Edpsy 399OL Fall 2001

Yvette Kelsey

Tom Anderson - Instructor

Self-Research Topic

December 5, 2001

Howard Gardner, through his work in developing his theory of Multiple Intelligences, openly questioned the idea that human intelligence can be "broken into two assumptions: that human cognition is unitary and that individuals can be adequately described as having a singe, quantifiable intelligence" (Campbell et al, 1996). Instead, Gardner presented the theory that many different strengths and weaknesses a human possesses could be a representation of intelligence. According to Campbell et al (1996), Gardner defines intelligence as:

• The ability to solve problems that one encounters in real life.

• The ability to generate new problems to solve.

• The ability to make something or offer a service that is valued within one's culture.

In his own words in an interview with NEA Today's Stefanie Weiss, Howard Gardner summarized some of his thoughts behind multiple intelligences:

I make two claims. The first claim is that all human beings have all of these intelligences. It’s part of our species definition. The second claim is that, both because of our genetics and our environment, no two people have exactly the same profile of intelligences, not even identical twins, because their experiences are different.

There are currently eight intelligences identified by Howard Gardner as co-director of Project Zero at Harvard University. The first seven were identified in Gardner's 1983 book, Frames of Mind, the final one has developed since then. Gardner and Project Zero continue discuss and consider more intelligences as theories present themselves. However, these are the currently identified intelligences to date.

• Linguistic Intelligence includes the ability to express oneself in words. This would include both the written and verbal word. The strength in development and delivery of words and their meanings as the relate to the topic at hand.

• Logical-Mathematical Intelligence consists of the ability to calculate and hypothesize about complicated mathematical operations. Often times this strength is represented in people who excel at accountancy, engineering, mathematics, and science.

• Spatial Intelligence includes one's ability to think three-dimensionally. A spatially intelligent person would be able imagine and navigate through the three-dimensional space surrounding them.

• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence emphasizes physical skills. Those who excel at these skills, such as dancers, athletes, surgeons, can manipulate their own bodies as well as objects in complicated ways.

• Musical Intelligence is observed in people who have an affinity for identifying and reproducing rhythm, tone, pitch and melody.

• Interpersonal Intelligence is displayed by a person's empathy and understanding of another person. This type of thinker would interact and understand others well.

• Intrapersonal Intelligence refers to self-awareness. One's ability to understand one's own strengths, weaknesses, emotional needs. It involves self-reflection, as well as, an understanding of one's personal goals.

• Naturalist Intelligence is closely related to biological knowledge with respect to animals, plants and theories presented about them. It is recognizable through one's ability to understand and interact with nature.

Multiple Intelligences fit into EVERY classroom. A middle schooler's learning environment is ripe for the picking. Middle school students, typically aged 10-14, are experiencing an overwhelming amount of physical, emotional, social and often times academic changes. Although all school-aged students experience changes at every age, middle schoolers are becoming aware of their changes for the first time in their lives. They see themselves changing physically, feel the social pressure to make specific choices about who, when, where, what and how much they will experience, are thrust into hormonal changes that, along with social inadequacies, make them highly emotional for very little reason. Throughout all of this, these students are catapulted into a most challenging middle school classroom and pushed to perform to the best of their ability academically. Although many middle school educators are aware of all that has been mentioned here, many are still stretching for a way to ease the agony of this age. Multiple Intelligences offers the teacher an avenue for subtly helping students with all of the issues facing them at this age.

Teachers can start by considering the list below suggested by Thomas Armstrong (2001).

Of course not all of the eight intelligences may fit with each of your topics taught throughout the school year, the suggestion by Armstrong is to at least consider each of them before deciding that you cannot integrate them into your lesson. The more intelligences you include, the more students you will potentially reach. Many textbooks are attempting to include as many of the intelligences as possible. The Connected Mathematics series, for instance, includes a real-world approach to presenting and processing information that allows students to use their own experiences. Each lesson is followed by a written reflection of what you learned and how you use it. The same mathematical content is being taught but it is being presented in a way that allows for more than just a mathematical-logical intelligence to be successful. There is no detraction from logical-mathematical intelligence because of the incorporation of many other intelligences. Now, this middle school math classroom is incorporating:

• linguistic intelligence by requiring writing that communicates a student's learning on a mathematical topic. 
• Spatial intelligence may or may not be present based on the mathematical principal being discussed. 
• Interpersonal intelligence is well represented through the refreshing opportunity for a both a whole-class and small-group dynamic in all lessons. Cooperative and engaged learning principles are encouraged with the implementation of this series. 
• Intrapersonal intelligence, although hard to determine here, is theoretically taking place as students set goals for themselves within small group work. They recognize their weaknesses and rely on others for explanation. They assume roles to achieve goals in a set amount of time. 
• Surprisingly, there are opportunities throughout the series to acknowledge a natural or musical intelligence through lesson content that calls for students to solve problems that relate to those topics. 

This is a perfect example of a lesson branching out to engage more learners. The learning environment becomes multi-faceted with many intelligences that may or may not appeal strongly to one student or another.

How does all this relate to a middle schooler's early adolescent inadequacies? The typical middle school student will say they fell anxiety about at least one of their classes. Whether it is the non-athletic student who dreads the daily Physical Education class or the student who just doesn't seem to understand Math who dreads being called on for an answer in class, in most cases each student has something they are anxious about. After careful observation, many of student's social or emotional anxieties can be traced back to this uncomfortable environment. The student who feels no connection to math class may act out or alienate themselves with classmates and the teacher to counteract their distress. This perpetuates more and more social anxieties which can be the cornerstone for continued discipline problems and stresses. However, by instituting as many multiple intelligences into a middle school classroom as possible, a teacher is going to stumble upon a intellectual strength for each student. The student feels less threatened by the surroundings and begins to understand their own strengths and weaknesses (intrapersonal intelligence). Multiple Intelligences provides an avenue for squelching some of those early adolescent anxieties.

The only obvious disadvantages to integrating MI into a middle school classroom comes from the work it takes adapt your classroom environment and your lessons to include these essential intelligences. Teachers have to be trained to detect an appropriate place to include intelligences, as well as, how to implement them. As with most things, it takes more time and effort to do it right. Connections must be made clearly between the topic being studied and the use of the intelligences. If a teacher is going to include a musical aspect to their unit, there should be a clear connection between it and the content to be studied. That may take more time for planning and collaboration with team members than before, as will the restructuring of the assessment process.

To truly incorporate some of the intelligences in a middle school classroom, especially the interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences, the teacher may have to restructure his/her classroom dynamic to include an appropriate amount of cooperative and engaged learning techniques. The strongest interpersonal interactions often times occur in small peer groups. In addition, intrapersonal intelligence discussions and awareness can grow out of these interpersonal interactions.

Anyone who has ever been in a classroom during a lesson can tell you that the more engaged students are in the content before them, the fewer discipline problems the teacher will experience. Because a unit that engages all students through one or more of the intelligences, each and every student in class will be involved at most points of class. Combine that with the proper use of cooperative learning as a tool for learning, and students are too involved in the topic at hand to be of any disturbance to the teacher or peers. Off task behavior can be counteracted with assigning each of the small-group members a role or job to be responsible for the duration of the class.

Kounin's Connection

Teachers who use a disciplinary structure that reflects Kounin's beliefs would probably do well with a transition to a Multiple Intelligences classroom. Kounin's emphasis on both whole-class and small group management of a classroom environment that should stay conducive to the learning environment correlates well with the cooperative learning connection with Multiple Intelligences. He stressed the importance of awareness of what is going on in all corners of the classroom, no matter what the instructional structure. Multiple Intelligences would correspond well to any classroom management plan that encouraged "preventive discipline" as a means of deterring behavioral problems. 

Technology in the form of computers, digital cameras, scanners, manufacturing technology modules, Internet research/activities, can present a good backdrop for incorporating Multiple Intelligences into an existing curriculum. Below is a list of ways technology can enhance each of the eight intelligences:

• Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence can be enhanced by technology through access to the inexhaustible amount of readable information available through the Internet and databases students can use for research and interest purposes. The computer has revolutionized that way many teachers address the writing process. It encourages students to focus on content instead of spelling and grammar inadequacies. There is also an influx of user-friendly software programs for young writers that encourage creative writing and design. In addition, there are numerous programs that "speak back" to the writer as they type so that they can here how in sounds, thus incorporating a verbal aspect to creating writing. The ease of cutting and pasting what the writer has typed allows for freedom in the editing and revising process that is not available when hand-writing. This ease encourages students to take a risk and write freely with the comfort that they can always cut, paste, or delete what they have constructed.

• Mathematical-Logical Intelligence can be utilized through several technological options. Besides great software items that focus on developing math skills in students, much of the everyday software institutes critical thinking skills into work. Spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel and AppleWorks can be used to explain and apply mathematical theory. The idea of creating formulas in spreadsheet that are tied together to find a bottom line can examine how different variables can change the outcome of a product. For instance, students could put together a spreadsheet for a fictitious business that takes into account the retail price as opposed to the price the supplier has to pay, and other expenses like employees, insurance, rent, etc. Then, when all that is widdled down to a bottom line profit, students could go back and change the amount of expenses or increase their selling price to change the profit made.

• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence is inherent in most work with technology. Hand-eye coordination is a necessity for proper typing skills and using a mouse. As suggested by Campbell, "electronic field trips may not involve the physical body, yet students feel as if they are actually exploring the depths of the sear or the inside of a volcano as they accompany researchers in areas where very few can go"(1996).

• Visual-Spatial Intelligence can easily be expressed though the use of technology. Even technology as basic as the VCR can be used to present and encourage spatial skills to students. In this day and age, even DVDs are being used in the classroom. Students can visualize a place they have seen in a movie or informational tape/dvd more accurately than when the information comes from words on a page. In addition, slide show programs like Microsoft PowerPoint and AppleWorks allow students to create and design their own slide show using graphics, art, and words. This activity allows students to visualize what they want to create and try out their visual-spatial ideas with a safe, easy to use computer program. A mathematical software package called Green Globs (produced by Sunburst) uses games and challenges to convince kids to plot points on two and three-dimensional axes. This bodes well for the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence as well as Visual-Spatial.

• Musical Intelligence and technology make good partners. Since the development of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), anyone with access to a computer can compose music. There are many types of software for this purpose. Some are more advanced and some are simplistic enough for young students of music. Now that students can download, burn, or compose music on their own, digitized music becomes a more crucial part of everyday learning for all students. Students with an interest in music can record themselves singing or playing an instrument and put it into a computer sound file to be distributed to anyone.

• Interpersonal Intelligence can be enhanced through the use of technology. With websites like ePals, students can interact with students their own age in different countries that speak different languages. A distance learning environment can utilize Interpersonal Intelligence as well. "This interactive technology develops expanded and enhanced interpersonal skills and breaks through cultural barriers as students and teachers learn to communicate in new ways appropriate to this medium" (Campbell et al, 1996).

• Intrapersonal Intelligence has been exercised by in many schools as a way of focusing on honesty, values, diligence and patience. Technology can be a part of that thinking. The opportunity to use technology to enhance individual student learning through web research or developing higher-order thinking skills. One of the strongest and most utilized pieces of software might be Inspiration and the younger version Kidspiration. This program allows users to create mind maps and web collections that represent a user's thinking.

• Naturalist Intelligence can be enhanced by using many forms of technology. Microscopes and other scientific tools can help students make their own discoveries about natural phenomena. The computer can be an avenue for finding information and completing activities with respect to nature. There are many webquests on the Internet that focus on solving real-life problems in nature, such as overpopulation of animal species and preservation of protected land. The Internet itself is an invaluable resource for finding any information needed to solve those problems.

Armstrong, Thomas. (2000). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 16, 2001. http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

Campbell, Bruce. (1996). The Research Results of a Multiple Intelligences Classroom. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 16, 2001. 

Campbell, Linda; Campbell, Bruce; Dickinson, Dee. (1996). Teaching and Learning Through Multiple Intelligences. Simon and Schuster Company. Needham Heights, Massachusetts.

Doorey, Marie. (2001). Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology: Howard Gardner. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 15, 2001. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/g2699/0004/2699000478/p1/article.jhtml

Morris, Patrick. (1997). Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 15, 2001. http://www.coedu.usf.edu/~morris/multiple.html

Shearer, C. Branton, Ph. D. (2001) MIDAS: The Multiple Intelligence. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 15, 2001. http://www.angelfire.com/oh/themidas/eachmi.html

Weiss, Stefanie. (NEA Today March 1999). Interview with Howard Gardner. http://www.nea.org/neatoday/9903/gardner.html Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 16, 2001.