Customer Reviews

Math for Humans : Teaching Math Through 8 Intelligences

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This valuable collection of Math {teaching and learning strategies}for humans definitely lives up to its name. Superheros like Math Mole, who touts "the best of what moles have to offer" professes that "the real secret of his success in problem solving is his ability to "get his paws dirty,go after subtle leads (always keeping his sense of purpose and direction), then chomp into real results at the end." Like Math mole, Mark Wahl can "sniff a solution from a distance;" what's more, Mr. Wahl can help younsters sniff out solutions and math know-how by appealing to the best children have to offer: their eight basic intelligences! From merely scanning this book, one might pick up tips to use in the classroom immediately. For example,I used a mind map, or graphic organizer,from this book to show my students how to mulitply fractions times whole numbers. It took less than one minute, and my fourth grade math students were enchanted! I can hardly wait to try the other activities Mr. Wahl has developed for students!

After our state testing this spring, I decided to have "fun" with math using Mark Wahl's Math for Humans. Little did I know that I would open up an entirely new way of teaching and learning math. I have never seen my 4th graders so engaged and excited by math. Every day they are making new connections and discovering the amazing world of numbers. I've even heard some of my students talking about math outside of the classroom! Each project matches many of the grade-level expectations for Washington State across the five math strands. My students can't wait for the next project and I can't wait to teach math next year beginning with Math for Humans!

Mark Wahl is brilliant. He provides inspiration, explanation, and techniques (with plenty of examples) for using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to teach Math to students who may excel in one kind of intelligence over another. The 1997 edition of the book I have was written when Gardner's theory included 7 intelligences. The theory now includes 8 intelligences and Wahl's book has been updated to reflect that.

Wahl leads in his introduction with a great story of a second grader he met who was a budding artist, possessing very high spatial intelligence. She couldn't, however, learn (i.e. memorize) her addition tables. Judgment aside about the value of her teacher and parents forcing that she learn the tables in the timetable and not hers, Wahl undertook the challenge to teach her the arithmetic table. He had her make pictures of the symbols in "8 + 7 = 15' on a large index card and then had her make cards for other Math facts. This student was able to learn Math facts by making her own artistic flash cards. She got to learn by using her high spatial intelligence.

The book provides examples of how to "season", as Wahl likes to say, Math lessons with the multiple intelligences (MI). He gives examples for:

* Linguistic Intelligence (writing about what you learned or experienced)
* Spatial Intelligence (diagrams with symbols, flow charts for procedures, visual mnemonics, charts, mind maps, graphs, Venn diagrams, branching trees)
* Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence (clapping, singing, humming, rhythmic movement, rhythmic words, jingles)
* Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (cubes, blocks, Cuisenaire Rods, calculators, and other manipulatives)
* Intrapersonal Intelligence (sharing of thoughts, feelings, and ideas with others)
* Interpersonal Intelligence (discussing of cross-cultural and historical aspects of Math topics)
* Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (deepening the analysis of concepts, posing questions, making connections, furthering exploration)

Wahl discusses brain hemisphericity, how to use left and right brain skills together to do Math. He discusses learning styles, how to use an understanding of a student's temperament to create an environment for succeeding in Math. He explains the value of students working cooperatively toward solving problems. And, Wahl presents a chapter on dealing with Math anxiety.

While the first half of the book presents and illustrates quite a bit of theory, the second half grounds us with concrete examples, quite a number of activities, that apply what we've learned earlier to real-world classroom and tutoring experiences.

All in all, Math for Humans is a fabulous book, chock full of very inspiring information and ideas with tremendous power to help teachers, tutors, coaches, and parents to teach Math in ways that students can really get and enjoy.

Finally a book on maths scene that looks at the "whole big" picture of all differnt types of learning. Great suggestions & examples! Teaching maths the way schools do(most anyway) seems to be a "one size fits all" approach from over 100 yrs ago, not this book! It is so refreshing seeing a book like this... have given it to my kids teacher...

I taught middle school math for 10 years before discovering this book. It totally changed the way I teach problem solving to my remedial students. They no longer have to guess at which operation to use. They know what to do and why they are doing it. I highly recommend this book to all elementary teachers and middle school math teachers.

I found this book very helpful in learning about the 8 multiple intelligences. The best part was that it was easy to understand. The book was not "dry." It has useful ideas that can be applied in the classroom.

well written, researched and laid out. concepts and ideas very useful for the classroom. hoping they will help some of my less able math students. activities listed are fun to try.