Key Questions
- How are students "smart" in different
ways?
- How can teachers use multiple intelligences
in the classroom?
Learning Objectives
- Defining intelligence
– Teachers will understand that intelligence is multidimensional
and can be developed. Teachers will consider how definitions
of intelligence inform thinking.
- Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
– Teachers will consider and understand eight different
intelligences, how they might be accessed, and how they
might be instrumental in helping students learn.
- Applying the theory of multiple intelligences
– Teachers will become familiar with how the theory
of multiple intelligences can be used in their classrooms
by helping to identify students' strengths, providing entry
points into subject matter, and encouraging students to
represent their understanding in different ways.
Session Outline What
does it mean to be smart? Tests of "intelligence"
typically measure how well you read and write or how quickly
you can work with numbers. In 1983, Howard Gardner presented
an alternative view of intelligence. In his book, Frames
of Mind, he outlined seven
intelligences:
- Linguistic
and logical mathematical
(abilities typically measured by IQ tests)
- Musical,
spatial, bodily-kinesthetic (movement and motor skills)
- Interpersonal
(skills and abilities in working with others)
- Intrapersonal
(self-knowledge and awareness)
Since then, Gardner has added one more to the
list:
- Naturalistic
intelligence (the ability to make distinctions in the natural
environment)
Traditionally, IQ was seen as an innate capacity
– something you are born with in a given quantity. However,
multiple intelligences theory suggests that intelligences
can be developed over time.
The Eight Intelligences
Gardner (1983) emphasizes that intelligence
is most accurately thought of as a potential, and the various intelligences are sets of "know-how"
– or ways of doing things.
Multiple Intelligences in the
Classroom Teachers can draw on Gardner's theory for their classrooms
in three ways:
- By assessing and building on students' strengths
- By providing points of entry to subject matter
- By creating interdisciplinary curricula
Assessing and Building on Students
Strengths
- In order for students to remain motivated in school, they
need opportunities to succeed in learning. An important
aim of schooling is to give students opportunities to feel
successful.
- However, students' preferred mode of intelligence should
not become the medium for all of the student's work in place
of developing other needed abilities.
- Teachers should also be careful to avoid the "pigeon-holing
effect" – labeling students forever as "X"
types of learners. All individuals possess certain combinations
of the various intelligences, and they can apply these differently
in different contexts.
- How can these differing intelligences be assessed? Kreshevsky
and Seidel (1998) suggest teachers look for the following
things to develop better understandings of individual students:
- What choices do students make when given options?
- What roles do they play when working together?
- How do they handle unanticipated problems?
- What captures their attention? When do they lose interest?
- What problem-solving strategies do they offer?
- How do they communicate ideas, understandings, thoughts,
and feelings?
- What does their physical behavior suggest?
- MI theory also recommends a range of classroom
assessments that tap into the different ways students' think
and learn.
- Portfolios and public presentations that
are evaluated by outside audiences also provide opportunities
for students to share what they have learned through several
communication modes.
Providing Powerful Points of
Entry Part of being an intelligent
learner is demonstrating that you can think about the same
idea in different ways. Gardner suggests three ways teachers
can enhance students' understanding:
- by providing powerful points of entry – many ways to introduce and approach a topic
- by offering apt analogies – connecting
new topics to ideas and concepts that are more readily familiar
to students
- by providing multiple representations of the central or core ideas of the topic
Creating Interdisciplinary Curricula
The intelligences are pathways
or entry points to understanding, not necessarily ends in
and of themselves. Teachers should still be clear about teaching
and learning goals. There are many ways a teacher can incorporate
multiple intelligences in the service of understanding.
Conclusion
- MI theory prompts a consideration of what it means to
solve problems in different disciplines using all of the
human abilities at our disposal.
- MI theory is a way of thinking about how children learn
and how best to teach them. The theory provides a way of
thinking about how we learn that urges teachers to extend
the boundaries of traditional curriculum, consider the many
talents and abilities students bring to a school setting,
and put greater emphasis on the variety of skills necessary
to succeed in today's world.
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