Download Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligences and Education

Presented by
Petya Vasko
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The capacity to understand
oneself;
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To acknowledge and appreciate
one's feelings, fears, and
motivations.
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To know one’s strengths and
weaknesses
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Traits:
Introverts
Self reflective
Intuitive
Great self awareness
Strong at analysis
Independent
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The capacity to understand the
intentions, motivations, desires, and
feelings of other individuals;
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Individuals who are interpersonally
intelligent work and communicate
effectively with others.
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Traits:
Communication skills
Being a team player
Helps resolve personal conflict
issues
Great listener
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The ability to learn and the
capacity to use language(s);
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The ability to use language to
express oneself rhetorically or
poetically;
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Language as a means to
remember information;
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An individual with linguistic
Intelligence is sensitive to
spoken and written language;
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The capacity to analyze
problems logically;
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The ability to carry out
mathematical operations, and
investigate issues scientifically.
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The ability to detect and
understand patterns, reason
deductively and think logically.
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This intelligence is most often
associated with scientific and
mathematical thinking.
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The skill and the ability to
perform, compose, and
appreciate music;
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The capacity to recognize
and compose musical
pitches, tones, and rhythms;
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The ability to decipher
sounds and tones on a
higher level than most
people.
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The potential of using one's
whole body or parts of the
body to solve problems;
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The ability to use mental
abilities to coordinate bodily
movements;
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The ability to learn through
movement;
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The potential to recognize and
use the patterns of wide space
and more confined areas;
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The ability to look at an empty
space and picture how a
structure would look inside it;
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Individuals with Spatial
Intelligence can perceive what
an image can look like in three
dimensions;
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Keen awareness of the interaction
between nature and man;
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One who is Naturalistically
intelligent care about the
environment;
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One loves animals and have
respect for them;
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One is interested in growing plants;
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This intelligence was added after
the original seven;
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Students have preferred
learning styles and teachers
must modify the curriculum and
the instruction to meet the
learning needs of the students.
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Students learn and show what
they have learned differently.
Various types of assessment
targeting the same topic should
be available to students.
Mindy L. Kornhaber (2001: 276), a researcher involved
with Project Zero, has identified a number of reasons
why teachers and policymakers in North America have
responded positively to Howard Gardner's presentation
of multiple intelligences. Among these are that:
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... the theory validates educators' everyday experience:
students think and learn in many different ways. It also
provides educators with a conceptual framework for
organizing and reflecting on curriculum assessment and
pedagogical practices. In turn, this reflection has led
many educators to develop new approaches that
might better meet the needs of the range of learners in
their classrooms.
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As Kornhaber (2001: 276) has noted, it involves
educators opting 'for depth over breadth'.
Understanding entails taking knowledge gained in
one setting and using it in another. 'Students must
have extended opportunities to work on a topic'
(op. cit.).
Each day I will begin with a brief lecture and discussion
explaining an aspect of the current theme. For instance,
during a unit on outer space, I might lecture on spiral
galaxies. To engage the students, I would organize the
room into seven learning centers and the students
would spend most of the class moving through these
centers- 15 to 20 minutes at each center. The centers
provide seven different ways for the students to learn
the subject matter, thus the students would learn each
day’s lesson in seven ways. They would build models,
dance, make collaborative decisions, create songs,
solve deductive reasoning problems, read, write, and
illustrate all in one school day. Remember! This is just in
theory… I have no idea how it would work in a real
classroom. For all I know, it could be a disaster, but
nevertheless, it is great to fantasize.
The seven centers would correspond to(and represent) the
original seven intelligences as defined by Gardner.
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In the Personal Work Center (Intrapersonal Intelligence), I will have the students
explore the present area of study (topic, theme) through research, reflection, and
even individual projects.
( I will decide based on the time constraints present.)
In the Working Together Center (Interpersonal Intelligence), the students will develop
cooperative learning skills as they would be asked to solve problems, answer
questions, create learning games, brainstorm ideas and discuss that day's topic
collaboratively.
In the Music Center (Musical Intelligence), students compose and sing songs about
the subject matter, make their own instruments, and learn in rhythmical ways.
In the Art Center (Spatial Intelligence), I will have the students explore a subject area
(topic/theme) using diverse art media, manipulables, different puzzles, charts, and
pictures.
In the Building Center (Kinesthetic Intelligence), the students would be asked to build
various models, dramatize events, dance, all in ways that relate to the content of the
subject matter discussed in class.
In the Reading Center (Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence), students will read and write, and
learn in the traditional ways. In addition, they will practice the analysis and
organization of information while presenting in written form.
In the Math & Science Center (Logical/ Mathematical Intelligence), they will have the
chance to work with math games, manipulatives, mathematical concepts, science
experiments, and so on. Students will be able to use deductive reasoning and
problem solving to reach to draw inferences that have to do with the topic discussed
in class.
If everything goes according to plan (in a real classroom), students will have the
chance to share their creations/findings at the end.
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Gardner, Howard (1983; 1993) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York: Basic
Books. The second edition was published in Britain by Fontana Press. 466 + xxix pages. (All references in
this article refer to this second, 10th Anniversary, edition). A major addition to the literature of cognitive
psychology being the first full length explication of multiple intelligences.
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Gardner, Howard (1989) To Open Minds: Chinese clues to the dilemma of contemporary education,
New York: Basic Books. This book includes a significant amount of material on Gardner's early life.
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Gardner, H. (1991) The Unschooled Mind: How children think and how schools should teach, New York:
Basic Books.
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Gardner, Howard (1999) Intelligence Reframed. Multiple intelligences for the 21st century, New York:
Basic Books. 292 + x pages. Useful review of Gardner's theory and discussion of issues and additions.
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Gardner, Howard (1999) The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts And Standardized Tests, The K-12
Education That Every Child Deserves, New York: Simon and Schuster (and New York: Penguin Putnam).
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Kornhaber, M. L. (2001) 'Howard Gardner' in J. A. Palmer (ed.) Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education. From
Piaget to the present, London: Routledge.
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Google Search: Images: Classroom (Accessed: 05/25/2011)
< http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=classroom+activity&um=1&ie=UTF8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=807>.
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Wikipedia Search: Howard Gardner (Accessed: 05/25/2011)
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Gardner>.