Howard Gardner's newest book (2007), Five Minds for the Future, outlines the specific cognitive abilities that will be sought and cultivated by business leaders in the years ahead.
The five types of mind that Gardner believes will be most needed in the future are:
The Disciplinary Mind: the mastery of major schools of thought, including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one professional craft.
The Synthesizing Mind: the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others.
The Creating Mind: the capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomena.
The Respectful Mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups.
The Ethical Mind: fulfillment of one's responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen.
In the sub-category of each of these minds, Gardner outlines the skills and intellectual approaches that adults will need to tap in order to function successfully in the 21st century. Unlike Tony Wagner, who enters the 21st century skills conversation with a defined list of the skills schools need to add to their programming, Gardner describes the end-product of education in these minds, suggesting that one specialize in a particular mindset.
How are we creating these types of minds in our students?
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