Multiple Intelligences

Multiple Intelligences

INSET DAYWyche C.E. School

Section 1:What is Intelligence?

What is intelligence?

Intelligence is ….“ the capacity to act purposefully thinking rationally and deal effectively with the environment”David Wechsler(inventor of Wechsler adult intelligence scale)


“An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings”

Howard Gardner (1989)


“Intelligence is the capacity to do something useful in the society in which we live. Intelligence is the ability to respond successfully to new situations and the capacity to learn from one’s past experiences.”Dr. Howard Gardner, author, Frames of Mind and Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice

What is intelligence?The Question isn’t

“How intelligent is the child?”But

“In what ways is the child intelligent?”Trevor HawesEffective Teaching and Learning


“It’s not how smart you are it’s how you are smart”H. Gardner “Common miracles”1993


"How would the proverbial Martian landing on Earth view the intelligence of the human species?"

Harvard professor of education, Howard Gardner.


Both Tom Cruise and Robbie Williams both were voted “the child most likely to succeed in life” by their classmatesWhat were the criteria used?

A story of intelligence?A belligerent Samurai once challenged a Zen master to explain the concept of Heaven and Hell. But the monk, replied with scorn saying “You’re nothing but a lout, I can’t waste my time with the likes of you.”His very honour attacked the Samurai flew into a rage and pulling his sword from it’s scabbard yelled, “I could kill you for your impertinence.”“That,” the monk calmly replied, “is Hell.”Startled at seeing the truth the master had pointed out about the fury that had him in its grip, the Samurai calmed down, sheathed his sword and bowed, thanking the monk for the insight.“And that,” the monk replied, “is Heaven.”

Section 2:Intelligence

A Recent Historical Perspective

Traditional View

“In my experience most people, both teachers and the general public, still hold the view that there is a single general intelligence (IQ) which children have to a greater or lesser extent and can be accurately measured on an intelligence test”

Deborah EyreAble Children in Ordinary schools (1997)

Binet and Simon The founder of these

traditional ideas was Alfred Binet (a Frenchman working in the early 20th cent) with his colleague Theodore Simon

Binet’s work saw intelligence as hereditary and therefore unchanging

Binet and Simon

“IQ has been thought to be a fixed limit on an individual’s capacity to learn – which leads to being regarded as more or less able than their peers”

Trevor HawesEffective Teaching and Learning

Binet and Simon

If his premise is true one could devise a test that would definitively determine intelligence levels for life

Binet used his tests to sift out retarded children and place children in appropriate grade levels

Binet and Simon

Binet’s work influenced government opinion and led to the 11+ selection system

His work was later found to be fabricated

He even made up his two assistants

Binet and Simon

Do we fall into this trap?

“Oh yes he’s really

intelligent”But what do we mean?Intelligent at what?In what context?

Binet and Simon

“The fact that such a view remains dominant is a legacy of the 1944 education act. This was firmly rooted in the view that intelligence was inherent and measurable and that these different levels of intelligence needed different types of education”

Deborah EyreAble Children in Ordinary schools

Intelligence : Changing Views

“The assumption that a high IQ is essential for outstanding achievement is giving way to recognition of the vital role of …. personal attributes such as motivation, self discipline, curiosity and a drive for autonomy”

Freeman (1995)

Intelligence : Piaget

Piaget began work in the 1920’s in Simon’s laboratory

He became concerned with the emphasis being placed on the answer and not on the processes children employed to get there

Intelligence : Piaget

His developmental theory is well known and has formed the basis for much recent educational thinking

However his theory still concentrates on a Linguistic/Mathematical based model

Intelligence : Sternberg Sternberg was the first to develop a theory

that broke away form the one cohesive intelligence model

He developed a tripartite theory with three sub theories these included:

1. Context2. Experience3. Information Processing

Section 3:An Introduction to

Multiple Intelligence

The Views of Howard Gardner

Gardener’s Premise

Intelligence is not a single general capacity that each individual has to a greater or lesser extent of the mind

Intelligence cannot be measured by simplistic pen and paper tests or their like

Gardener’s Definition of Intelligence

“An intelligence is the ability to solve problems or create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings”

Frames of Mind Introduction to second edition p14

Gardener March 1993

Western Cultural Values

The Greeks valued Academia

The ability to remember factual information and process it cognitively

Emphasis on Numeracy and Literacy

Western Cultural Values There is a distinction

between the Academic and the Intelligent

Academic relies on retention of information and applying it to academic contexts (e.g. writing articles)

Intelligence is more broad and more nebulous to define

Western Cultural Values

Traditionally the education system has been weighted towards the latter

Andy’s response to the question “What was that chemical?”He was able to outline its use and its name

Historical Values

In medieval times the core subjects in the curriculum were:

Grammar, logic and rhetoric, Mathematics, Geometry, Astronomy and Music

Frames of Mind Introduction to second edition p7 Gardener March 1993

The South American Tribe

The skill that was prized was the ability to hunt the monkey 1.Accuracy with poisoned darts 2.General high levels of fitness and stamina

Contextualisation of Intelligence

Increasingly there is a trend within the behavioural sciences to cease seeing intelligence as an innate, fixed commodity but to determine a person’s intelligence in the light of the social context they find themselves in

Contextualisation of Intelligence

Hence:The skills needed in today’s society differ greatly from those in the post industrial revolution and will again differ from those required in the knowledge economy of the 21st Century

Multiple IntelligencesThe first pages of Gardner’s book set out his desire to develop a theory of intelligences that crosses cultural and social boundaries

1. The Puluwat tribesman chosen to be a master sailor able to navigate around the islands by the stars

2. The 15 year old Iranian student who has memorised the Koran by heart

3. The 14 year old adolescent in Paris who has programmed the computer and is writing music with the aid of a synthesiser

Who is more Intelligent?

Who is more intelligent and how would we know?

The Beckham and Einstein brain debate

Much of it will be governed by what society deems to be intelligent behaviour

Theories and Band Wagons There is little value in

picking up and running with individual theories

They need to dovetail into a wider educational philosophy

Constructivist theory

Section 3:The Seven Intelligences

Howard Gardner

Multiple Intelligences Verbal/Linguistic - "Word Smart" Logical/Mathematical - "Math

Smart" Musical/Rhythmic - "Music Smart" Bodily/Kinesthetic - "Body Smart" Visual/Spatial - "Art Smart" Interpersonal - "People Smart" Intrapersonal - "Self Smart" Naturalist - "Nature Smart" Existential - "Wondering Smart"

http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/curriculum/MISmart/logical.htm

http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/curriculum/MISmart/musical.htm

http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/curriculum/MISmart/natural.htm

http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/curriculum/MISmart/inter.htm

http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/curriculum/MISmart/intra.htm

Linguistic Intelligence

Linguistic IntelligenceLanguage consists of 1.Phonology2.Syntax3.Semantics4.Pragmatics

The first two are all about pure linguistic intelligenceThe latter have input from other sources of intelligence such as inter-personal, logical etc.


Language is crucial that of the language area of the brain is destroyed the brain uses areas given over to spatial abilities

The appreciation of shades of meaning


It was only in the middle ages with the advent of the printing press that written language became important until then oral language was deemed a higher quality to attain

Linguistic Intelligence Hence rhetoric is

valued in leaders Public schools,

African cultures today

The great Greek debates and the emphasis on oratory as a key skill


Today, has the internet made written communication more important

Will the advent of video conferencing revert us back to verbal language as a core communication skill?

Linguistic Intelligence Written Language is harder

because a context for it needs to be supplied

Verbal language has by definition a context and has the added dimension of gestures and facial expression

Novels can be translated poems can’t

Musical Intelligence

Musical Intelligence To some the art of

musical composing is something that flows naturally

“It is something that the composer is born to do” Aaron Copland

“I constantly hear tones in my head” Roger Sessions


To some composing is as natural as:

“Milk coming from a cow” (Wagner)

“Apples coming from an apple tree” (Saint-Saens)

“It’s just easy” David Lowe


Music is made up of two major components

1. Pitch (or melody)2. Rhythm This may be horizontal

ie. how the pitch alters over time Vertical where melody and

rhythms combine at the same time


“music occupies a relatively low niche in our culture, and so musical illiteracy is acceptable”


Mathematical/Logical Intelligence


Mathematical intelligence fulfilled in various arenas

1. Babylon: Astronomy2. Pythagoras: Universe

and reason3. Renaissance:

Nature’s secrets4. Kant: Rational

Thinking


Calculation in left brain

Patterns and relationships in the right hand side

The pursuing of Maths and Science as an end in itself is a Western ideal


The autistic spectrum holds children who can tell you the day of the week for any date in the last 3 centuries

But although using a mathematical concept there is no application


Maths unlike all other intelligences is not auditory and oral but is concrete and established through the confronting of objects


Maths is one of the few intelligence that can only be appreciated by those who have a similar ability.

Loners and mathematicians?

Not true of music, literacy, personal skills

Spatial Intelligence

Spatial Intelligence Fold a piece of

paper and fold again and again. How many squares on the paper?

Sometimes called visual-spatial

Did you multiply 2x2x2?

Spatial Intelligence The autistic child who

can draw with great accuracy the Houses of Parliament with all detail having seen it once

Leonardo Da Vinci who could suspend the flight of birds and draw them in pinpoint accuracy

Spatial Intelligence The ultimate test is chess

where players have to determine a series of moves ahead in their mind

The blindfolded player who takes on three games

“You play chess blindfolded anyway in the sense that the pieces restrict one’s ability to work out further moves”


The intelligence with the greatest gender difference

Men in the western world outscore women considerably in this area


The Eskimos have to remember the detail in each snow drift to determine their journey home

There is no gender difference in Eskimo culture on spatial tests

60% of Eskimos score within the top 10% of westerners on spatial ability

Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence


The Greeks held the body on a par with the body and the soul

Roger Sperry “What use is intelligence if you cannot put it into action”

My father and the pool table


Dance is culturally bonding eg the haka

“If I could tell you what it is I would not have danced it”Isadora Duncan – famous dancer 20th century

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Intelligence

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal The two intelligences

reflect our ability to relate to others and ourselves

Intrapersonal is how you understand yourself

Interpersonal is how we relate to others

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal These intelligences are

strongly culturally based

The interpersonal skills in cultures are rarely transferable

Pubs and driving in Canada/soles of your feet in Thailand

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Society set the code and

the framework for these intelligences

A child picks up approval and/or disapproval for actions from its own society

The key attribute is the ability to adapt to circumstances

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal

The two intelligences are physiologically separate.

Lesions in the brain have demonstrated that in some cases one loses an ability to care for self whilst other brain damage causes one to lack empathy and aggressive and temperamental behaviour towards others

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Tim and the living

proof of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills as a separate intelligence

Brain damage can take away aspects of personality as readily as areas of a person’s intellect

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Cultures place varying

emphasis on these two areas

The Eastern ideal is to merge your personality with the culture around you

The West values the eccentric, the entrepreneur and individual flair

The Dumbed Down Version Mathematical - Carol Vordeman Linguistic - Shakespeare Musical - Mozart Interpersonal - Princess Diana Intrapersonal - Ghandi Bodily Kinaesthetic - David Beckham Spatial – Leonardo Da Vinci Naturalist - Charlie Dimmock

The Multi-Intelligence Man

Leonardo Da Vinci excelled in Maths, linguistic, logical analytical, art, sculpture

Section 5:An Assessment framework for

the Multiple Intelligence Theory

Gardener’s Admission of his own Definition

“… a definition that says nothing about either the sources of these abilities or the proper means of testing them”


Clarification of the theory

After developing the theory Gardner looked towards assessing these intelligencesHis first thought was to assess them in “pure” form ending up with a seven-pronged intelligence profile


A traditional Multiple Intelligence profile


Test your own MIThere have been a raft of test materials for teachers

and staff to assess their own and their pupil’s multiple intelligence profile

Use this website address to test your own MI http://www.thethinkingclassroom.co.uk/mionline

.htm http://www.surfaquarium.com/Miinvent.htm http://www.bass.gov.uk/MIprimary

http://www.thethinkingclassroom.co.uk/mionline.htm

http://www.thethinkingclassroom.co.uk/mionline.htm

http://www.surfaquarium.com/Miinvent.htm

http://www.bass.gov.uk/MIprimary


However children demonstrate each intelligence in a range of domains or tasks.e.g. Spatial intelligence may be expressed in a puzzle solution, route finding, block building, basketball passing


Similarly adults do not exhibit their spatial intelligence directly They develop spatial skills that allow them to become proficient chess players, artists, geometricians or sportsmen.

Section 6:Multiple IntelligencesThe Heavy Section!!

Intelligences, Domains and Fields “The concept of

intelligence constitutes a true scientific paradigm in the Kuhnian sense” (p15)

Gardner came to see that his theory required further constructs when applied to assessment.

Intelligences

At the level of the individual it is right to speak about human intelligences

Hence we might say “Mary has great musical intelligence”

Domains

Humans are born into cultures and these have domains built into them.These are disciplines, crafts and other pursuits that any given culture values.

Intelligences and Domains

Although there is a strong relation between intelligence and domains they must remain distinct in character

A musical performance needs intelligences beyond musical (bodily-kinaesthetic, personal)

Similarly music intelligence can be displayed in areas above and beyond music (dance, advertising)

Fields

The field is a sociological construct and includes the people, institutions, award mechanisms that render judgements upon performance.This is the sharp end of where multiple intelligences are assessed. It is a judgement by any given society on what it values and esteems within an individual’s intelligence make up

Fields

The fields allow the extent to which one is deemed competent in a given areaIt will assess a combination of one’s natural intelligence, its use in a range of domains and relate performance to a given end criteria

Football as an Intelligence!The Intelligence Used:Bodily Kinaesthetic Intelligence

The Domain:F.A. coaching/ playing award

The Field:Playing for Manchester United

A word of Caution

“to fall into the habit of saying that we here behold the linguistic intelligence or the spatial intelligence…these intelligences are fictions - at most useful fictions – for discussing processes and abilities that (like all of life) are continuous with one another. They exist not as physically verifiable entities but only as potentially useful scientific constructs” p69-70

Section 7:Multiple IntelligencesPractical Implications

for Classteachers

Gardener’s Own Viewpoint

Gardner has not stated the practical implications of his theory for classroom but let teachers apply it for themselves

Neither does he as a matter of principle endorse commercially related products

Gardener’s Own Viewpoint

“Multiple Intelligences (MI) is a tool. It’s not a goal. That means teachers have to decide what to teach and that should be based on what they think is important”

Howard GardnerInterview with NEA Today

The Key School

However he has worked closely with the Key School, now called the Key Learning Community

A pioneering school for MI in the curriculum

See their website

Possible Ways Forward

To make sure every lesson has an aspect that covers each of the multiple intelligences

Make sure it covers VAK learning

Is fully differentiated for all children

All pigs ready to fly!

However what we could do…

“Estimates suggest that 70% of the National Curriculum is geared towards just two intelligences”


However what we could do…“Teaching through the 7 intelligences expands the opportunities for all pupils to construct their own meaning in the way most appropriate to them ”


The Vikings

If a key to history is to use secondary sources do those sources have to be written?

Viking Music Viking Artefacts Viking Art Viking Raiding Maps

The Vikings

One way many schools apply the theory is through what they call “Self directed learning” (child driven learning)

Children use personal strengths to take on board new concepts

The Vikings

If a key historical question is “Why did the Vikings leave Scandinavia?”

They can acquire the history concept through any or all of Gardner’s Intelligences

There may be an issue of defensive timetabling

Final ThoughtsTheories and Band Wagons

There is little value in picking up and running with individual theories

They need to dovetail into a wider educational philosophy

Constructivist theory

Multiple Intelligences

Documents

Transcript of Multiple Intelligences