Theorists+Pages+Gardner

  Howard Gardner’s work around multiple intelligences has had a profound impact on thinking and practice in education especially in the United States. He viewed intelligence as the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting. He reviewed the literature using eight criteria or signs of an intelligence.
 * Howard Gardner ** ** Multiple Intelligences **

“I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place.” -Gardner questioned the idea that intelligence is a single entity, that it results from a single factor, and that it can be measured simply via IQ tests. -He also challenged the cognitive development work of Piaget; bringing forward evidence to show that at any one time a child may be at very different stages. Gardner formulated a list of seven intelligences; 1. Linguistic intelligence:
 * 1) An identifiable core operation or set of operations
 * 2) A distinctive development history, along with a definable set of end-state performances
 * 3) An evolutionary history and evolutionary plausibility
 * 4) Support from experimental psychological tasks
 * 5) Support from psychometric findings
 * 6) Susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system

2. Logical-mathematical intelligence:
 * a. sensitivity to spoken and written language
 * b. ability to learn languages
 * c. capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals
 * d. ability to effectively use language to express oneself, language as a means to remember information.
 * e. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers

3. Musical intelligence:
 * a. Capability to analyze problems logically,
 * b. Carry out mathematical operations
 * c. Investigate issues scientifically
 * d. Ability to detect patterns, reasons deductively and thinking logically

4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence:
 * a. Skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns
 * b. Capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms
 * c. Musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.

5. Spatial intelligence:
 * a. Potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems
 * b. Ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements
 * c. Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related

6. Interpersonal intelligence:
 * a. Potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas

7. Intrapersonal intelligence:
 * a. Capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people
 * b. Allows people to work effectively with others.
 * c. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders

8. Naturalist intelligence:
 * a. Capacity to understand oneself,
 * b. To appreciate one’s feelings, fears, and motivations
 * c. Having an effective working model of ourselves,
 * d. To be able to use such information to regulate our lives


 * a. Recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment
 * b. A description of the core ability with a characterization of the role that many cultures value.

The intelligences provided a new definition of human nature, cognitively speaking. Human beings are organisms who possess a basic set of intelligences. It has met with strongly positive response from many educators and schools in North America have looked to structure curricula according to the intelligences and to design classrooms and schools to reflect the understandings that Howard Gardner develops. The theory validates; 1. Educators’ experience: students think and learn in many different ways 2. Provides educators with a conceptual framework for organizing and reflecting on curriculum assessment and pedagogical practices. 3. Develop new approaches that might meet the needs of the range of learners in their classrooms.

** Essential Learning Questions: ** //Q 1: Is learning a solitary activity undertaken by an individual, or is learning a social activity, something done by a group within a contex//t? Learning is a social activity; children and teachers interacting in a learning environment. Each child learns differently and accommodating individual needs is the goal of teachers. When learning happens, learners may use one or more of the following intelligences identified by Gardner; linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal. Specific intelligences I would like to mention are interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. Interpersonal intelligence helps learners to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people in a learning zone. This allows people to work and learn effectively with others. //Q 2: Is learning primarily focused on the transmission of facts and information or is it focused on the development of understanding of concepts and new knowledge//? Before any actual learning takes place the transmission of facts and information is an integral part. Once facts are introduced and learners are exposed to new information, they acquire new knowledge best utilizing their learning modalities so that learning makes sense to them. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory can enhance learning and teaching by knowing how learners learn best will guide them to success. This will lead learners to acquire new knowledge with ease; mission accomplished.

//Q 3: Is our goal as educators to prepare an individual who can recall sets of information or develop groups of individuals who can apply the information to as yet unsolved problems?// Merely recalling information or facts which have been introduced or studies by learners cannot prove the mastery of new knowledge. Gardner says; “I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Using the unique blend of intelligences, people will learn to solve real-world situations to make this world a better place and simply remembering facts will not be a creative way to solve problems. Learners should be guided to work at a higher level of the Bloom’s Taxonomy (Analysis, synthesis and evaluation) and create opportunities for them to learn “how they prefer to learn” and how learn best incorporating their unique blend of multiple intelligences.

//Q 4: Does development precede learning, or does learning precede development?// Every learner has a unique blend of intelligences. To accommodate different learning modalities, teachers should create and deliver lessons that support various learning styles in a classroom. This will allow learners to acquire knowledge the way they learn best.