Overview of Multidimensional Learning

A Multiple Intelligence Approach to Christian Education

By Mickie O’Donnell, President Lord and King Associates, Inc
Sponsor of the CMAmerica National Conference

THE CHALLENGE:

If our goal is to teach the Bible so that it brings about radical transformation of people’s minds and hearts – leading them to maturity in faith that is demonstrated in their actions, then we have missed the mark (see Search Institute Study 1990). Why have we been unsuccessful? Probably because of these challenges:

1. We have children once a week for about an hour but they only come sporadically at best
2. We scurry to recruit “teachers” to fill our “slots” to be sure all the age groups are covered. And these volunteers actually need to be multi-gifted but are generally not.
3. We can’t find enough volunteers who will commit to an every Sunday morning teaching schedule
4. We use curriculum that may give us a variety of teaching options but we try to cram it all into one hour in one room with teaching volunteers who are not necessarily good at using this material. We purchase enough for every child, whether they come every week or not (wasting money).
5. We have curriculum that is dependent upon the previous week’s lesson but the children attending this week might not be the ones who attended last week ~ review begins to feel pointless.

What we end up with:

• A volunteer generally gifted in one area (for instance, a great storyteller), but not with skills in music, drama, crafts, or in utilizing technological tools.
• Volunteers that need to utilize more than one lesson option to fill out the class time, ending up trying to do things they are not good at. Their sincerity and effort alone will not make up for their lack of gifts. Teachers know it because they feel uncomfortable and students know it because the activity lacks the power of clear direction.
• Curriculum not used, and creative resources under utilized, cabinets filled with old curriculum that no one dares throw away and the occasional poster/butcher paper project taped to a wall or bulletin board.
• Classrooms end up looking like “miniature board rooms.” ~ long or round brown tables, folding chairs, white walls, blackboards or white marker boards. The only difference generally is the height of the table and chairs depending on the size of the child. The older the child, the less “toys” around and the more boring the room becomes.
• Bored children, disruptive children, disgruntled volunteers and frustrated Christian Education Pastors and Directors trying desperately to “fill slots” to keep the children busy while the rest of the “real church” goes about worshipping, fellowshipping and drinking coffee.
• Ask a teenager what they remember from their grade school Sunday school classroom – I can guarantee you this is generally how they describe it. Ask them what they remember doing and most likely they will tell you “I colored,” or “We pasted stuff,” or “I don’t remember much, it was ‘kinda’ boring.” Sound all too familiar?

THE SOLUTION

The Multi-dimensional Learning Experiences Model is helping churches to make use of the concepts of Multiple Intelligences Theory, brain studies, gift-based ministry and other current educational research by suggesting that we change our educational “paradigm” almost completely. Instead of having one volunteer teacher trying (and generally failing) to do it all in one classroom, we are suggesting that churches:

1. turn rooms into multi-dimensional learning environments: For example a Drama room, Art room, Computer room, Storytelling room, Movie room, Science lab, Cooking lab, Map room, etc
2. have adult volunteers work in rooms where their particular passion and gift focus one entire lesson hour on one main learning medium (based on MI theory).
3. ‘rotate’ a different set of children each week to a particular learning environment – hence the concept or “Multi-dimensional” learning experiences.
4. repeat Biblical Stories (themes or units) over a series of four-five weeks so that the children experience the same story through different modalities over a short course of time.
5. give permission to artisans and other creative people from within each congregation to create murals, create interior design themes and authentic looking Biblical environments for each room, hallways, etc. This is what we can refer to as “enhanced environments” which in turn encourage better retention of the Biblical content.
6. People with nurture gifts become "shepherds" for specific age groups and provide the stability and continuity as they are with the same children each week. This is an essential part of this model!

What we end up with:

• children more fully engaged in each learning environment
• children wanting to come back because they have other rooms to look forward to in the weeks to come
• adults teaching in their area of giftedness and children who can feel their enthusiasm
• children learning the “story” through multiple pathways – not just from reading, listening and coloring around tables. (They experience the story in multiple authentic learning environments. We believe this helps with retention for better integration of the faith story in their hearts and minds.)