Howard Gardner And Multiple Intelligence Essay

Ever since Spearman proposed the intelligence theory with G factor, there were several other intelligence theories proposed in response or as an alternative to Spearman’s. Among those, Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory would be the most influential ones as they are widely accepted and used in real life. Both of the theories share a critical view towards the unitary perspective which is the traditional definition of intelligence. However, the two theories differ in which they don’t agree with what factors should be the measures of intelligence, as well as the emphasis of the two theories.

In “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, Howard Gardner illustrates how there are a variety of intelligences. Gardner starts off with an example how IQ tests may predict achievement in school but may not predict achievement in life. After finding out certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, such as “Broca’s Area” which is responsible for sentence production, Gardner proposes the existence of multiple intelligences. Multiple studies later led him to propose seven distinct intelligences; Musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Each intelligence has certain classifications. According to Gardner’s classifications, I realized my intelligences are bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and intrapersonal.

Whether we realize it or not, test scores play a vital role in many people’s self esteem. A person who frequently scores high will be confident that they are very intelligent and will expect others to see them that way. Asimov attested to this when he stated, “All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think that too.” (Asimov, 536). On the other hand, those who score low on tests often write themselves off to be unintelligent. Emphasis on the importance of the ACT or SAT test scores can lead an adolescent to conclude that he or she is not capable of succeeding in college and lead them to not pursue higher education. The tragedy is that we may pass on opportunities because we have labelled ourselves unintelligent based on a test score which is not a true refelection of our

Gardner examined many subjects to decide upon the seven intelligences in his Multiple theories of Intelligence. Gardner finally concluded that intelligent behavior does not come from one single quality of the mind. He believed that different intelligences are generated from different metaphorical pools of mental energy, and that these pools enable people to solve problems or create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings. He came up with this concept from his experiences working with members of different populations where certain cognitive abilities are apparent even in the absence of basic abilities. For example, when an autistic person is a genius at math and lacks the ability to tie his shoes.

Everyone is intelligence, it is just that some people have different strengths when it comes to applying that intelligence whether it be in english, math, or even sports. In the essay “Hidden Intelligence” by Gerald Graff, the author argues that there are different types of intelligences besides what is commonly known as academic intelligence, one of which he calls “street smarts,” and that schools are missing the opportunity to use these types of intelligence and integrate them into academics. While Graff does make some valid points about the types of intelligence and how it can be used to help students become better, there are flaws in his argument.

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

     A renowned professor of education and psychology at Harvard University, Howard Gardner has radically changed the way we look at intelligence. In 1983 Gardner published the first of two books that theorize that there are multiple intelligences. Gardner believes “that human cognitive competence is better described in terms of a set of abilities, talents, or mental skills, which we call “intelligence” (378). Gardner’s theory dismisses the idea that intelligence is a single attribute of the mind and suggests that there are different types of intelligences that account for different human

You’re a genius! As this compliment rings in your head imagine that someone is referring to your ability to understand yourself, or even your ability to interact with other people. Under Gardner’s Theory of multiple intelligences each and every one of us have different intelligence strengths, our individual strengths are important in how we develop. Possibly making more unconventional geniuses. Knowing and acknowledging our strengths can help us to excel in life at different levels. Most of us are a combination of many different intelligences. Normally with one or two that are stronger than the others. Like many others you might be thinking intelligence only in reference to a high IQ, and knowledge these other so called “intelligences” are too broad, but I believe you couldn’t be more incorrect. These are possible new ideas for you but consider the fact that we all learn differently if we all had the same type of intelligence than we would all learn the exact same way. As we know this clearly not true. After deep reflection and some research I believe my strongest intelligence is Interpersonal intelligence. Strong interpersonal intelligence are people who are good at understanding and interacting with others nonverbally and verbally. Usually more talented in assessing the emotions and desires of those around them. My second strongest intelligence is intrapersonal intelligences describe as one’s ability to know and understand them self. It is believed that these

One criticism of Gardner's theory is that he classifies talents as a type of intelligence. Critics might say that a talented dancer or chess player is not necessarily smart. How would you reply to this

Albert Einstein once stated, “not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” High-stakes testing attempts to determine the knowledge a person has obtained throughout grades K-12. These standardized tests are being used to judge a person’s ability to graduate from high school and also judge if a child has enough knowledge to proceed to the next grade level. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing how these tests do not accurately portray one’s intelligence, how they have increased drop out rates, and also show the damaging psychological affects they have had.

Charles Spearman’s theory (1904) also takes the psychometric approach that there is a general intelligence. Spearman maintains that intelligence is hereditary and an individual is born with their maximum mental ability. This suggests that intelligence cannot be changed or strengthened. The concept of ‘general intelligence’ suggests that an individual has an underlying intelligence, in which their performance in one type of cognitive task is often similar to their performance in another (Boundless 2013). Spearman demonstrated this through the correlations between tests, where individuals who performed well in one test, often performed well in others. This led Spearman to the conclusion that intelligence is defined as a single factor. However, critics refute Spearman’s conclusions, as they argue that one cannot reduce all factors of intelligence to an indefinable “g” (Neisser et al. 1996).

‘‘Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory can be used for curriculum development, planning instruction, selection of course activities, and related assessment strategies. Instruction which is designed to help students develop their strengths can also trigger their confidence to develop areas in which they are not as strong. Students’ multiple learning preferences can be addressed when instruction includes a range of meaningful and appropriate methods, activities, and assessments. Gardner’s early work in psychology and later in human cognition and human potential’ led to the development of the initial six intelligences. Today there are nine intelligences and the possibility of others may eventually expand the list. These intelligences (or competencies) relate to a person’s unique aptitude set of capabilities and ways they might prefer to demonstrate intellectual abilities’’ ( (Armstrong, T., 2010). Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

One expert says, “Confident in our system of public examinations, that is broadly designed to separate those more ‘intelligent’ from the less ‘intelligent’, we can feel content that we are filtering out our most able for higher education and all the opportunities that entails.” Stating that exam issuers are exceptionally confident that those who fail their exams are less intellegent and cannot function at the level that the other students who pass can. This is hardly ever

Although standardized testing plays a prominent role in education systems, these tests continue to spark controversy. Even “critics have long warned that a flood of standardized testing is distorting American education” (Rizga & Hernandez, 2015, p. 40). Many people feel as if standardized tests only measure a small portion of what truly make’s a student’s education meaningful (Concordia Online Education, 2016). One of the biggest disadvantages of standardized testing is that the scores of standardized tests are said to measure a student’s intelligence level. If students do not earn an expected score, “students are pushed into remedial classes that zero in on what’s measured on the tests, furthering limiting their opportunities to learn the

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences is a critique of the standard psychological view of intellect: there is a single intelligence, adequately measured by IQ or other short answer tests. Instead, on the basis of evidence from disparate sources, the theory claims that human beings have a number of relatively discrete intellectual capacities. IQ tests assess linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence, and sometimes spatial intelligence; they are a reasonably good predictor of who will do well in school. This is because humans have several other significant intellectual capacities (Harvard University).