Reflection Of Following Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence’s (MI theory) is a valuable resource for teachers, if they understood how they could apply this in the classroom (Snowman & McCown, 2012). In this class, there are multiple intelligences observed amongst the students; however, there is minimal differentiated instruction to allow the students the best opportunities for success. It is critical that teachers understand that their teaching methods may not be wrong, but they

The Theories of Howard Gardner and Urie Bronfenbrenner are two theorists at the heart of my education philosophy. I firmly believe in Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory and his perspective that everyone has their own individual learning style. This is important to know, especially when working with children. Understanding how each child learns best and the way they process information provides teachers with a unique viewpoint into each student and allows for opportunities to teach in a way that fosters many benefits for everyone. Using Gardner’s theory as a basis for my teaching, allows me to plan meaningful inclusive curriculum and create a classroom environment that encourages success for each child and their families.

Along with the help of the learning community such as parents or other family contacts, other teachers, events and activities, we need to discover what sparks each child and help him in his development. This includes determining his learning style whether it’s auditory where he learns by hearing, visual where he learns by seeing, or kinesthetic where he learns by doing, or a mixture of the three. This also includes determining for each child what Howard Gardner calls Multiple Intelligence. While I wouldn’t necessarily label learning styles so specifically for the fear of omitting one or failing to recognize others, I do agree with Gardners’ concepts and agree that we can determine and offer learning through linguistic, mathematical, musical, kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, or other abilities.

“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

If a child's intelligence can be identified, then teachers can accommodate different children more successfully according to their orientation to learning.  Teachers in traditional classrooms primarily teach to the verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligences.  The nine intelligences are:

Albert Einstein stated that “everyone 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”. At Highland Middle School, we understand that each student contain personal strengths and weaknesses in aspects of education. For this reason, we place a high amount of focus on incorporating Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences concept in our classrooms, lesson plans, assessments, and learning objectives. Essential elements that are conducive to implementing Gardner’s concept include allows students to have choices and let their curiosity direct their learning, incorporating technology that increases student learning outcomes, and incorporating hands-on learning opportunities throughout the school day.

‘‘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

Children learn in various ways, and need various teaching methods and styles to accommodate those styles. The educational theorist Howard Gardner theorized his theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983. This theory has influenced my teaching throughout my teaching thus far. It was most obvious during two times in my first practicum. The first time was during our Practicum 1 retreat. In order to become closer with our cohort, and predetermine how we all would work best together, we took various types of learning style quizzes. The test that stuck out the most to me was Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. During this test our cohort discovered that even though some of us may self-classify as a “visual” or “auditory” learner we also learned that we identified as a mathematical and/or spatial learners. Just as we all learn differently, so will our future students. Also, during my first placement in a Kindergarten classroom at Oak Grove Elementary I quickly discovered that even at the beginning of a student’s educational career they all learn

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

A teacher could effectively respond to this circumstance through using different types of learning strategies for the student/s, such as through the guidance of Howard Gardner’s theory of eight multiple intelligences (1983;2003), in order to decipher the child’s strongest and weakest intelligences and using

Some common misconceptions about the multiple intelligences theory are the belief that students that fall under one type of intelligence cannot benefit from another and that multiple intelligences and learning styles are the same thing. Addressing the first issue, it is incorrect to think that someone who has a certain intelligence will not find value from utilizing an intelligence outside of their own. In fact, Gardner says it’s the opposite, the occasional use of other intelligences can strengthen one’s learning because it forces them to think

Because different students learn in a variety of ways, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences was taken into consideration when planning this lesson. Verbal and linguistic learners are able to learn through verbal teaching, logical learners through the classifying activities, visual learners are accommodated through the use of pictures and slides, interpersonal learners can interact during peer sharing or group work and intrapersonal learners can also engage in individual activities (Winch-Dummet,

What is intelligence? Is it how well an individual can excel at academic tasks, emotional tasks, or physical tasks? Can intelligence be measure scientifically and accurately or is it an abstract idea or concept that requires an individual to critically think and come up with an answer? A common interpretation of intelligence is the ability or abilities of an individual’s capacity for: logic, emotion, abstract, learning, planning, understanding, memory, self-awareness, creativity, and most important of all is the ability to problem-solved. Intelligence itself is an umbrella with subtypes under it, and the one to inquire about is the theory of multiple intelligences. Many scientists believe that this theory does not exist because it cannot be proven scientifically but multiple intelligence theory does exist. Multiple intelligences is not a teaching style as many seem to believe, but it is a new way to look at the IQ of an individual while not being bounded by the traditional IQ tests. Just like general intelligences theory, the multiple intelligence theory can be used to distinguish intelligences through tests, logically define theory, as well as real world experiences and applications. These two theories, multiple and general intelligence, has been debated time and time again in the field of psychology but with no absolute solution.

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).

Students are more positive about each other when they learn co-operatively than when they learn alone, competitively, or individualistically. Students are more effective interpersonally as a result of working together (Johnson and Johnson, 1984). My two lessons reflect good practice primarily because of the use of group work and the consideration of students’ differing learning styles. Good practice – Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner is an American psychologist who came up with the theory of Multiple Intelligences. Multiple Intelligences are different ways to demonstrate intellectual ability. Gardner proposes seven different intelligences: linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm). Seven kinds of intelligence allow seven ways to teach, rather than one. Teachers, therefore, should to attend to all intelligences. Students should have opportunities to work on tasks where their style of intelligence can be utilised best.