By almost any measure, the education system in the United States is broken. This issue has been approached from many angles. From politicians to academic researchers, education has been a pressing topic for decades and one for which no viable ideas have been forthcoming. Most often, the solutions offered have involved standardized testing or pouring more money into a system that is fundamentally unworkable. The essential issue is that traditional approaches to teaching and learning have become outdated for today’s student body and for modern culture. Adopting a more progressive approach to the classroom is the best way to transform the education system. The theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI), first introduced by Howard Gardner three decades ago, is an example of a project-based learning style of teaching and assessment (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008). It is comprised of nine different “intelligences,” or ways that students learn, and it offers a more comprehensive way to determine an individual student’s intellect (Gardner, 2011). “Only if we expand and reformulate our view of what counts as human intellect will we be able to devise more appropriate ways of assessing it and more effective ways of educating it” (Gardner, 2011, p. 4). Using MI to help evaluate each student’s aptitude will help reach more students, and better prepare them for the world outside the classroom by: emphasizing cultural diversity, teaching real-world skills, empowering students, and bolstering the self-worth of individual students.
To begin with, a noteworthy element of MI theory in the classroom is the importance it places on cultural differences among the student body. Clearly, one of the defining characteristics of modern society is the diversity ...
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...f mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Retrieved from site.ebrary.com/lib/apus/docDetail.action?docID=10449816
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A famous quote by Martin Luther King states “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” The two articles “Hidden Intellectualism” and “Blue Collar Brilliance” both emphasis the author's opinion on the qualifications and measurements of someone's intelligence. “Hidden Intellectualism” focuses on students or younger people who have trouble with academic work because, they are not interested in the topic. Today, in schools students are taught academic skills that are not very interesting, the author mentions this is why children are not motivated in schools. The main viewpoint of this article is that schools need to encourage students
Traditional theories of intelligence do not account for the ambiguity of classes such as philosophy or for the wide range of interests a child can have. For example, contemporary theories such as Sternberg’s Theory of Intelligence and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences both account for more than the general intelligence accounted for in traditional intelligence theories. According to Robert Sternberg’s Successful (Triarchic) Theory of Intelligence, are Hector’s difficulties in philosophy indicative of future difficulties in the business world? According to Sternberg’s Theory of Intelligence, Hector’s difficulty in philosophy will not negatively affect his future. Sternberg would instead focus on elements of successful intelligence like Hector’s involvement and contribution as an individual, as opposed to relying on intelligence measured by tests.
As a teacher it is your responsibility to vary your instruction so that you can reach each different type of learner. Something that may be useful is giving students an assessment that makes the teacher aware of how each student learns, and base your instruction off of the results. Also, you can give them an assessment of Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences to get an even better understanding of their learning styles, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Providing students various opportunities and teaching techniques enables them to learn in way that suits them
Howard Gardner’s theory contains eight main multiple intelligence. As the years have progressed there have taken one out and is left with the main seven. These seven are: Linguistic, Mathematical, Spatial, bodily, Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. These are found in everyone; however, each person will excel in one or two. Once teachers can determine what intelligence the students will exceed on and teach to their strengths the student will learn much more.
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
Charles Spearman's model of intelligence and Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory are two of the most widely used theories of intelligence. In order to understand how similar the two theories are we must first understand their differences. These two men differed in opinion on how IQ and intelligence should be measured, and they differed in opinion on what made a person "smart". In order to examine these things they first had to understand the human brain and how it works. They had to examine the human study habits and rituals, along with the human test taking habits.
The world is made up of many different types of people, each one having his or her cultural background. Over the years, the United States has become increasingly populated with cultural diversity. This influx has prompted school administrators to recognize the need to incorporate multicultural programs into their school environment including classroom settings, school wide activities, and curriculum as it becomes more evident that the benefits of teaching cultural diversity within the school setting will positively influence our communities, and ultimately the entire nation’s future. The purpose of this paper is to share the pros and cons of multicultural education in the classroom. Additionally, I will express my views compared to those in the reading requirements for this assignment, as well as, new knowledge obtained through the research. Finally, I will share situations where I was challenged introducing a multicultural issue during a class.
Howard Gardner is the “John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine, and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero” (Gardner bio, Multiple Intelligences and Education, MI Theory, and Project Zero). As director of Project Zero, it provided and environment that Gardner could begin the exploration of human cognition (Multiple Intelligences and Education). Project Zero colleagues have been designing assessment and the use of multiple intelligences (MI) to realize more personalized curriculum, instruction, and teaching methods; and the quality of crossing traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought in education (Gardner bio). MI theories offer tools to educators that will allow more people to master learning in an effective way and to help people “achieve their potential at the workplace, in occupations, and in the service of the wider world” (Gardner papers).
Gardner believes that all people excel in at least one category of intelligence. However, he cautions teachers using the multiple intelligence approach in the classroom: “Do not label kids as ‘spatial, but not linguistic’ or, for that...
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence focuses more on how numerical expressions of human intelligence are not a full and accurate depiction of people’s abilities (McFarlane, 2011). He includes and describes eight intelligences that are based on skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures. The eight intelligences include visual-spatial (e.g. sailor navigating with no navigational systems), verbal-linguistic (e.g. poets, writers, orators, and communicators), bodily-kinesthetic (e.g. dancers, athletes, surgeons, craftspeople), logical-mathematical (e.g. mathematicians and logicians), interpersonal(e.g. salespeople, teachers, clinicians, politicians, and religious leaders), musical (e.g. musicians and
In closing, implementing only one theory of learning can be limiting to the success of students in a classroom setting. A more effective approach would be “draw from two or more theoretical perspectives… to better capture the complex nature of human thinking and learning” (Ormrod, 2012). According to Howard Gardner, there are multiple intelligences in human individuals that are based on biological and cultural elements (Brualdi, 1996). Since each of the intelligences work independently of each other, but also complement each other individuals learn, teachers should teach accordingly (Brualdi, 1996).
In 1983, Howard Gardner a Harvard professor proposed the theory that individual can have multiple ways of learning and processing information. The multiple intelligences consist of 9 different ways and these include: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, existential, musical, naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Every individual has a different amount of each intelligence but each intelligence is at a varying level. With the help of a multiple intelligences assessment, I found that my top three multiple intelligences are Intrapersonal, logical, and interpersonal. Within his research Gardner says that “Intrapersonal intelligence refers to people’s ability to recognize and assess those same characteristics
Manner, Barbara M. (2001). Learning Styles and Multiple intelligences in students. Journal of College Science Teaching. 30(6) p 390-93. retrieved April 7, 2003 from Eric/Ebsco database.
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.
Garcia, E. (2002). Student cultural diversity: Understanding and meeting the challenge (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.