Have you ever been puzzled when a teacher mentioned your child's musical, kinesthetic, or visual intelligence? Your parents certainly never heard teachers use terms like this! Descriptions of various intelligences grew from a theory Harvard psychologist Howard Gardener came up with in the 1980s. Since his theory has had a huge influence on the teaching in many K12 grades schools, let's learn a bit about it.

What Are Multiple Intelligences?

Gardner currently describes eight ways of learning or intelligences. (He is considering adding spiritual, existential, and moral intelligences to this list.)

• Linguistic intelligence is the ability to use spoken and written language.
• Logical-mathematical intelligence is being able to analyze problems logically, do math, and conduct scientific investigations.
• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence involves using one's body to solve problems.
• Spatial intelligence is recognizing and using spatial patterns.
• Musical intelligence consists of recognizing musical patterns, as well as performance and composition skills.
• Naturalist intelligence is being able to recognize features in the environment, categorize them, and draw conclusions from them.
• Interpersonal intelligence concerns the ability to understand and work with other people.
• Intrapersonal intelligence is self-awareness and the ability to use this awareness to regulate one's life.

Traditionally, schools focused almost exclusively on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. These days, though, many educators acknowledge these other kinds of intelligence. They design their teaching to help students who are intelligent in these areas succeed, both in and out of school.

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

How do teachers accommodate multiple intelligences in the classroom? Here are a couple of examples. Visual learners benefit from information presented through or accompanied by graphs, charts, diagrams, and so on. Similarly, visual learners shine when they present research topics through photographs, PowerPoint presentations, videos, posters, and other visual means.
Cooperative learning projects are perfect for interpersonal learners. Such students generally know how to lead but are so sensitive to group dynamics they encourage everyone to participate. In a group, everyone benefits from children with interpersonal intelligence.
At your next parent-teacher conference, why not discuss multiple intelligence theory with your child's teacher. Find out how this theory has influenced his or her teaching.

Learn More

If you're interested in getting more information, two of Howard Gardner's classic books on multiple intelligences are Frames of Mind: Theory of Multiple Intelligence and Multiple Intelligences: Theory in Practice.
Be sure to check Gardner's Web site: www.howardgardner.com. It's packed with theoretical and practical information on multiple intelligences.

 

Sara jo Schwartz is an education writer and editor based in Grand Haven, Michigan.