The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Essay Example

Introduction

Howard Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. According to Gardner, an individual possess eight or more autonomous intelligences. Individuals use these multiple intelligences to solve problems that require critical thinking. These problems may be persona l or social. The eight intelligences are: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  According to Gardner, in modern schools only two intelligences are valued and tested by educators-linguistic and logical-mathematical. He conceived intelligence as multiple rather than Unitarian. He felt that students were being robbed of proper educations if they did not excel in these two areas.  Before the work that Gardner did with multiple intelligences general intelligence was conceived as innate traits that a person was born with and little could be done to alter this. (Barrington, E. 2004). In contrast, Gardner believe that intelligence was a combination of inherited traits and relevant experiences.  For example, he believed that a person could be born with a natural talent to dance. This person could be a great dancer. While another person may not have been born with that same natural ability, but through relevant experiences with dance, he too could become a great dancer.  Hundreds of schools around the world have incorporated Gardner’s Theory into their curriculum and pedagogy. Gardner’s Theory stems from his observations from various areas as different as chess to politics. Incorporating Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences into the everyday classroom will great benefit the multiple ways students learn.

Today’s Classroom

All students excel in various areas of intelligences. No two students are alike. In the general education setting, any type of success accomplished by a student will help to increase the student’s love of learning and increase his/her chances of academic success in the future. Likewise, students who excel in areas that pertain to visual intelligence should be awarded just as often as students who are great readers. However, not all educators tailor their classes around this technique. National course of standards dictate a great deal of the way teachers teach in their classrooms. Because teachers have to cover certain standards by a given date, many teachers tend to lose their creativity. They just want to cover the standards and document that they have done so. Often teachers teaching strategies are geared toward their own way of learning.  The purpose of all schools is to teach students strategies that they will be able to solve problems throughout their lives. Numerous reports prove that students learn most and best when they are playing and active role in what they are studying. For example, “unless they learn to ask questions, to do things hands on, to essentially re-create things in their own mind and transform them as is needed, the ideas just disappear. The student may have a good grade on the exam, we may think that he or she is learning, but a year or two later there’s nothing left.” (Barrington, E. 2004).     For decades classrooms have been teacher directed, but according to Gardner’s theory students retain more information when there is student directed learning taking place.  Gardner documented that all human beings have intellectual strengths and weaknesses that vary from one individual to the next. If everyone had the same type of intelligence and learned the same way, educators could teach each class the same way, assessment could be done the same way, and this would be fair for all children. Now that educators’ know this is not true, they must meet students according to their weaknesses and strengths. Some students are spatial thinkers, others are logical, and yet many are hands on thinkers. It would be so unfair to assess what students have learned using one method because results would be skewed to say the least.

Need for Curriculum Change

Teaching to cover standards by a deadline is a waste of time for both teachers and students. There is no purpose in teaching 75 standards and students only know partial information about three of them. It would better serve students to be taught 15 standards thoroughly suiting differentiated strategies. Educators have been teaching the scientific method for decades, but they seem to be unable to apply it to the field of teaching. Teaching in the classroom has looked the same for decades. These classrooms are producing poor results. Obviously, it is time to follow through on the hypothesis and discard methods that have continued to fail.  Assessments of what has been learned are important in the classroom. Teachers need to know what their students know and the drives instruction for what they need to teach. Schools are testing and testing students to see what knowledge they have retained, but when they receive that test results back and they are not satisfactory they begin another year teaching the same way.  To fix these problems, educational reform must take place. First of all, the individuals who are creating standards should be primarily teacher, administrators, and others with educational background. (Maker, C. J., Nielson, A. B., & Rogers, J. A. 1994)Teachers know what to do to ensure learning it taking place, but they are bound by state laws and mandates. Teachers need power over their classrooms again.

Conclusions

The idea of multiple intelligences stems from the teaching of psychology. Gardner documented that humans learn in different ways. As a result, educators must teach differently. A great way to do this is by implementing differentiated leaning strategies into their everyday lessons. All students will be leaning the same standards, just in different ways. Many people believe that only way to adequately learn something is through reading a book or listening to a lecture. These same people believe the only way to document or prove learning has taken place is through a paper and pencil test.  Just as learning can take place in many different ways, testing too should be done in many ways.

References

Barrington, E. (2004). Teaching to student diversity in higher education: How multiple intelligence theory can help. Teaching in Higher Education, 9, 421-434.

Maker, C. J., Nielson, A. B., & Rogers, J. A. (1994). Giftedness, diversity, and problem-solving. Teaching Exceptional Children, 27(1), 4-19.