their journal provided six times a year. Endnotes See Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, 10th anniversary ed. (New York: Basic Books, 1993); and Gardner, Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice (New York: Basic Books, 1993). Thomas Armstrong. Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1994).
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