The+First+Group

=**__Multiple Intelligences__**= by :The First Group (Jennifer, Stephanie, Jodi & Birgit)

It's not how smart you are. It's how you are smart.
// Howard Gardner Interview, "Common Miracles" ABC 1993 //

The model based on the latest clinical research and actual scans of brain activity is that pioneered by Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University. Gardner has identified **__seven__** distinctly different intelligences within each person. Others have tried to extend his list by separating out some characteristics that Gardner has grouped together. One widely excepted additon is the Natural Intellegence, that can be seen added in the graphic above and below.

A little Intro for the more visual and musical inclined reader: []

=1. Linguistic= Talent with language and the ability to write well are common characteristics of linguistic intelligence. The great writers and orators of history have been especially strong linguistically. =**2. Mathematical/Logical**= The ability to think logically and be proficient in numerical tasks are big components of mathematical/logical intelligence. Most abstract linear kinds of reasoning require this kind of intelligence. Any career that depends on numbers requires strength in mathematical and logical thinking (science, engineering, accountancy, and statistics). =**3. Musical**= The capacity to understand, appreciate, and create music characterizes this underrated intelligence. Great musicians and composers obviously have musical intelligence in a very enhanced form, but everyone has it, even if he /she has usually thought of him/herself as unmusical. It is your musical intelligence that helps you keep rhythm that is needed for the meter of a poem or prose. =**4. Visual/Spatial**= Visual/Spatial intelligence is most often associated with artistic ability. While it is true that painters and sculptors have a particularaly well-developed visual intelligence, this intelligence is also a major part of the ability that makes architects, interior designers, pilots, bush trackers, and city planners successful. =**5. Physical**= Physical Intlligence is also referred to as bodily or kinesthetic intelligence. It includes obvious things such as athletic ability and body movement, but it also encompasses skills such as the manual dexterity of a carpenter, surgeon, or weaver. =**6. Interpersonal**= Interpersonal intelligence is social talent - being good with other people. Skill or inate ablility to make people feel comfortable and at ease around you is a very valuable intelligence in our highly interdependent global society, and an ability to get along well and communicate with others is one of the most highly rewarded skills in our society. =**7. Intrapersonal**= The capacity for self-analysis and the ability to examine you own behaviour is an intelligence which Gardner calls intrapersonal. Introspection and a talent for understanding your own feelings are evidence of the kind of intelligence that is key to setting goals, planning for the future, daydreaming, and accessing your intuitive nature.

Traditionally, schools have emphasized the development of logical intelligence and linguistic intelligence (mainly reading and writing). While many students function well in this environment, there are those who do not. Gardner's theory argues that students will be better served by a broader vision of education, wherein teachers use different methodologies, exercises and activities to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and logical intelligence.

Many teachers see the theory as simple common sense. Some say that it validates what they already know: that students learn in different ways. On the other hand, James Traub's article in //The New Republic// notes that Gardner's system has not been accepted by most academics in intelligence or teaching.

George Miller, the esteemed psychologist credited with discovering the mechanisms by which short term memory operates, wrote in //The New York Times Book Review// that Gardner's argument boiled down to "hunch and opinion" (p. 20), and Gardner's subsequent work has done very little to shift the balance of opinion. A recent issue of //Psychology, Public Policy, and Law// devoted to the study of intelligence contained virtually no reference to Gardner's work. Most people who study intelligence view M.I. theory as rhetoric rather than science, and they're divided on the virtues of the rhetoric.

The application of the theory of multiple intelligences varies widely. It runs the gamut from a teacher who, when confronted with a student having difficulties, uses a different approach to teach the material, to an entire school using MI as a framework. In general, those who subscribe to the theory strive to provide opportunities for their students to use and develop all the different intelligences, not just the few at which they naturally excel.

A Harvard-led study of 41 schools using the theory came to the conclusion that in these schools there was "a culture of hard work, respect, and caring; a faculty that collaborated and learned from each other; classrooms that engaged students through constrained but meaningful choices, and a sharp focus on enabling students to produce high-quality work.

Of the schools implementing Gardner's theory, the most well-known is New School, in St. Louis, Missouri, which has been using the theory since 1988. The school's teachers have produced two books for teachers, //Celebrating Multiple Intelligences// and //Succeeding With Multiple Intelligences// and the principal, Thomas Hoerr, has written //Becoming a Multiple Intelligences School// as well as many articles on the practical applications of the theory. The school has also hosted four conferences, each attracting over 200 educators from around the world and remains a valuable resource for teachers interested in implementing the theory in their own classrooms.

Thomas Armstrong considers that Waldorf Education organically engages all of Gardner's seven intelligences.

__**Recommended Readings**__: //Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice// (book) Howard Gardner //Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 2nd Ed.// (book) Thomas Armstrong //7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Multiple Intelligences, Revised and Updated with Information on 2 New Kinds of Smart// (book) Thomas Armstrong //Multiple Intelligences: Best Ideas from Research and Practice// (book) Mindy Kornhaber et al. Multiple Intelligences: Discovering the Giftedness in All (VHS: 44min) Thomas Armstrong


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