Multiple Intelligence and Learning Styles
In a classroom, all students are unique in various different ways. They may be different through gender, race, socio-economic status, and so forth. They may also be different in how they learn information and how they think about information. Multiple Intelligence Theory was first introduced by Howard Gardner. Gardner believed that there are eight types of intelligence that people possess. Some people may be stronger in certain types of intelligence and weaker in others. He wanted to prove that there is no single way for intelligence to exist. Learning style model is a theory that people have different ways of learning. Some people learn through listening to a teacher while others may learn through looking at diagrams. These two theories prove that teaching should not be directed towards particular students
Multiple Intelligence (MI) is a theory that Gardner introduced after many people started to believe with Alfred Binet’s intelligence quotient (IQ) test that intelligence could simply be measured and represented through a unit. Gardner wanted to prove that certain students may not possess the same level of intelligence in a certain category such as Math, which would fall under Gardner’s logical intelligence, as other students. He suggested that certain people excel at particular intelligences more than others. The eight types of intelligence include linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,
This theory agreed with the multiple intelligence theory on intelligence being a much broader general ability, but the latter’s intelligences were better perceived as individual talents. This theory explains successful intelligence as involving factors including analytical intelligence which is the problem- solving abilities, creative intelligence which involves the capacity of dealing with new arising situations by using current skills and past experience as well as practical intelligence which is the ability of adapting to change in one’s environment. The third theory is that of multiple intelligences by Howard Gardener which proposes that human intelligence’s numerical expressions are not an accurate depiction of the people's abilities. This theory describes several distinct intelligences which are based on the abilities and skills which are valued in the different cultures including visual-spatial intelligence where thinking is in terms of physical space, verbal-linguistic intelligence where words are used effectively, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence where the body is used effectively, logical-mathematical intelligence where abstract, conceptual and calculations are used, interpersonal intelligence which entails one’s understanding of their goals and interests, musical intelligence where sensitivity to sound and rhythm is shown, intrapersonal intelligence which involves interaction and understanding of others as well as naturalistic intelligence. These differences related to strengths of intelligence are said to challenge the educational system which assumes that every individual can learn similar materials in a similar manner and that a universal, uniform measure does suffice in testing student
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.
Howard Gardner developed the Multiple intelligence theory. Gardner believed that the human mind did not have one general intelligence but many that had independent functions. He believed that the previous measure of intelligence did not accurately measure the capability of the human mind. "While formulating this theory, Gardner placed less emphasis on explaining the results of mental tests than on accounting for the range of human abilities that exist across a vast majority of cultures. (www.associatedcontent.com)
‘‘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
"Gardner's original Theory of Multiple Intelligences consists of three components, seven "intelligences," and eight supporting criteria of what comprises an "intelligence." The Three Components include: a definition of intelligence, a challenge to the notion of a general intelligence (g), and a challenge to the conviction that g can be reliably measured." (Helding,
Howard Gardner has came up with seven clear intelligences Visual-Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, and Logical-Mathematical that outline individual's strengths and are designed based on different tasks, problem solving, and progress in various types of domains. According to Gardner's theory "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves”(Lane , C. (n.d.). Multiple Intelligences). Visual-Spatial in Gardner's theory is when a person is taught how to remember things through drawings and verbal and physical imagery. Bodily-kinesthetic is used when a person uses communication through there body language, like role playing, hands on learning,
Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences stating that each person possesses a blend of at least eight different kinds of intelligence: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and environmental/naturalistic (Bruno, 2009).
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific (primarily sensory) modalities[disambiguation needed], rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability.
“He performed interviews with and brain research on hundreds of people, including stroke victims, prodigies, autistic individuals, and so-called "idiot savants” (Multiple Intelligence (MI) – Howard Gardner).” The nine multiple intelligences are, visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic, mathematical/logical, bodily/kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist, and existentialist ("Multiple Intelligence (MI) – Howard Gardner"). Everyone obtains these intelligences and they can all be improved. Visual/spatial learners are good at visualizing and they learn by seeing what is being taught, for example the teacher drawing a graph on the board gives the student a visual. They enjoy making art work and visualizing ideas such as decorating. Verbal/linguistic are good at speaking, reading, taking notes, and listening. They enjoy public speaking and can easily explain ideas. “These students have always been successful in traditional classrooms because their intelligence lends itself to traditional teaching” ("Multiple Intelligence (MI) – Howard Gardner"). Mathematical/logical are good at following step by step directions such as math problems and are neat, they usually get frustrated when things are disorganized or things do not makes sense. “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” ("Multiple
Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory (Gardner, 1983) has expanded the concept of intelligence to include academic abilities (linguistic and logical-mathematical) as well as aptitudes/talents (kinesthetic, music, spatial, naturalist) and personal intelligences (interpersonal and intrapersonal). Gardner used an inclusive definition of intelligence: "an ability or set of abilities that allows a person to solve a problem or fashion a product that is valued in one or more cultures" and it has direct applications to instruction, curriculum design, and career counseling at all age levels (Armstrong, 2006; Campbell & Campbell, 1999; Gardner, 1993).
There are many intelligences described to us through our lives, all over the world. Does in-telligence decide what we do with our lives, or is one intelligence more important than any other? When we look at Merriam-Webster (2013) for the definition of intelligence it states that it is the ability to learn different or new actions dependent on circumstances involved. So, who decides what intelligence is, and do we know if emotional intelligence, personal intelligence or any other intelligence plays a part in the different styles of learning. Let us explore the effects that intelli-gence has on people, and how emotional intelligence plays a more important role than we think.
As educators, it’s our responsibility to help each student achieve success in the classroom setting. There are many practices used to determine student learning styles, but I believe Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory helps identify all types of learning styles. For example, Gardner breaks down the learning styles into eight, more specific, multiple intelligences, which allows us, as educators, to more properly identify the unique learning needs of our students. The eight multiple intelligences are Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Musical/Rhythmic, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Visual/Spatial, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic. Similarly to Gardner’s eight multiple intelligences, there are three learning styles: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. Learning styles are similar to the eight multiple intelligences, but they are less specific. By using Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory, we, as educators, are able to identify the unique intelligence levels of our students.
Howard Gardner recognizes that intelligence is more than the single logical-mathematical processing of stored facts that intelligence tests assess. He views intelligence as problem-solving, problem-creating, and problem-finding across a range of situations. There are a total of eight Multiple Intelligences: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and lastly, Naturalist Intelligence. These Intelligences allow educators to carefully integrate several content areas within a specific curricula.
Professor Howard Gardner, from Harvard University, proposed the theory of Multiple Intelligence. According to him have eight kinds of intelligences in different degrees which are Musical intelligence, Logical intelligence, Linguistic intelligence, Bodily- kina esthetic intelligence, spatial intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and Naturalistic intelligence. It is not necessary that any person who possess certain level in one Intelligence will be able to demonstrate the same level of expertise in the other Intelligences (Gardner 2006b). For example one person may have high degree of Musical Intelligence but that does not mean he is
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).