New Kinds of Smart

How people think about education depends on how they understand the notion of 'intelligence'. Teaching reflects assumptions about what kinds of mental qualities are worth having, and about the extent to which those qualities are fixed or malleable. As the idea of 'intelligence' changes, so should the aims and methods of education. It's time to bring intelligence into the real world.

In the early 21st century our understanding of the smart mind is changing fast. The demands of society are now quite different from those when schools were first designed, so the kinds of smart necessary to craft a happy and fulfilling life have changed. As life becomes more complex, ambiguous and uncertain, so a different set of mental and emotional attitudes are needed to thrive. Meanwhile, researchers in the cognitive, affective and learning sciences are developing new models of the smart mind that make it clear that bodies, tools and social contacts are as much a part of intelligence as abstract problem-solving.

New Kinds of Smart presents the most important of these changes to practising teachers and educators, and invites them to think about their implications for school. Each chapter illustrates the research behind one of the emerging 'new kinds of smart'; summarises the messages that this research has for practitioners; and presents practical examples, tools and templates that educators can use to weave this new strand of thinking into their work as teachers and their lives as learners.