MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

 MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Howard Gardner is a psychologist and Professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday circumstances and professions, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner defined the first seven intelligences in Frames of Mind in 1983. He added the last two in Intelligence Reframed in 1999.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science. According to a traditional definition, intelligence is a uniform cognitive capacity people are born with. This capacity can be easily measured by short-answer tests. According to Gardner, intelligence is:

 The ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture.

 A set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life.

 The potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge 

Multiple Intelligences

According to MI Theory, identifying each student’s intelligences has strong ramifications in the classroom. If a child's intelligence can be identified, then teachers can accommodate different children more successfully according to their orientation to learning. Teachers in traditional classrooms primarily teach to the verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligences.

Gardner defined the first seven intelligences in Frames of Mind in 1983. He added the last two in Intelligence Reframed in 1999.

The nine intelligences are:

 VISUAL/SPATIAL - children who learn best visually and organizing things spatially. They like to see what you are talking about in order to understand. They enjoy charts, graphs, maps, tables, illustrations, art, puzzles, costumes - anything eye catching.

 VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - children who demonstrate strength in the language arts: speaking, writing, reading, listening. These students have

always been successful in traditional classrooms because their intelligence lends itself to traditional teaching.

 MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - children who display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving. This is the other half of the children who typically do well in traditional classrooms where teaching is logically sequenced and students are asked to conform.

 BODILY/KINESTHETIC - children who experience learning best through activity: games, movement, hands-on tasks, building. These children were often labeled "overly active" in traditional classrooms where they were told to sit and be still!

 MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - children who learn well through songs, patterns, rhythms, instruments and musical expression. It is easy to overlook children with this intelligence in traditional education.

 INTRAPERSONAL - children who are especially in touch with their own feelings, values and ideas. They may tend to be more reserved, but they are actually quite intuitive about what they learn and how it relates to themselves.

 INTERPERSONAL - children who are noticeably people oriented and outgoing, and do their learning cooperatively in groups or with a partner. These children may have typically been identified as "talkative" or " too concerned about being social" in a traditional setting.

 NATURALIST - children who love the outdoors, animals, field trips. More than this, though, these students love to pick up on subtle differences in meanings. The traditional classroom has not been accommodating to these children.

 EXISTENTIALIST - children who learn in the context of where humankind stands in the "big picture" of existence. They ask "Why are we here?" and "What is our role in the world?" This intelligence is seen in the discipline of philosophy. 

Using Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

Accepting Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences has several implications for teachers in terms of classroom instruction. The theory states that all seven intelligences are needed to productively function in society. Teachers, therefore, should think of all intelligences as equally important. This is in great contrast to traditional education systems which typically place a strong emphasis on the development and use of verbal and mathematical intelligences. Thus, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences implies that educators should recognize and teach to a broader range of talents and skills.

Another implication is that teachers should structure the presentation of material in a style which engages most or all of the intelligences. For example, when teaching about the revolutionary war, a teacher can show students battle maps, play revolutionary war songs, organize a role play of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and have the students read a novel about life during that period. This kind of presentation not only excites students about learning, but it also allows a teacher to reinforce the same material in a variety of ways. By activating a wide assortment of intelligences, teaching in this manner can facilitate a deeper understanding of the subject material.

Everyone is born possessing the seven intelligences. Nevertheless, all students will come into the classroom with different sets of developed intelligences. This means that each child will have his own unique set of intellectual strengths and weaknesses. These sets determine how easy (or difficult) it is for a student to learn information when it is presented in a particular manner. This is commonly referred to as a learning style. Many learning styles can be found within one classroom. Therefore, it is impossible, as well as impractical, for a teacher to accommodate every lesson to all of the learning styles found within the classroom. Nevertheless the teacher can show students how to use their more developed intelligences to assist in the understanding of a subject which normally employs their weaker intelligences .For example, the teacher can suggest that an especially musically intelligent child learn about the revolutionary war by making up a song about what happened

As children do not learn in the same way, they cannot be assessed in a uniform fashion. Therefore, it is important that a teacher create an "intelligence profiles" for each student. Knowing how each student learns will allow the teacher to properly assess the child's progress (Lazear, 1992). This individualized evaluation practice will allow a teacher to make more informed decisions on what to teach and how to present information.

Traditional tests (e.g. multiple choice, short answer, essay. . .) require students to show their knowledge in a predetermined manner. Supporters of Gardner's theory claim that a better approach to assessment is to allow students to explain the material in their own ways using the different intelligences. Preferred assessment methods include student portfolios, independent projects, student journals, and assigning creative tasks.

Strengths of Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory

 helps to explain the variety of individual differences in different types of mental performance

 based in developmental, clinical, case study and educational evidence

 The different intelligences help point out which ares students need help in

Criticisms of Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory

 narrow intelligences may meet criteria, e.g. 20 to 30 intelligences may also have been convincing

 are these intelligences or just 'abilities'? (and what is the difference?) - musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, intra and interpersonal are a source of some controversy

 doesn't explain why some people are more intelligent than others

 these 'intelligences' are not all essential for successful adaptation (one of the common definitions of intelligence)

 ultimately there is not really much HARD scientific evidence.