MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Helping Students
Reach Their Potential
Howard Gardner

Harvard Graduate School of

Education
• Hobbs Professor of Cognition and
Education
• Co-Director of Project Zero
Boston University School of Medicine
• Adjunct Prof. Of Neurology
Author of 16 books
 We are all smart.
We are smart in different ways.

One way is not better than another.

What is intelligence?
• “The ability to solve problems or to create
products that are valued within one or more
cultural settings.”
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983)

• “A biopsychological potential to process

information that can be activated in a cultural
setting to solve problems or create products that
are of value in a culture.”
Intelligence Reframed (1999)
Other Questions

• What are the eight intelligences identified by

Gardner?
• How do you know how you are smart?
• How can we incorporate MI theory into our
teaching?
• How can students study more effectively using
their intellectual preferences?
Multiple Intelligences
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
• Listens and responds to
the spoken word.
• Enjoys reading, writing,
and discussing.
• Remembers what has
been said.
• Remembers what has
been read.
• Speaks and writes
effectively.
• Can learn other
languages.
Logical/Mathematical
Intelligence
• Is familiar with the
concepts of quantity, time,
and cause and effect.
• Uses abstract symbols to
represent concrete objects • Likes math and using
and concepts. technology to solve
complex problems.
• Expresses interest in
careers such as
accounting, computer
technology, and law.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Intelligence

• Prefers to touch, handle, or

manipulate what is to be learned.
• Develops coordination and a sense of timing.
• Learns best by direct involvement and
participation.
• Remembers most clearly what was done, rather
than what was said or observed.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Intelligence

• Enjoys concrete learning experiences such as

field trips, model building, or participating in role
play, games, assembling objects, or physical
exercise.
• Demonstrates skill in acting, athletics, dancing,
sewing, carving, or keyboarding.
Visual/Spatial
Intelligence

• Learns by seeing and observing. Recognizes

faces, objects, shapes, colors, details, and
scenes.
• Thinks in pictures and visualizes detail.
• Uses visual images as an aid in recalling
information.
• Enjoys doodling, drawing, painting, sculpting, or
otherwise reproducing objects in visible form.
Musical Intelligence

• Listens and responds with interest to a variety of

sounds including the human voice, environmental
sounds, and music, and organizes such sounds
into meaningful patterns.
• Is eager to be around and learn from music and
musicians.
• Develops the ability to sing and/or play an
instrument.
Interpersonal
Intelligence

• Bonds with parents and interacts with others.

• Forms and maintains social relationships.
• Perceives the feelings, thoughts, motivations,
behaviors, and lifestyles of others.
• Expresses an interest in interpersonally-oriented
careers such as teaching, social work,
counseling, management, or politics.
Intrapersonal
Intelligence

• Is aware of his range of emotions.

• Is motivated to identify and pursue goals.
• Works independently.
• Establishes and lives by an ethical value system.
• Strives for self-actualization.
Naturalist Intelligence

• Recognizes and can name many different types

of trees, flowers, and plants.
• Has an interest in and good knowledge of how
the body works and keeps abreast of health
issues.
• Is conscious of tracks, nests, and wildlife on a
walk and can “read” weather signs.
• Has an understanding of, and interest in, the main
global environmental issues.
How you are smart . . .

impacts the way you teach.

The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching

Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The This teacher stresses a curriculum based on
Verbal/Linguistic language—reading, writing, and speaking.
Learner

Stay alert to students with more concrete learning

styles.
The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching

Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The Logical/Mathematical This teacher tends to concentrate
Learner on concepts that are both logical
and abstract.

Make a deliberate effort to focus on the fact that it is

appropriate for students to be artistic and to think in
intuitive leaps.
The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching
Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The Visual/Spatial Learner This teacher will provide a great

learning environment for visual
learners. The artistic students will do
well in this classroom.

Build in adequate opportunities for students who

are linguistic learners and for those who feel
artistically inhibited.
The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching

Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The Bodily/Kinesthetic This teacher will encourage experiential
Learner learning and have lots of movement in
class. It may be a challenge to both the
logical learner and the intrapersonal
learner.
The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching

Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The Musical/Rhythmic This teacher will tend to have a relaxed
Learner classroom but may find it harder to relate
to those students who are not “in tune
with” music.
The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching

Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The Interpersonal This teacher generally uses cooperative
Learner learning in the classroom. Students will feel
free to interact and are expected to do so;
perfect for the extrovert.

Be sensitive to the students who need to be

alone in order to create, to learn, or just to be.
The Effects of Teachers’ Learning
Styles on Teaching

Learning Style Effect on Teaching

The Intrapersonal This teacher will be a great support for the
Learner student who has trouble functioning in groups.
 MI Lesson Planning Guide

Logical/Mathematical Visual/Spatial Intrapersonal

How can I use How can I use How can I provide
numbers, lists, visualization, art, choices or involve
classifications, logic, colors, or metaphors? personal memories
scientific inquiry? or feelings?
Musical - How can
Theme/Concept I use music,
Verbal/Linguistic How
can I use language rhythm, songs,
(stories, poems, reader’s raps, chants, or
theater)? Bodily/Kinesthetic instruments?
How can I use
Naturalist – How can
Interpersonal - How movement or hands-
on activities? I get students to
can I use partners or
collect data or observe
cooperative group
nature?
activities?
Teaching - MI Theory

Eight Ways of Teaching

by David Lazear
Study Tips for Students

• If he is indeed wise [the teacher] does not bid you

enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads
you to the threshold of your own mind.
Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet
 What
Verbal/Linguistic is MI?
Study Tips

• Paraphrase what you have heard or read out

loud.
• Form questions, find the answers, and speak
them out loud.
• Discuss what you are studying with others.
Verbal/Linguistic
Study Tips

• Ask a lot of questions.

• Read aloud dramatically—
perhaps even with an
accent, and use
audiocassettes to record
and listen to lectures or to
record and listen to notes
you read.
Logical/Mathematical
Study Tips

• List the key points of what

you are learning in a
logical, numbered
sequence.
• Make a flow chart or
diagram that expresses
what you are learning in a
step-by-step manner.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Study Tips

• Act out or role play what

you are learning.

• Practice a skill as soon as

it is learned—hands-on
experience.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Study Tips

• Walk around while

reading.

• Listen to tapes while

exercising.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Study Tips

• Take notes on
postcards and then
arrange the topics so
that they make better
sense to you or make
new relationships.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Study Tips

• Make notes by
paraphrasing the
material instead of just
taking notes on what
the author or teacher
is saying.
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Study Tips

• Let the information

sink in while you
take a walk or go
do something else.
• Use a buddy to
help you study.
– E-mail/phone
Visual/Spatial
Study Tips

• Create a learning map

using key words, primarily
nouns
• Create a poster, cartoon, a
video, or time line.
• Use symbols instead of
words.
Multiple Intelligences
Visual/Spatial
Study Tips
90

80

70

• Color highlight new 60

ideas. 50
East

• Write down what is 40

West
North

heard. 30

• Prepare graphs and 20

diagrams. 10

0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
Musical Study Tips

• Write a song, jingle or rap.

• Play appropriate
background music as you
think about the topic. Try
to choose music that
represents what you are
learning. Quiet classical
music has proven to
stimulate the emotional
center of the brain.
Interpersonal
Study Tips

• Discuss topic with

someone else.
• Teach what you are
learning to someone else.
• Compare notes with
someone else taking the
course.
Intrapersonal
Study Tips

• Look for something of personal significance in

whatever you are studying.
• Try to answer questions about why it matters to
you and how you can use the information.
Naturalist Study Tips

• What are the environmental implications of what

you are learning?
• Has it any implication for conservation of
resources?
• Will it help or hinder social fairness?
• Does it have anything to say on solving any of the
major social problems of our times?
Naturalist Study Tips

• Does it help you better understand the mind of

individuals or social behavior?
• Does it exploit or harm anyone or anything else?
• Does it guide you to any action or social purpose.
Become a multi-sensory learner

If you . . .
• Read and visualize the material, you have seen
it.
• Read key points out loud, make up questions and
answer them, you have heard it.
• Write out the answer to your question and circle
the major point, you have done it.
Become a multi-sensory learner

• Do something extra that helps you learn using

multiple senses.
• Activate your memory for seeing, hearing, and
doing, and your ability to remember the
information will go up several hundred percentage
points.
Visual study techniques

• Create learning maps.

• Color highlight new ideas.
• Write down what is heard.
• Prepare graphs and diagrams.
Auditory study techniques

• Ask a lot of questions.

• Read aloud dramatically—perhaps even with an
accent, and use audiocassettes to record and
listen to lectures or to record and listen to notes
you read.
Physical study techniques

• Practice a skill as soon as it is learned—hands-on

experience.
• Walk around while reading.
• Take notes on post-it notes and arrange the ideas
on a large surface.
• Take notes on postcards and then arrange the
topics so that they make better sense to your or
make new relationships.
Physical study techniques

• Make notes by paraphrasing the material instead

of just taking notes on what the author or teacher
is saying.
• Let the information sink in while you take a walk
or go do something else.
• Use a buddy to help you study.
The Right State of Mind

Helping Students
Reach Their Potential