Understanding Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences
Module Three

Jack Drury - Instructor
E-mail: jack@realworldlearning.info
Tel: 518-891-5915
Cell: 518-524-0732
Fax: 518-891-6989
Sandy Hildreth - Course Designer

Understanding Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences - Module 3
"Exploring Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences"

REFLECTION

You were asked to design and use a hands-on instructional method in your classroom, and to incorporate one or more of the 3 activities at the bottom of the Learning Pyramid. Take a minute reread your response to me and reflect on how your lesson may have benefited different learning styles and how you might incorporate different activities to reach different learning styles in the future.


READING:

In the first two modules of the Internet course, the focus has been on exploring learning styles and how we might take into account different learning styles in our classroom. The fact that people learn in different ways is directly related to what society regards as intelligence. Howard Gardner, at Harvard University, first developed his theory of Multiple Intelligences in the 1980's.

An overview of Gardner's theory, in simple terms, is that he felt intelligence was whatever members of a society needed to excel at in order to survive. In some areas of the world it might be learning what plants in the rainforest can be used for medicinal and food purposes. In another area it might be how to use the stars to navigate across vast distances of empty ocean. For our culture, intelligence has often been measured by how well people can do complex mathematical or logical problems.

Gardner came up with 7 basic intelligences, or ways of knowing, that he felt covered all areas of human abilities, and more recently added an 8th one. They are Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist.

1. Verbal/Linguistic refers to talent in the use of language, with one of the most outstanding examples being the poet.
2. Logical/Mathematical is analytical problem-solving and the understanding of underlying principles.

These first two categories are what traditional IQ tests measure.

3. Visual/Spatial is the ability to represent the spatial world internally in the mind - the skills of navigators, doctors (anatomy, etc.), artists, chess players, etc.
4. Bodily/Kinesthetic is the ability to use one's body to express an emotion (as in a dance), to reach a level of outstanding physical ability (as in a sport), or to create or build something (as in a toolmaker or mechanic). Excelling in this intelligence is probably what allowed our pre-historic ancestors to survive.
5. Musical/Rhythmic is being able to create, interpret, perform, etc. based on the ability to hear, recognize, remember and manipulate patterns, with musicians being the most obvious example.
6. Interpersonal intelligence refers to perception and sensitivity to distinctions among others - their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. Some examples of people who excel in interpersonal skills are successful religious and political leaders, teachers, therapists as well as salesmen and cult leaders. They all seem to be able to understand and work with others easily.
7. Intrapersonal is the knowledge of one's own self, range of emotions, and the ability to effectively discriminate among those emotions as a way of understanding and guiding one's behavior. It is the capacity to excel on one's own. (This is often what is impaired in autistic individuals.)
8. Naturalist intelligence is the ability to discriminate among living things as well as sensitivity to the features of the natural world. This was clearly important in evolution and now is the primary skill of people like botanists, farmers, and environmentalists.

These intelligences are basically independent, yet nearly every cultural role of any degree of sophistication requires a combination of intelligences. For example, the highly successful violinist is more than just someone who can excel in the Musical/Rhythmic area for they also need superior Bodily/Kinesthetic dexterity, and Interpersonal Skills in order to relate to audiences, agents, conductors, and other musicians.

It is important to consider individuals as being a collection of aptitudes rather than having a singular problem-solving skill that can be measured directly through pencil and paper tests. Most individuals are not highly gifted in a single intelligence, but are a blend of skills and abilities that often make them more adaptable and successful than the singularly gifted.

There are many implications for education. Pre-school and elementary years should emphasize opportunity and diversity because it is during those years that children discover their own peculiar interests and abilities and learn to use them. While the necessary "tools" for a successful life are part of the basics that all children should learn, it is important to employ multiple strategies for reaching and developing the various types of intelligence. Real world, "in the street" learning often comes simultaneously through a number of different forms while traditional education is often forty minutes of math, then forty minutes of reading, etc. Gardner suggests that the entire school learning environment needs to be redesigned to appeal to all the intelligences. Means of assessment should reflect the various ways of knowing and learning.


TASK:

Take the Multiple Intelligences inventory at: http://www.surfaquarium.com/MIinhvent.htm.

It will need to be printed out. It is highly suggested that the inventory also be given to some other people: family, friends, or colleagues if it is not feasible to give to some of your students. Try to ask those who take it what they think about the results and how valid they seem to be.

Visit this web site about Howard Gardner: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/mi/front_mi.htm

Scroll down to the bottom and select two of the articles to read - choose at least one that you think might be most useful to you in your classroom.

Upon completion of taking the inventory and reading the articles please submit the following to Jack:

1. A brief description (< 500 words) of your observations regarding your results of taking the MI inventory:

a. Do you feel it was accurate?
b. How might have the understanding of MI when you were a student influenced your learning?
c. What are the implications to your style of teaching?
d. What are the implications to how you interact with friends and colleagues?
e. Any other observations

2. A brief description (< 750 words) of your observations regarding the two articles your read:

a. What did you like about the articles?
b. What did you question or disagree with what the authors said?
c. What implications did the articles have for your teaching strategies?
d. Was there anything that you read that caused you to try something different in your teaching? If so, what?



FINAL COURSE PRODUCT:

You can review at any times the options listed in Module 1 . If you have ideas or questions about it, please email the course designer.