Roundtable learning: Building understanding through enhanced MI strategies.

Weber, E. (1997). Roundtable learning: Building understanding through enhanced MI strategies. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press. 155 pp., $36.00 (bp). ISBN- 1-56976-061-6

For a variety of reasons Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences continues to play a predominate roll in pieces published to assist practitioners in the challenging task of curriculum development. In her work, Roundtable learning: Building understanding through enhanced MI strategies, Ellen Weber uses the theory as one of three frameworks around which she develops ideas that are appropriate for her roundtable learning method. She indicates that the method capitalizes on the experience base and strengths of students and will lead to enhanced understandings in content areas.

The author introduces the work by inviting the reader to "imagine a learning environment that accommodates the development of every student's gifts, abilities, and interests ... where gifted students and experts-to-be all feel valued ... where every person is considered unique in some way" (p. 1). Weber states that the main purpose of the book is to provide "practical, hands-on classroom activities and lesson plan suggestions" (p.2) that are based on theory. Briefly, she reviews the work of Gardner and Vygotsky and her own Multiple Intelligence Theory Application (MITA) teaching approach (Weber, 1995) that converge to form the foundation upon which the present work purportedly is based.

Weber views learning as an active process in which learners participate in dialogues about topics of importance in their culture or environment. In her roundtable structure, one critical question asked or one problem posed creates the agenda for the community of learners. Frequently this question or problem arises from within the community thus altering the role of the teacher from keeper of knowledge to facilitator and fellow learner. The "community" itself often extends beyond the initial circle of learners to include other individuals from the school or community at large. Weber acknowledges that the work she presents extends from her years of collaborating with students, parents, and teachers and that many of the ideas actually have been used in a variety of settings.

Although divided into six chapters, the book has three sections. In the first section (Chapter 1), the author defines the roundtable learning approach. The second section includes the second and third chapters. Weber suggests strategies in these chapters to assist the reader in identifying the strengths of learners and designing curricula to enhance these strengths. In the final two chapters Weber invites readers to shift the meaning of mistake from stumbling block to "stepping stones of deeper understandings" (p. 5). To accomplish this she presents ideas to increase risk taking behaviors of learners (Chapter 5) and thoughts to assist learners in times of change (Chapter 6).

Each chapter includes a number of activities in which the author proposes an outcome and provides guidelines for discussion and procedure. Chapter one, for example, includes ten activities around a variety of topics. Among these are activities to assist one in "Meet(ing) Other Teachers" and "Creating a Dream Speech." Also included in this chapter are sections entitled `Developing Curriculum through Questions,' a list of `Twelve Topics We Explored through Questions,' and `Questions that Identify Individual Abilities.'

In contrast to the variety in chapter one, however, the ideas Weber presents in chapter two focus on designing a unit of study and she incorporating Gardner's theory. She includes the outline of a unit around the topic of Brazil. Weber suggests that centers be designed for each of Gardner's intelligences and she presents twelve questions/problems based on each that learners might pursue. For instance, the questions or problems posed in the spatial center include an invitation to discover `who are Brazil's best-known artists,' to `represent some of the architectural designs popular in Brazil,' and to use `any art form (to) describe one day in the life of a Brazilian teen' (p. 33).

Throughout the remaining chapters Weber touches on a variety of topics. She introduces her MITA model as an interactive approach to teaching and learning and presents assessment ideas in chapter three. In chapter four she lists factors that identify classroom environments as communities, identifies obstacles to building communities, and counters myths concerning creative classrooms. The reader can learn how to use the roundtable approach to teach short stories by following the suggested activities delineated in chapter five. Finally, in chapter six a checklist of questioning techniques may assist in honing questioning expertise while the listing of differences between a traditional approach to teaching and the MITA approach might provide fodder for critical thought.

To examine the usefulness of Weber's plethora of ideas and teaching approach for educators of gifted individuals, one might determine the degree to which the modifications expounded for gifted students (Maker & Nielson, 1996) explicitly are incorporated or possibly may be implied. Seemingly all learning environment modifications (i.e., learner centered, independence, open, acceptance, complexity, varied groupings, flexibility, and high mobility) and all product modifications (i.e., addressed to real problems, directing products toward real audiences, evaluation, transformation, variety and self-selected formats) may be inherent in the roundtable teaching approach as presented in this work. Some content modifications inherently may be included when designing curricula around this model. Several others, however, including abstractness, complexity, and organization for learning value, might take concerted effort on the part of the designer to assure inclusion.

Of all suggested modifications, those relating to process may provide the greatest challenge for those interested in introducing Weber's ideas and the roundtable approach into their classroom environment. Three extremely important process elements - higher levels of thinking, evidence of reasoning, and pacing - escaped my scrutiny. Frequently, I found myself inserting probing questions, such as `why do you believe -- might be an effect of --?' to follow those questions posed in the book. Perhaps the strategies delineated by Schiever (1991) might provide a useful supplement to assist implementers in their quest to include these modifications in the roundtable approach.

As I reviewed Weber's work I repeatedly asked myself several questions that warrant brief discussion. First, as Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences plays an important role in the model Weber presents, why does she consistently refer to multiple intelligence rather than multiple intelligences? Additionally, why did she use labels for some intelligences that differ from those Gardner delineated and why was she not consistent in her use of terms throughout the book? In his seminal work, Frames of Mind, Gardner clearly states reasons behind his choice of terms (c.f., Gardner, 1993, p. 178). In my mind, individuals who deviate from those terms would do well to explain reasons for their choices.

Weber states that her intent is to determine the strengths and abilities of all learners and to capitalize on these in the classroom environment. Yet, as I read the ideas she presents, I could not help but wonder how a "verbally inconvenienced" (Lohman, 1994) individual might fair in an environment in which dialogue so highly was treasured. How might the sculptor who exclaimed "if I could tell you about it I would not have had to create it" or the Olympic gold medal winning ice dance duo who related in a televised interview that they "can express on ice the emotions and feelings that (they) cannot express in words" fair in such an environment?

In summary, Weber provides her readers with a vast number of ideas to implement the roundtable learning approach in a classroom environment. Educators of the gifted and others interested in meeting the diverse needs of learners in a regular classroom might do well to expand upon the ideas presented to reach deeper into the hearts and souls of all learners in the community.

REFERENCES

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, tenth anniversary edition. New York: BasicBooks.

Maker, C.J., & Nielson, A.B. (1996). Curriculum development and teaching strategies for gifted learners: Second edition. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Lohman, D.F. (1994). Spatially gifted, verbally inconvenienced. In N. Colangelo, S.G. Assouline, & D.L. Ambroson (Eds.), Talent development, Vol. 2. Proceedings from the 1993 Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on Talent Development (pp. 251-264). Dayton, OH: Ohio Psychology Press.

Schiever, S.W. (1991). A comprehensive approach to teaching thinking. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Weber, E. (1995). Creative learning from inside out. Vancouver: EduServ.

Reviewed by Judith A. Rogers, coordinator for the Gifted and Talented Education Program in the Tucson (AZ) Unified School District and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the University of Arizona.