Berry-picking and Theory of Multiple Intelligence - Dipesh Dulal

I told my child that it was called cloudberry in English. However, while researching a bit before writing this blog post, I realized that Ainselu has been termed as Golden Himalayan Raspberry in English. While writing this, he is having his free-time at home. Let him unlearn and relearn things, I am not going to correct the English term for him. I am already content that this eight year old is able to term it corectly in Nepali.

It was again a slow morning. Last night, I had completed reading a Nepali novel. Hence, I woke up late in the morning. So did kids. After the morning meal, I had no other plan than getting more sleep and starting reading a new book during the day.

One of my kids remimded me of juicy berries that they brought home earlier this week. I did not have chance to have second thought after hearing this. He then took me to one of the open fields in our village.

Popularly called as Ainselu in Nepali, golden himalayan raspberry is prevalent in hilly areas of Nepal. We overcame some obvious degrees fo pains due to pricks and scratches caused by the thorns of the bush. We were surprised to get mature and juicy berries.

After eating some berries, we brought some more home.

While sitting down writing about this, I could be asking to myself - why on earth am I writing about simple berry-picking activity? I got answer myself - firstly, I wanted to tell a story. Secondly, I want people to realize that real world (mostly outdoors) offers rich opportunities for transformative learning.

While juxtaposing our experiece (father's and child's) against the learning phenomena, I found Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence quite relevant.

Theory of Multiple Intelligence during Berry-picking Activity

I could bring in many other theories and concepts in today's activity with my child - for example: outdoor learning and place-based education (theories that I am fan of). However, Gardner's Multiple Intelligence came to my mind when I was thinking of pros of berry-picking activity with kids. In this context, I am going to use eight intelligences, as many other writers do.

Visual and Spatial Intelligence

It was my child who led me to there. Last time, it was free-ranging kids who discovered this bush. Knowledge and practice of physical geography comes to this context.

Linguistic and Verbal Intelligence

My child was able to use wide range of words to describe the golden himalayan raspberry bush and the berries themselves.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

Papa, do you know that the other face of the bush has more juicy and sweet berries than the ones at this side?

I was more than surprised to hear this. The observation was valid. I explained that this could be due to the amount of sunlight.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

We had to do various kinds of body movements to get there, pick and eat berries, collect some more for the family and return home with berries on hand. We also tried our best to avoid the injuries by the thorns of the bush.

Musical Intelligence

Well, to be honest, the experience was not (intentionally) musical. Till the moment of writing, I (and my child) have not gone through any learning process for any form of musical production than consumption. During this activity, We did not do anything musical besides the spontaneous absorption of natural sounds - birds chirping and singing, river flowing, wind blowing, and of course horns blown by the vehicles around.

Interpersonal Intelligence

We talked with each other and vibed with each other while doing this activity. We talked about the child's experience with other kids. We also thought of our family members who would love to try these berries at home - hence brought some berries home.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

My child loves to explore nature when he feels bored. He knows it and he has ability to communicate it. Hence, he convinced me to get there and have fun with this activity.

Naturalistic Intelligence

While returning home, our conversation sounded quite naturalistic.

Papa: Do you think we should preserve such a bush?

Child: Yes!

Papa: Why do you think so?

Child: We can get such tasty berries for the long run.

Well, parents/caretakers do not necessarily need to relate any parenting sort of things with theories. I would suggest that children need caring and sharing moments with their favourite people while learning with/from nature.