This document discusses Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which proposes that there are at least eight different ways that humans understand and perceive the world, including verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist intelligences. The theory suggests that instruction and assessment should appeal to and measure these different forms of intelligence. Adopting multiple intelligences in education could help create more personalized lessons and promote student self-motivation and understanding. Schools may eventually move towards apprenticeships, children's museums, and focusing more on what students truly need to know to be lifelong learners in a world of accessible information.

1. Multiple Intelligence:Multiple Intelligence:
Meeting the Needs ofMeeting the Needs of
All StudentsAll Students

2. "I am 100% convinced that if I were to
come back to Earth in 50 years,
people would laugh at the idea of
uniform education.” -Howard
Gardner

3. Definition
• At least eight ways
that humans
perceive and
understand the
world
• Theorized by
Howard Gardner in
1983

4. All theories of learning
purport the following:
• “. . . student brains are more than IQ and
their skills span more than the Three R’s”
(Flick and Lederman 120)
• All students can learn
• It is important in education to celebrate
all aspects of diversity, including the many
ways students learn

5. Reasoning Behind
Gardner’s Theory
• “Individuals should be encouraged to use
their preferred intelligences in learning.”
• “Instructional activities should appeal to
different forms of intelligence.”
• “Assessment of learning should measure
multiple forms of intelligence.”
(Gardner)

6. Why the Attraction for
Educators…
• Helps to create more personalized lessons
• Helps “explain and promote understanding”
(Owen)
• Helps promote self-motivation in students
because learning is based on innate talents
• Validates teacher insights into their
students

7. The Eight EstablishedThe Eight Established
Intelligences…Intelligences…

8. Naturalist Learners (the
new intelligence)
• Sensitive to patterns in and
connecting to nature
• Especially like animals and natural
phenomena
• Suggestions for Teachers: Be aware
to changes in even minute details of
the classroom environment, bring the
outdoors in

9. Verbal-Linguistic
Learners
• Sensitive to meanings, sounds and rhythms
of words
• Especially like storytelling and creative
writing
• Suggestions for Teachers: activities such
as dialogue writing, books on tape, word
processing, newspaper activities, etc.

10. Logical-Mathematical
Learners
• Sensitive to order and sequence
• Especially like problem solving, noting
and creating patterns and
experiments
• Suggestions for Teachers: use of
graphic organizers, showing
relationships, computer instruction,
syllogism, etc.

11. Visual-Spatial Learners
• Sensitive to visual cues and images
• Especially like day-dreaming and art
• Suggestions for Teachers: using
color, mind-mapping, manipulatives,
etc.

12. Body-Kinesthetic
Learners
• Sensitive to activity, athletics and
physical gestures while talking
• Especially like role-playing, touching
and feeling
• Suggestions for Teachers: hands-on
activities, manipulatives, use of
textures, etc.

13. Musical-Rhythmic
Learners
• Sensitive to singing, playing instruments,
drumming
• Especially like the human voice, sounds
from nature, instrumental music
• Suggestions for Teachers: vary voice
pitch during instruction, play music in the
classroom, watch surrounding sounds for
possible interference

14. Interpersonal Learners
• Sensitive to leadership opportunities,
others’ feelings; “street smart”
• Especially like helping others, peer
tutoring, working cooperatively
• Suggestions for teachers: group
work, discussions, skits, etc.

15. Intrapersonal Learners
• Sensitive to their own feelings, personal
motivation
• Especially like day-dreaming, working
alone; “march to the beat of a different
drummer”
• Suggestions for Teachers: designate quiet
areas, independent practice, journals, etc.

16. How We Can Change…How We Can Change…

17. According to Gardner,
“Successful education does not
require covering everything ‘from
Plato to NATO.’ In fact, the
greatest enemy of understanding is
coverage. If we try to cover everything, by
the end of the day people will have learned
very little and will have understood
nothing. As a teacher, ask yourself, ‘If I
had one hour (per semester) to teach
students, what would I teach them?’”

18. The Impact on Schools
• We teach all children the way we have met
the needs of the gifted in the past
• Move beyond traditional methods;
incorporate the other six intelligences in
teaching, assessing and planning
• Teachers are better able to create more
“inclusive, affective and effective
instruction” (Owen)

19. Schools in the Future
• Movement toward Apprenticeships:
have students work closely with key
individuals over an extended period
of time in order for them to learns
EXACTLY what a culture would like
them to know someday; teaching is
primarily done through example

20. • Creation of Children’s Museums:
Students are afforded the
opportunity to work with interesting
topics at their own pace and in their
own ways; what they’ve “learned” in
school can be “checked out” through
experimentation; additional questions
will naturally arise that can be
brought back to the classroom and
discussed further

21. • Focus on the End Result/What
Students REALLY need to know upon
leaving the formal learning
environment
• Recognize that not all children will
have an “understanding” of all
traditional areas in today’s world of
information dissemination

22. The Really Important
Things for Students to
Know…
• How to make use of accessible
information
• How to use expertise
• How to become lifelong learners
• How to find out about the things
they don’t know but need to know

23. Success StoriesSuccess Stories

24. Works Cited
• Andrews, Roland H. “Three Perspectives of Learning
Styles.” School Administrator. January 1994. 51:1, pp/
19+.
• Flick, Lawrence B. and Norman G. Lederman. “Popular
Theories—Unpopular Research.” School Science and
Mathematics. March 2003. 103:3, pp. 117-121.
• Gardner, Howard. “Multiple Intelligences.” TIP Database.
Ed. Greg Kearsley. 1994-2006. George Washington
University. 1 March 2006.
http://tip.psychology.org/gardner.html.
• Reiff, Judith C. “Bridging Home and School Through
Multiple Intelligences.” Childhood Education. Spring 1996.
72:3, pp. 164-166.

25. Works Cited (con’t.)
• Wilson, Leslie Owen. “The Eighth Intelligence:
Naturalistic Intelligence.” Newer Views of
Learning. The CELT Center. March 2005. 1 March
2006.
http://www.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/index.htm.
• Wilson, Leslie Owen. “What’s the Big Attraction?”
New Horizons for Learning. March 1998. New
Horizons. 1 March 2006.
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/mi/wilson1.htm
.