Learning+Theorists

I (Kathleen Lepori) have chosen Howard Gardner as my learning theorist. I created a new avatar, Gardner Hermit, in Second Life that I think looks a lot like him (although younger)! This is the beginning as I wanted to make sure I could make my avatar first. Now I am on to the research about his learning theories. The subject of multiple intelligences has always interested me, especially spiritual and moral intelligence.

The first thing that I noticed about Howard Gardner was his impressive 67-page vitae. I have personally seen many vitas throughout the years but none as extensive and notable as his. This is his short bio:

Howard Gardner is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. He has received honorary degrees from twenty-two colleges and universities. In 2005 he was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. The author of over twenty books translated into twenty-seven languages, and several hundred articles, Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. He has also written extensively on creativity, leadership, and professional ethics. His latest book Five Minds for the Future was published in April 2007. For more information go to www.howardgardner.com

I have now read several of papers regarding Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and here are some of my thoughts and reactions to two of them:

Interestingly enough, Gardner does not consider himself an educator and has never proposed a program for the education of multiple intelligences (MI Theory) and yet MI Schools are popping up all over the world. It was his “empirical work with normal and gifted children, and with brain-damaged patients on the other, that convinced him that the standard view of a ‘single, unitary, undecomposable intelligence’ could not be correct.” Gardner proposes that every human being has at least seven (perhaps as many as nine) multiple intelligences that include: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. http://www.howardgardner.com/Papers/papers.html
 * Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences**

This paper was written by Gardner and is a personal look into why and how he developed his theory of multiple intelligences. He defends that his development of the MI Theory was not meant to “slay IQ” tests. It is important to understand, says Gardner that “Multiple intelligences should not in and of itself by an educational goal. Educational goals need to reflect one’s own values, and these can never come simply or directly from a scientific theory.” He believes that “MI approaches are particularly useful when a student is trying to master a challenging new concept—say, gravity in physics, or revolutions in history.” In this article, he points out that a crucial point in his theory was to define and stipulate criteria for what constitutes intelligence. Gardner claims, “all human beings possess not just a single intelligence (often called “g” for general intelligence.) Rather, as a species we human beings are better described as having a set of relatively autonomous intelligences.” Other theorists would like to add to his list of multiple intelligences and as Gardner says, MI has taken on a life of its own and the decision about what counts as an intelligence is a judgment call and not an algorithmic conclusion. He poses a great question in this paper, one he says that he wishes he had time and energy to work on – “How does human logical-mathematical intelligence relate to the various sciences, mathematics, and computing software and hard ware that have emerged in the last few thousand years?” [Created by Kathleen Lepori]
 * MI After Twenty Years**