Multiple Intelligences“Octagen” for the Brain

A brief introduction to the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

• Our sensitivity to the diverse ways in which children think, solve problems, and express themselves is often limited both by our notions of intelligence and our own intellectual preferences.

• Intentionally or not teachers design their classroom (curriculum, instruction, assessment) to reflect their ideas about intelligence and how learning happens as well as their own ways of making sense of the world.

• Almost all of us can fall into believing that if we can make clear the way we have come to understand something, others will understand, too.

• Based on long and careful observation, especially of children who do not seem to understand easily what may seem obvious to others, many teachers recognise that there are, indeed, many different ways of perceiving the world and multiple ways of making sense of one’s experiences.

• A closer look at Theories of Intelligences can provide a middle ground between the idea that there is a single way in which minds works and that notion that every mind is unique.

What is MI Theory and Where does it come from?

• The theory of Multiple intelligences (MI theory) was first proposed in the Howard Gardner's book “Frames of Mind”.

• The theory of multiple intelligences provides a useful perspective on the issues by distinguishing among eight dimensions of human intellectual functioning.

• Where as the traditional, unitary perspectives on intelligence –such as a IQ leads to a question that “Is the person intelligent , MI theory offers a pluralistic view that “in what way is the person intelligent”.

• In his 1993 publication, ‘Multiple intelligences - The theory in practice’, Gardner defines intelligence as the -

“Ability to solve problems, or to fashion products, that are valued in one or more cultural or

community settings”

• Gardner points out, individuals are born with potentials in all the eight intelligences. They then develop this initial intellectual profile in manifold ways, depending on the cultural, local and personal context within which they grow.

• Mi theory acknowledges that intelligences do not work in isolation, but rather in consort and in context to the problems in the real-world domains.

What is that relation between MI theory and Traditional ideas about intelligence

• Gardner, like other past and current theorists argues for a more pluralistic notion of intelligence.

• Rather than fixing the intelligence at birth, as some traditional ideas of intelligence imply, MI theory suggests that intelligences change and grow.

• In traditional concept of intelligence – its says that intelligence remains the same in all situations, it doesn't change whether one is solving a problem, or learning to dance, or finding one's way in the new city.

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.

Some common Misconceptions of MI

theory • A source of confusion is the equation between

MI and the Learning Styles.

• Learning styles refers to the different approaches that individuals take when trying to make of diverse kinds of content. A learning style is thought to cut cross all content areas.

• Eg.if a person is a tactile learner, she will learn best by using her hand or sense of touch when learning new material –whether history or cooking.

• Whereas the intelligence represents potentials or capacities that are linked to neurological functions and structures that respond to a particular content.

• We cannot assume that because one has demonstrated a good memory or ability to focus in music that he or she will behave similarly when presented with linguistic or spatial information.

• More over, unlike learning styles, intelligences have distinct developmental paths that are tied to the achievement of the valued roles in our society.

Implications for curriculum design and instruction.

• If we understand this, then we must know that students possess a range of abilities that standard classroom fare neither acknowledges, celebrates nor nurtures.

• So, we have to ask ourselves, how can one mode of instruction and one mode of testing ever truly allow us to reach out to every child ?

• For the implication of MI the teachers should be familiar with each student’s interests, strengths and weaknesses, and shape their instructional practices accordingly.

• As educators, parent, and other adults recognize that all children are born with a multitude of intelligences they can better nurture the full range of child’s abilities.

• Before a teachers starts to adopt the MI approach in the classroom, it might be useful to identify some of the questionable instructional practices that purportedly follow from MI. MI is not a mandate to teach every topic in seven or eight ways.

• MI helps teacher to honor the students strengths, however celebrating the strengths is not enough; those strengths need to be connected to what students need to know and understand.

Principles for designing assessments

The principles of assessment:1. Assessment should be embedded in

meaningful, ongoing, real world activities.

2. They should also draw the material and tools of the domains, rather than always relying on paper –pencil test.

3. Assessment should allow for diverse modes of responses or multiple ways to demonstrate understanding. Portfolios are often full of examples of diverse ways in which students represent their insights and ideas.

4. Assessments should help to track the growth over time of child’s ability to use their intelligences. MI says that intelligences are educable. Maintaining the evidence files helps teachers for tracking and examining the growth.

5. Assessment is a fundamental part of the learning process. Through engaging in reflection and self assessment students can come to understand their own intelligences and how they work. Gardner identifies two intelligences over here –interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Tools for assessments

• Observation : the most powerful assessment is the careful observation on the children at work and play. As Gardner’s definition of intelligence, simply watching children as they encounter problems or try to make things can be instructive.

• Few things what a teacher should look for:1. Notice children's choices when they are given

options.2. Watch the roles they take when working together

to complete a task. 3. Observe how they handle unanticipated problems. 4. Note what captures one child's attention and

passes another by.

Documenation: is an informal way of assessment.1. Keeping notes of the children (anecdotal moments),

especially help the teachers as they seek to find patterns in the ways children use their intelligences.

2. Maintaining notes of children's conversations as they listen for questions and ideas that arise spontaneously.

• Portfolios of students work:1. When students are given assignments that allow for

diverse modes of response or multiple ways to demonstrate understanding, they often produce complex and striking work.

2. Portfolios can provide vivid evidence of growth and development.

• Portfolios in themselves, are only collections of work. Assessments happens when the teacher and students review those portfolios through particular lenses, such as :

1. How do students approach and solve problem ?

2. How do students understand the methods of a particular academic discipline, demonstrate their capacity to use those methods, and make sense of their findings ?

3. How do they communicate their thoughts and perceptions most effectively?

• Student reflection and Self assessment:• Traditionally, assessment and evaluation have

been the domain of the teacher. Students hand in their work and teacher judges it.

• But MI cautions that by excluding the student in his assessment means that a world of insight is lost as both teacher and students can learn important lessons from engaging students deeply and regularly in reflecting on and assessing their own work.

• Reflection can be written or verbal and can occur at the middle or the end of the project, or even months after its completion. It can be a conversation or a monologue.

• Once students are engaged in their reflection and self assessments ,it becomes much easier to have a conversation about their work.

• They can come to an opinion about their work and it

• gives the teacher a better insight into how the students approach and think about their work.