The End of Earth: Providing Ways to Develop and Synthesize the Mind

According to Gardner (2007), "interdisciplinary investigation is very important [and] is typically motivated by one of three considerations:

1. A powerful new concept has been developed, and it is inviting and timely to test the reach of that concept.
2. An important phenomenon has emerged, and a full understanding of that phenomenon calls for, or even demands, its contextualization.
3. A pressing problem emerges, and current individual disciplines prove inadequate to solve that problem (p.56-58)."

When I came up with the idea for my "End of Earth" PBL unit, I (unknowingly) used number three from the list above to alter current reality and create a pressing problem. As a Language Arts teacher, it becomes very difficult to adequately bring in other disciplines. This unit was based off of a non-fiction article from our text book about the Sojourner Mars Rover. While I have a final project in mind, and will lead my students to that final outcome, creating a sustainable living environment on Mars, I am working on creating both discipline and synthesis throughout the entire unit.

Gardner states that "the disciplined mind has mastered at least one way of thinking-a distinctive mode of cognition that characterizes a specific scholarly discipline, craft, or profession (p.2)." He goes on to say that "research confirms that it takes up to ten years to master a discipline (p.2)." While I know my students will not be spending ten years working on this project, rather 6 weeks, my goals is to begin to develop a discipline by assigning groups to work on one piece of the whole project. For example, one group will be working on creating the habitat. Within that group, smaller groups will be focusing on the physical environment where they will build, materials that can sustain the atmosphere on Mars, etc. Creating these small groups with a common discipline will ensure that they are using different sources to come up with information that will help the entire team to be successful.

"The synthesizing mind take information from disparate sources, understands and evaluates that information objectively, and puts it together in ways that make sense to the synthesizer and also to other persons (Gardner, p. 3). In order to obtain synthesis in this unit, my students will be completing weekly "press releases" that will be shared with the other groups in order to show progress toward the common goal. They will also be participating in weekly discussion posts and writing bi-weekly picture essays. 

Even though this project is taking place in my Language Arts classroom, my students will have to draw on information from other sources and subjects in order to complete the project. Because they will actually be creating a model of their living environment, students will need Math and a concept of scale in order to keep it small enough to fit in my classroom. They will need Science to complete the concepts of space, gravity, and basic human needs for life. They will be writing each week and conveying their information that makes sense to a variety of audiences. Finally, and very importantly, they will be researching all the information they need in order to make their new life on Mars successful.

Gardner, H.  (2007).  Five Minds for the Future.  Boston:  Harvard Business School Press.