Trending in Ed kicks off Season 11 with the return of Harvard’s Howard Gardner, the developmental psychologist behind the theory of multiple intelligences. Picking up where their first conversation left off, Howard and host Mike Palmer look past next year’s syllabus to ask what education should be in 2050 and beyond.
Howard revisits Five Minds for the Future with a provocative claim: AI will increasingly outperform us at the disciplined, synthesizing, and creating minds, leaving the respectful and ethical minds as the core human work of education. He explains why he’s adding “It” to I, We, and They, what scouting, humanistic communities, and Reggio Emilia can teach future learning, and how the “Four D’s” can guide ethical dilemmas. The two also explore influencer culture, mentorship, and the ethical will Howard wrote for his grandchildren.
KEY INSIGHTS
- 🧠 From Intelligence to Cognition: Why an AI comparison of the Fabians and Bloomsbury convinced Howard that machines now out-synthesize him.
- ⚔️ Generals Fight the Last War: Tweaking today’s classroom won’t prepare learners for tomorrow, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
- 👖 Genes, Jeans, and Jelly Beans: An interest-driven, AI-supported curriculum that starts from what learners care about.
- ⛺ Learning Through Community: Why intergenerational groups tackling real neighborhood problems may beat the classroom.
- ⚖️ The Four D’s: Discuss, debate, decide, and debrief as a model for ethical decision-making.
- 🤝 The “Influmentor”: What separates a Walter Cronkite from a clout-chaser, and why mentorship still matters.
About the Guest: Howard Gardner is the Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a longtime leader at Project Zero, and co-founder of The Good Project. His many books include Frames of Mind, Five Minds for the Future, and his memoir, A Synthesizing Mind.
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📩 Connect with Mike Palmer on LinkedIn.
Howard’s first appearance: https://trendingineducation.com/2024/11/howard-gardner-on-education-and-on-mind/
Howard’s blogs: https://www.howardgardner.com
Timestamps:
- 🕙 00:00 — Howard Gardner returns
- 🕙 02:15 — Multiple intelligences at 45: animals, plants, and AI
- 🕙 04:00 — Generals fight the last war
- 🕙 05:45 — The synthesizer meets the LLM
- 🕙 09:10 — Five Minds for the Future, revisited
- 🕙 12:50 — Genes, jeans, and jelly beans
- 🕙 16:40 — Good Starts: I, We, They… and It
- 🕙 18:40 — Scouting, religion, and Reggio Emilia
- 🕙 23:00 — The Good Project and the Four D’s
- 🕙 27:30 — Rethinking the influencer
- 🕙 34:00 — Mentorship and the “influmentor”
- 🕙 38:30 — Parenting and the ethical will
- 🕙 43:30 — AI around the world
- 🕙 44:30 — The end of the Anthropocene
Episode References
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%5Cu2014and%20for%20all%20of%20us%20striving%20to%20excel%20in%20a%20complex%20world.Howard%20Gardner%5Cu2014cited%20by%20Foreign%20Policy%20magazine%20as%20one%20of%20the%20one%20hundred%20most%20influential%20public%20intellectuals%20in%20the%20world%2C%20and%20a%20MacArthur%20Fellowship%20recipient%5Cu2014is%20the%20Hobbs%20Professor%20of%20Cognition%20and%20Education%20at%20the%20Harvard%20Graduate%20School%20of%20Education.%22%2C%22date%22%3A%222009%22%2C%22originalDate%22%3A%22%22%2C%22originalPublisher%22%3A%22%22%2C%22originalPlace%22%3A%22%22%2C%22format%22%3A%22%22%2C%22ISBN%22%3A%22978-1-4221-4535-7%22%2C%22DOI%22%3A%22%22%2C%22citationKey%22%3A%22%22%2C%22url%22%3A%22%22%2C%22ISSN%22%3A%22%22%2C%22language%22%3A%22English%22%2C%22collections%22%3A%5B%22BUDT7K5D%22%5D%2C%22dateModified%22%3A%222026-09-24T03%3A16%3A52Z%22%7D%7D%5D%7D
Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books.
Gardner, H. (2020). A Synthesizing Mind: A Memoir from the Creator of Multiple Intelligences Theory. The MIT Press.
Gardner, H. (2009). Five Minds for the Future. Harvard Business Review Press.
