Theory of Multiple IntelligencesChapter I: In A Nutshell

Paris 1900

La Belle EpoqueA period of high artistic or cultural development especially in France.

A psychologist named Alfred Binet was approached by city fathers of Paris with an unusual request.

“Could he devise some kind of a measure that would predict

which youngsters would succeed and which would fail in the primary grades of Paris

schools?”

Binet succeeded, his discovery was called “Intelligence Test”

-measures the IQ

Intelligence Quotient-a number that represents your score

on Intelligence Test

The IQ test made its way to United States then it was used to test over one million

American recruits.

IQ test was known to be the Psychology’s biggest success.

A genuinely useful scientific tool.

In the west, people relied on intuitive

assessments

But now, intelligence is seemed to be quantifiable.

Arthur Jensen, an American psychologist suggest that we could look at reaction time

to assess intelligence a sets of lights go on or how quickly can the subject can react.

While a British Psychologist Hans Eysenck suggests that investigators should look directly

at Brain Waves.

Also, there are more sophisticated versions of IQ test.

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)- similar kind of measure- often use this to admit children into programs for the gifted.

ex. If your IQ is in 130 you’re admitted to the

program.

In the Uniform School there are regular assessments using paper and pencil instrument of the IQ or

SAT variety.

The brightest get into better college perhaps they will also get into

better rankings in life.

Howard Gardner presents an alternative vision.

People have different cognitive strengths and cognitive styles.

This model didn’t exist in Binet’s time.Cognitive Science (study of mind)Neuroscience (study of the brain)

The whole concept of IQ Test has to be replaced with an

approach which is known to be as “Theory of Multiple Intelligence”

Look instead at more naturalistic sources

of information about how people develop skills.

Example:The sailors in the South Seas who find

their way around hundreds or even thousands of islands by looking at the constellations of stars in the sky, feeling the way a boat passes over the water and noticing a few scattered landmarks.

*A word for intelligence of these sailors would probably refer to that kind of Navigational Ability.

Think of surgeons and engineers , hunters and fishermen, dancers and choreographers,

athletes and athletic coaches, tribal chiefs and sorcerers.

All of these different roles need to be taken into account if

we accept the way Howard Gardner defined intelligence

To solve problems and to fashion products.

A wide set of sources was examined by Gardner and others to

define intelligence.

1. The development of different kinds of skills in normal children.

2. Information on the ways that these abilities break down under the conditions of brain

damage.

Gardner’s research group looked into different populations as well, those

children with special needs.

The mass of information they found out was organize into seven

intelligences.

ONE

LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE

Kind of ability exhibited in its fullest form perhaps by poets.

TWOLOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL

INTELLIGENCEAs the name implies, is logical and mathematical ability as

well as scientific ability.

THREESPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

Ability to form a mental model of a spatial world and to be

able to maneuver and operate using that model.

(Sailors, engineers, surgeons, sculptors and painters).

FOURMUSICAL INTELLIGENCEThe fourth category of ability identified Leonard Bernstein

had lots of it; Mozart, presumably had even more.

FIVEBODILY-KINESTHETIC

INTELLIGENCEAbility to solve problems and to fashion products using one’s

whole body.(Dancers, athletes, surgeons and

craftspeople).

SIXINTERPERSONAL

INTELLIGENCEAbility to understand other people

(Salespeople, teachers, politicians, clinicians and

religious leaders).

SEVENINTRAPERSONAL

INTELLIGENCEA capacity to form an accurate,

veridical model of oneself and to be able to use that model

to operate effectively in life.

Two assumptions was based for the design of ideal school.

1. The first is that not all people have the same interests and abilities, not all of us learn in the same way.

2. Nowadays, no one can learn everything there is to learn.

Roles for Educators

Assessment Specialist Understand as sensitively and

comprehensively as possible abilities and interests of the students in school.

Student-curriculum Broker To help match the student’s profiles, goals,

and interest to particular courses and to particular styles of learning.

School-community Broker Match the students to learning

opportunities in the wider community.

Master-Teachers Supervise the novice teachers and guide

them. Also seek to ensure that the complex

student-assessment-curriculum-community equation is balanced appropriately.