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Multiple Intelligences Theory - Which One Your Learning Style?
Multiple Intelligences is Howard
Gardner’s psychological theory about people and their different types
of intelligences (logical, visual, musical, etc.). There are seven
Intelligences that each person has. A person may be has two or more
dominant intelligences, and maybe there are some person have a balance
intelligence for the seven intelligences.
Howard Gardner initially formulated a
list of seven intelligences. His listing was provisional. The first two
have been typically valued in schools; the next three are usually
associated with the arts; and the final two are what Howard Gardner
called 'personal intelligences’.
What are the types
of Multiple Intelligence?
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Ability to perceive the visual. These
learners tend to think in pictures and need to create vivid mental
images to retain information. They enjoy looking at maps, charts,
pictures, videos, and movies.
Their skills
include:
puzzle building, reading, writing,
understanding charts and graphs, a good sense of direction, sketching,
painting, creating visual metaphors and analogies (perhaps through the
visual arts), manipulating images, constructing, fixing, designing
practical objects, interpreting visual images.
Possible career
interests:
Navigators, sculptors, visual artists,
inventors, architects, interior designers, mechanics, engineers
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Ability to use words and language.
These learners have highly developed auditory skills and are generally
elegant speakers. They think in words rather than pictures.
Their skills
include:
listening, speaking, writing, story
telling, explaining, teaching, using humor, understanding the syntax
and meaning of words, remembering information, convincing some one of
their point of view, analyzing language usage.
Possible career
interests:
Poet, journalist, writer, teacher,
lawyer, politician, translator
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Ability to use reason, logic and numbers. These learners think
conceptually in logical and numerical patterns making connections
between pieces of information. Always curious about the world around
them, these learners ask lots of questions and like to do
experiments.
Their skills include:
problem solving, classifying and categorizing information, working
with abstract concepts to figure out the relationship of each to the
other, handling long chains of reason to make local
progressions, doing controlled experiments, questioning and
wondering about natural events, performing complex mathematical
calculations, working with geometric shapes.
Possible career paths:
Scientists, engineers, computer programmers, researchers,
accountants, mathematicians
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Ability to control body movements and handle objects skillfully.
These learners express themselves through movement. They have a good
sense of balance and eye-hand co-ordination. (E.g. ball play, balancing
beams). Through interacting with the space around them, they are able
to remember and process information.
Their skills include:
Dancing, physical co-ordination, sports, hands on experimentation,
using body language, crafts, acting, miming, using their hands to
create or build, expressing emotions through the body
Possible career paths:
Athletes, physical education teachers, dancers, actors,
firefighters, artisans
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Ability to produce and appreciate music. These musically inclined
learners think in sounds, rhythms and patterns. They immediately
respond to music either appreciating or criticizing what they hear.
Many of these learners are extremely sensitive to environmental sounds
(e.g. crickets, bells, dripping taps).
Their skills include:
Singing, whistling, playing musical instruments, recognizing tonal
patterns, composing music, remembering melodies, understanding the
structure and rhythm of music
Possible career paths:
Musician, disc jockey, singer, composer
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Ability to relate and understand others. These learners try to see
things from other people's point of view in order to understand how
they think and feel. They often have an uncanny ability to sense
feelings, intentions and motivations. They are great organizers,
although they sometimes resort to manipulation. Generally they try to
maintain peace in group settings and encourage co-operation. They use
both verbal (e.g. speaking) and non-verbal language (e.g. eye contact,
body language) to open communication channels with others.
Their skills include:
seeing things from other perspectives (dual-perspective), listening,
using empathy, understanding other people's moods and feelings,
counseling, co-operating with groups, noticing people's moods,
motivations and intentions, communicating both verbally and
non-verbally, building trust, peaceful conflict resolution,
establishing positive relations with other people.
Possible Career Paths:
Counselor, salesperson, politician, business person
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Ability to self-reflect and be aware of one's inner state of being.
These learners try to understand their inner feelings, dreams,
relationships with others, and strengths and weaknesses.
Their Skills include:
Recognizing their own strengths and weaknesses, reflecting and
analyzing themselves, awareness of their inner feelings, desires and
dreams, evaluating their thinking patterns, reasoning with
themselves, understanding their role in relationship to others
Possible Career Paths:
Researchers, theorists, philosophers
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Since Howard Gardner's original listing
of the intelligences in Frames of Mind (1983) there has been a great
deal of discussion as to other possible candidates for inclusion (or
candidates for exclusion). Subsequent research and reflection by Howard
Gardner and his colleagues has looked to three particular
possibilities: a naturalist intelligence, a spiritual intelligence and
an existential intelligence.
Naturalist
intelligence enables human beings to recognize, categorize and
draw upon certain features of the environment. It 'combines a
description of the core ability with a characterization of the role
that many cultures value'.
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Traditionally, schools have emphasized
the development of logical intelligence and linguistic intelligence
(mainly reading and writing). While many students function well in this
environment, there are those who do not. Gardner's theory argues that
students will be better served by a broader vision of education,
wherein teachers use different methodologies, exercises and activities
to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and
logical intelligence.
The application of the theory of
multiple intelligences varies widely. It runs the gamut from a teacher
who, when confronted with a student having difficulties, uses a
different approach to teach the material, to an entire school using MI
as a framework. In general, those who subscribe to the theory strive to
provide opportunities for their students to use and develop all the
different intelligences, not just the few at which they naturally
excel.
A Harvard-led study of 41
schools using the theory came to the conclusion that in these
schools there was "a culture of hard work, respect, and caring; a
faculty that collaborated and learned from each other; classrooms that
engaged students through constrained but meaningful choices, and a
sharp focus on enabling students to produce high-quality work.
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- You will provide opportunities for authentic learning based on your
students' needs, interests and talents. The multiple intelligence
classroom acts like the "real" world: the author and the illustrator of
a book are equally valuable creators. Students become more active,
involved learners
- Parent and community involvement in your school may increase. This
happens as students demonstrate work before panels and audiences.
Activities involving apprenticeship learning bring members of the
community into the learning process
- Students will be able to demonstrate and share their strengths.
Building strengths gives a student the motivation to be a "specialist."
This can in turn lead to increased self-esteem
- When you "teach for understanding," your students accumulate
positive educational experiences and the capability for creating
solutions to problems in life
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Students begin to understand how they
are intelligent. In Gardner's view, learning is both a social and
psychological process. When students understand the balance of their
own multiple intelligences they begin
- To manage their own learning
- To value their individual strengths
Teachers understand how students are
intelligent as well as how intelligent they are. Knowing which students
have the potential for strong interpersonal intelligence, for example,
will help you create opportunities where the strength can be fostered
in others. However, multiple intelligence theory is not intended to
provide teachers with new IQ-like labels for their students.
Students approach understanding from
different angles. The problem, "What is sand?" has scientific, poetic,
artistic, musical, and geographic points of entry.
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Source: thirteen.org ; infed.org
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