The mulitple intelligence theory was posited in a 1983 book called Frames of Mind, by Harvard developmental psychologist Howard Gardner. Instead of a single intelligence that people possess that they might apply in a variety of different arenas, Gardner felt that one could instead talk more meaningfully of 7 different intelligences that are more or less independent of each other. They are: language; logic (maths); interpersonal (knowing people); kinaesthetic (body movement); intrapersonal (knowing one’s self); spatial; & music.
Whilst psychologists have not been enthusiastic about the theory of multiple intelligences, educationalists have recognised that this is a theory that helps them to understand why some children can be very ‘flat’ at a tradtional school and then flourish once they enter the work place.
Multiple Intelligence Theory in the classroom
MI theory has been incorrectly used as a pedagogy and as a curriculum in the classroom but this is a failure to understand that MI theory is more about asking questions about why a child is succeeding or failing within an educational context. One apprach advodated by Susan Baum, Julie Viens and Barbara Slatin is to consider MI theory has helping in five pathways in education.
- Learning about a child's intelligence dispositions.
- Being able to 'bridge' from a preferred disposition to one which is weaker, particularly maths and language.
- 'Shining' achievement by utilising the intelligence that is preferred by the child, perhaps by being mentored as an apprentice with a 'master'.
- To be able to show understanding by learning about a topic through primarily through one intelligence and then displaying the same information through another intelligence mode.
- To engage in larger 'real world' projects that are mainly multi-disciplinary and often involved team work.
Two Voice DST has particular relevance to pathways: #2; #4; & #5.
Further Links
An excellent primer (recommended)
I think...therefore...MI! (some case studies).
It's not how smart you are, it's how you are smart! (more for the educationalist).