Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

1. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Professional Development Technology Center

2. Who is Gardner? Howard Gardner has been a leader in the Education Reform Movement since the early 80’s. He asks the question: “What makes a person intelligent?”

3. Gardner says: Intelligence is… • How each and every one of us comprehends, examines and responds to outside stimuli. • The singular, collective ability to act and react in an ever changing world.

4. What is Gardner’s Theory of MI? • Based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday circumstances and professions, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. • He performed interviews with and brain research on hundreds of people, including stroke victims, prodigies, autistic individuals, and so-called "idiot savants."

5. More on Gardner… • Howard Gardner claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. • These multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. • He believes each individual has nine intelligences.

6. Gardner believes standard testing of IQ… IQ (Stanford-Binet IQ) tests are a good judge of a person’s ability to take standardized tests. Examples of poor test takers: Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison

7. According to Gardner: • All human beings possess all nine intelligences in varying amounts. • Each person has a different intellectual composition. • We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students. • These intelligences are located in different areas of the brain and can either work independently or together. • These intelligences may define the human species.

8. How does this theory differ from the traditional definition of intelligence? • Gardner's multiple intelligences theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science. • According to a traditional definition, intelligence is a uniform cognitive capacity people are born with. This capacity can be easily measured by short-answer tests. • According to Howard Gardner, intelligence is: • The ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture; • A set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life; • The potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge.

9. How can we see MI in action? • In traditional practice, teachers teach the same material to everyone. • M.I. pedagogy implies that teachers teach and assess differently based on individual intellectual strengths and weaknesses.

10. How can we see changes in the classroom with MI? • Traditionally teachers teach a topic or "subject." • With MI: • Teachers structure learning activities around an issue or question and connect subjects. • Teachers develop strategies that allow for students to demonstrate multiple ways of understanding and value their uniqueness.

11. The 9 Multiple Intelligences

12. Learning Styles Each Intelligence will have a different style of learning.

13. Musical Intelligence • Musical ability has been scientifically pinpointed to certain areas of the brain. • Damage to that part of the brain can drastically change musical ability.

14. Musical Learner • likes to sing, hum tunes, listen to music, play an instrument and respond to music. • is good at picking up sounds, remembering melodies, noticing pitches/rhythms and keeping time. • learns best by rhythm, melody and music.

15. Kinesthetic Intelligence • A natural sense of how their bodies should react in a demanding physical situation.

16. Bodily/Kinesthetic Learner • likes to move around, touch and talk and use body language. • is good at physical activities (sports/dance/acting) and crafts. • learns best by touching, moving, interacting with space and processing knowledge through bodily sensations.

17. Logical-Mathematical • Mentally process logical problems and equations. • Archetypal intelligence 86.788y + 56.435x(23y) 346xy2 = Z

18. Logical/Mathematical Learner • likes to do experiments, figure things out, work with numbers, ask questions and explore patterns and relationships. • is good at math, reasoning, logic and problem solving. • learns best by categorizing, classifying and working with abstract patterns/relationships.

19. Language Intelligence • Ability to learn multiple languages easily • Ability to express themselves linguistically.

20. Linguistic Learner • likes to read, write and tell stories. • is good at memorizing names, places, dates and trivia. • learns best by saying, hearing and seeing words.

21. Spatial Intelligence • Comprehending shapes and images in 3D. • Puzzles, sculptures, navigation. • Perceive and interpret what we can and cannot see.

22. Spatial Learner • likes to draw, build, design and create things, daydream, look at pictures/slides, watch movies and play with machines. • is good at imagining things, sensing changes, mazes/puzzles and reading maps, charts. • learns best by visualizing, dreaming, using the mind's eye and working with colors/pictures.

23. Interpersonal Intelligence • Ability to interact with others, understand them and interpret their behaviors

24. Interpersonal Learner • likes to have lots of friends, talk to people and join groups. • is good at understanding people, leading others, organizing, communicating, manipulating and mediating conflicts. • learns best by sharing, comparing, relating, cooperating and interviewing.

25. Intrapersonal Intelligence A weak intrapersonal intelligence - as in the case of the autistic child - prevents even a recognition of self as a separate entity from the surrounding environment. • Cognitive ability to understand and sense our “self” • Who we are, what feelings we have and why we are the way we are.

26. Intrapersonal Learner • likes to work alone and pursue own interests. • is good at understanding self, focusing inward on feelings/dreams, following instincts, pursuing interests/goals and being original. • learns best by working alone, individualized projects, self-paced instruction and having own space.

27. Naturalist Intelligence • Ability to identify and classify patterns in nature. • Historically, identifying edible flora and fauna. • Those sensitive to changes in weather patterns. • Distinguish nuances between large numbers of similar objects.

28. Naturalistic Learner • likes to be outside, with animals, geography, and weather; interacting with the surroundings . • is good at categorizing, organizing a living area, planning a trip, preservation, and conservation. • learns best by studying natural phenomenon, in a natural setting, learning about how things work.

29. New! Existential Intelligence • Gardner’s definition for this intelligence is to exhibit the proclivity to pose and ponder questions about life, death and ultimate realities. • Examples: Aristotle, Confucius, Einstein, Emerson, Plato, Socrates

30. Existential Learner Children with this intelligence may show curiosity about: • What the Earth was like years ago? • Why they are here on Earth? • If there is life on another planet? • Where living things go after they die? • If there is another dimension? • If there are ghosts or spirits? • Who were the famous philosophers and their thoughts about life and human being?

31. What do multiple intelligences have to do with my classroom? • There are numerous ways to express oneself, and probably even more ways to gain knowledge and understand the universe. • Individuals are capable, the theory of multiple intelligences advocates, of deep understanding and mastery in the most profound areas of human experience. • Even long before the theory emerged and was named in 1983 by Howard Gardner, numerous teachers fostered the intelligences of their students.

32. Think of it this way: J.K. Rowling, Richard Feynmann, Lauryn Hill, Julian Schnabel, Mia Hamm, Colin Powell, Deepak Chopra, Jane Goodall, and Gary Larson are students on your seating chart.

33. Imagine… • J.K. is writing the next Harry Potter adventure on scraps of paper. • Richard is daydreaming the equations enabling a quantum computer. • Lauryn softly hums the tunes for the sequel to "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." • Julian has painted brilliant fall leaves on each windowpane. • Mia can't wait to get to PE. • Colin has organized the school's charity fund drive. • Deepak provides in-class spiritual counseling. • Jane adds a new animal to the class menagerie daily. • Gary scrawls witty absurdities in the margins of his notebook.

34. Imagine… The next time you have a chance to reflect on your class, imagine your students as individuals who have fully realized and developed their intelligences.

35. To learn more… • About Gardner • http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG.htm • http://www.ed.psu.edu/insys/ESD/gardner/menu.html

36. To learn more… Multiple Intelligences Inventory (try for yourself) • http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php • http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/month1/

37. To learn more… About Multiple Intelligences • http://www.edwebproject.org/edref.mi.intro.html • http://www.aenc.org/KE-Intelligences.html • http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/month1/ • http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php?eightstyles=1 • http://www.multi-intell.com • http://www.casacanada.com/mulin.html • http://surfaquarium.com/MIinvent.htm • http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed410226.html • http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC27/Campbell.htm • http://books.nap.edu/html/howpeople2/ch2.html