Garder proposes five minds, ways of thinking and acting in the world, which students need to develop. Of the five minds, three focus on intellectual development and two minds on character development.

Intellectual Minds
1. The Disciplinary Mind: students master a traditional body of information, such as important historical developments in particular country or countries.
2. The Synthesizing Mind: focus shifts to bringing together, organzing, understanding and articulating from various diciplines in a unified and coherent whole.
3. The Creating Mind: students are encouraged to to come up with new ideas, original solutions to problems and creative questions. Can be considered an example of 'thinking outside the box'.

Character/moral developing Minds
4. The Respectful Mind: reflected by an awareness of, appreciation for and openness to the differences and individuality of others.
5. The Ethical Mind: encourages students to cultivate a sense of responsibility for themselves and for the well-being of others.