The Five Minds for the Future

• The Disciplined Mind• The Synthesizing Mind• The Creating Mind• The Respectful Mind• The Ethical Mind

The Five Minds for the Future

• The Disciplined MindGardner implies three connotations of the word “discipline”.1. Learners should work regularly and steadily on things to get

better. He calls it building “disciplinary muscle”.

2. Learners should master the major ways of thinking (Science, History, Mathematics and one or more Art Forms). He makes a sharp distinction between disciplined thinking and subject matter (facts, information). “Disciplinary thinking is the deeply different ways in which scientists or historians or artists approach their daily work.”

3. To work in the world of the future, learners must become experts in at least one thing. “Expertise is the only thing that will take forward real value.”

The Five Minds for the Future

• The Synthesizing Mind1. The learner must be able to look for the current best synthesis.

2. The learner must decide what the ultimate synthesis should look like.

3. The learner must select a method for synthesis (the medium, art, taxonomy, theory, metaphor, narrative, etc.

4. The learner must decide with all the information available what information will be included, what will be excluded and why.

5. The learner must decide how the information will be communicated and how it will be transmittable and understandable to other people.

The Five Minds for the Future

The Creative Mind

“People who are creative are those who come up with new things which eventually get accepted.”

“I don’t believe you can be creative unless you have mastered at least one discipline, art, or craft.”

“Creativity is always called “thinking outside the box”. You can’t think outside the box unless you have a box.”

The Five Minds for the Future

The Respectful Mind

“Rather than ignoring differences, being inflamed by them, or seeking to annihilate them by hate or love, I call on human beings to accept the differences, learn to live with them, and value those who belong to other cohorts.”

The Five Minds for the Future

The Ethical Mind

The ethical mind is characterized by “good work”; work that is excellent, ethical, and engaging.

A good worker has a set of principles and values that he/she can state explicitly or at least acknowledge upon questioning.

Signposts of good work are:• Mission or Goals• Models …having them and serving as• Mirror test…individual• Mirror test…professional responsibility. “We are responsible for not only

what we do but what we do not do.”

The Five Minds for the Future

PANEL QUESTIONS

What is one nugget or important idea you took away from your reading of each of Gardner’s mind dispositions?

The Five Minds for the Future

PANEL QUESTIONS

How will each of the minds be important to educational leaders in the 21st Century?

The Five Minds for the Future

PANEL QUESTIONS

Do women leaders have gender experiences and gender dispositions that will be positive attributes in developing and applying these mind dispositions?