Contemporary theories of human intelligence have challenged traditional

notions of how intelligence is defined, assess and valued. Two of the most
commonly known contemporary theories of intelligence are Stenbergs
Triarchic

Theory

of

intelligence

and

Garners

theory

of

Multiple

Intelligence. These theories have had a significant impact on the modern

education system as they explain how students learn, influence the way
teachers teach and how learning is assessed. The concept of intelligence
is no longer based on logical and linguistic skills alone, it has developed to
include a students cultural, social and individual interests. Students who
have strengths and abilities is areas other than these traditionally
recognised intellectual abilities, are now having their different strengths
recognised and encouraged within the classroom. Contemporary theories
of intelligence have highlighted the need for teachers to differentiate
within their classrooms in order to create inclusive learning programs that
provide students with opportunities to use their learning strengths. The
Australian National Teaching Standards also reflect the impact these
theories have had on education.

Traditional theories of intelligence have very limited views on what skills

and abilities can be defined as intelligence, for example the theory of
Charles Spearman, whose theory states that there is a general factor of
intelligence, which he called g (Vialle, Lysaght, Verenikina 2014, p.107)
(Visser, Ashton,Vernon 2006, p. 487). Spearman theorized that this
general ability, or g, underpinned all intellectual functioning within
humans (Vialle, Lysaght, Verenikina 2014, p.107) and could be pinpointed
down to a specific number on an Intelligence Questionnaire. This is a
narrow idea of what constitutes intelligence and was widely accepted until
contemporary comparative ideas of intelligence, those of Garner and
Sternberg, were introduced (Visser, Ashton,Vernon 2006, p.487) (Ekincie,
2014, p.623). Although the theories of Garner and Sternberg are very
different, they both have much broader concepts of intelligence and
recognise that people are able to excel in some areas and not others.
1

They place equal importance on the different intelligences in their theories

and these are more inclusive of non-western cultures. Garner and
Sternbergs theories have impacted the way educators think about
differentiation, has encouraged teachers to expand their views and
repertoire of teaching and assessing techniques and create a useful
framework that teachers can use to incorporate the use of differentiated
teaching strategies in the classroom (Armstrong, 2009, p.230; Woolfolk &
Margetts,

2010,

p.137;

Crim,

Kennedy,

Thornton,

2013,

p.72).

Differentiation meets the needs of students as it creates educational

opportunities for students that validate the unique experiences, interests,
and cultures of all students (Crim, Kennedy, Thornton, 2013, p.72). As
there are multiple ways of knowing, there are also multiple ways for
students to demonstrate learning. They are given the opportunity to
demonstrate learning in a way or ways that showcase their personal
strengths, students may be more likely to engage with course content and
be successful in academic contexts (Crim, Kennedy, Thornton, 2013,
p.70).

Garner has described intelligence to be a biopsychological potential that

could be influenced by experience, culture, and motivational factors
(Woolfolk

&

Margetts,

2010,

p.136).

Garners

theory

of

Multiple

Intelligence identifies eight separate intelligences; linguistic, musical,

spatial, logical, kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist.
Though Garner now suggests that Existential intelligence exists, and that
there are links between the different intelligences (Woolfolk & Margetts,
2010, p.136) (Visser, Ashton,Vernon 2006, p.487). Garner redefines
intelligence to be the ability to solve problems and to fashion products
that are culturally valued. (Visser, Ashton,Vernon 2006, p.487).

This

means that intelligence is a cultural concept depending on the traits that

are perceived to be of higher value within a community or culture.
Therefore to measure a persons intelligence it is important to recognise
what type of intelligences are valued in their culture and not just what is
2

valued through paper and pencil testing. Gardners theory has contributed
to broadening the conceptions of intelligence beyond a concern with the
narrowly academic and identifies the need for a more diverse curriculum
and pedagogy that will enhance the recognition of individual differences
(Blomberg, 2009, p.165).

The second well known intelligence theory is Sternbergs Triarchic Theory

of Intelligence which details three different, but interrelated, aspects of
intellect:

analytic

intelligence,

creative

intelligence,

and

practical

intelligence (Sternberg, 1984, p.269). The essence of Sternbergs theory is

that successful intelligence is the use of an integrated set of abilities
needed to attain success in life, however an individual defines it, within
his or her sociocultural context. Thus, there is no one definition of
intelligence (Sternberg, 2004, 276). People are successfully intelligent by
virtue of recognizing their strengths and making the most of them at the
same time they recognize their weaknesses and find ways to correct or
compensate for them. Both are important. (Sternberg, 2004, p.276). He
broadened the idea of intelligence to exist in a context as consisting of
purposive

adaptation

to,

shaping

of,

and

selection

of

real-world

environments relevant to one's life (Sternberg, 1984, p.271). In the world

beyond school we are not interested in who is more intelligent, comparing
one person against another, therefore we should not be concerned with
these types of comparisons at school (Vialle, Lysaght & Verenikina, 2014,
p.118). Sternberg believed that if intelligence, and in turn education, are
to be meaningful to the individual the vehicles by which one might wish
to measure intelligence will probably need to differ across sociocultural
groups, and possibly even within such groups (Sternbery, 1984, p.270).
Sterbergs theory has highlighted the need for learning to be meaningful
to individuals and be able to relate their situations that they would
encounter in life outside of school.

Theories such as Garners and Sternbergs are reflected in the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers. Standard 1, know students and how
they learn, highlights the importance of teachers knowledge and ability to
recognise and teach to each students strengths and abilities, including
intellectual abilities. Standard 1.1 states that teachers are required to
demonstrate

knowledge

of

students

intellectual

development

and

characteristics and how these may impact on student learning (Australian

Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), 2011). Teachers are
required to develop teaching strategies to suit the individual intellectual
needs of students in order to enable students to learn effectively.
Standard 1.2 requires teachers to develop and use teaching strategies
that are responsive to the learning strengths of students from diverse
linguistic, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds (AITSL,
2011). This directly links to the modern theories of intelligence and the
importance they place on an individuals personal background and beliefs
as to how intelligence should be defined for them. Standard 1.5 mandates
that teachers are to differentiate their teaching strategies to meet the
needs of their students across a full range of abilities.

(AITSL, 2011).

There are three main ideas presented here that stem from contemporary
theories of intelligence, that teaching needs to be differentiated to suit the
learning

needs

of

students,

that

education

should

recognise

the

importance of a students social, economic, religious and cultural

background, and that teachers need to have an understanding of how
intelligence can be displayed by students in different formats.
These more inclusive theories of intelligence have changed the way we
think about the intellectual abilities of people with developmental
disorders. Students who are on the autism spectrum, have attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia or learning disorders generally have
a normal IQ but would struggle to demonstrate their intelligence in
conventional testing (Takahashi, 2013, p.606). These students typically
show uneven intelligence profile, excelling in some areas of intelligence
while struggling in other areas. (Takahashi, 2013; Armstrong, 2006,
4

p.230). Such as having the ability to mentally calculate multidigit

numbers, and yet have poor peer relationships or low language function.
For example, a student with Dyslexia will show difficulty in discriminating
sounds in language, matching sounds to letter, combining letters to form
words,

and

recalling

word

images.

In

contrast,

for

listening

comprehension, children with dyslexia perform as well as typically

developing children (Armstrong, 2006, p.230). If a teacher is aware that a
student with Dyslexia will have a narrow range of abilities within the
verbal- linguistic intelligence domain, yet a normal range for logicalmathematical intelligence, then they are able to differentiate their
teaching and assessment tasks to meet these individual needs. For
example, if completing a comprehension activity, the questions could be
read to the student and instead of requiring the student to write down
their answers the teacher could have the student verbally explain their
answer directly to the teacher. Through the use of multiple intelligence
theories educators are able to recognise the different abilities and
strengths that students may have increases the opportunity for them to
experience success in the classroom.

Contemporary theories of intelligence have influenced the way reading

and writing is taught in educational settings such as primary schools.
Theories of multiple intelligence work well with literacy education as
learning to read and write requires students to use more than one
intelligence (Temiz & Kiraz, 2007, p.123). Depending on where their
strengths or weaknesses lay, students will have tendencies to find
different teaching and learning strategies more effective than others.
Student who are more visual learners would benefit from visual displays of
literacy; a teacher modelling an activity to the class, watching the teacher
read a book, using picture books or videos to support reading activities.
Auditory learners would benefit from listening to books being read aloud,
saying their spelling words out loud, singing chants, the teacher thinking
out loud while modelling new reading strategies. Tactile and kinaesthetic
5

learners would benefit more reading and writing activities that have a
hands on approach that requires them to be actively involved; magnetic
letters, stamping spelling words, using their finger to trace words as they
read, moulding letters out of plasticine. By creating literacy programs that
incorporate many different ways of teaching and learning students are
more likely to experience a particular strategy that works well for their
intelligence strengths. An example of this is provided by Moran, Kornhaber
and Garner (2006) where a small group of early primary students were
learning about the water cycle. These students produced a mural
depicting a rainy street scene. From the mural alone, their understanding
of the concept of the water cycle through the use of a mural was not clear.
When asked questions about the mural and what it represented, the
students were able to explain verbally how students' understanding
came through linguistically, however, when they presented in class how
the water from the street would evaporate, condense into clouds, and
again produce rain (Moran, Kornhaber & Garner, 2006, p.26).

There have been many research studies completed to investigate how

contemporary theories of intelligence impact on literacy education in
schools. Norela and Necoi (2011) conducted a longitudinal study in
primary schools in Romania. Their study looked at the impact of
differentiated instruction in the primary classroom based on multiple
intelligence perspectives. They found a 15% increase in students wanting
to come to school to participate in learning activities, a significant
improvements of the educational success and learning motivation (Norel,
& Necoi, 2011, p.107). This increase was due to the collaborative nature of
learning activities and the fact that the activities were based on activities
related to students interests and strengths (Norel, & Necoi, 2011, p.107).
Another study by Brand (2006) examined how Garners theory could be
used to create reading interventions for at risk students. Here multiple
intelligence perspectives were used to create a guide for teachers to
create programs where the content and activities in individualized,
stimulating, and custom-tailored ways are encouraging the use of different
6

intelligences

to

initiate

multiple

learning

and

meaning

making

opportunities (Brand, 2006, p.134). In this study multiple intelligence

perspectives were incorporated in different areas; storytelling and
chanting to stimulate musical and linguistic intelligence, felt board and
draw talk to incorporate visual-spatial, mathematical, and naturalistic
intelligences, pantomime and character imagery for bodily/kinesthetic and
naturalistic intelligences; group role play for intrapersonal, interpersonal,
and musical intelligences, and puppetry to promote visual-spatial and
bodily-kinesthetic intelligences (Brand, 2006, p.134). This study showed
that students increased their emergent literacy skills through the use of
activities based on multiple intelligent perspectives. This result is
supported by other studies that have shown that when students are
provided with opportunities to learn using all domains of their intelligence
students are more satisfied and engaged with their learning activities and
are more likely to learn effectively (Temiz, Kiraz, 2007, p.123; Sternberg,
2004, p.279).

Contemporary theories of human intelligence have impacted on the

modern education system and what we now consider to be good teaching
practices. Two of the most commonly known contemporary theories of
intelligence are Stenbergs Triarchic Theory of Intelligence and Garners
theory of Multiple Intelligence. These theories have encouraged educators
to redefine what they classify as being intelligent. Modern ideas of
intelligence now take into consideration a students cultural, social and
individual

interests.

To

accommodate

for

this

teachers

are

now

differentiating their teaching to meet the intellectual needs of their

students. As seen in the examples provided, these changes are resulting
in positive education outcomes for students.

REFERENCES
Armstrong, T. (2009), Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, (3rd Edition).
Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD),
Virginia, USA
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) 2011,
Australian Professional Standards for Teaching, Ministerial Council for
Education, Early Childhood
Development and Youth Affairs, Victoria
Blomberg, D (2009), Multiple intelligences, judgement, and realization of
value, Ethics and Education, Vol. 4, No. 2, October 2009, 163175
Brand, S. (2006) Facilitating Emergent Literacy Skills: A Literature-Based,
Multiple Intelligence Approach, Journal of Research in Childhood
Education, 21:2, pp133-148
Crim, C., Kennedy, K & Thornton, J. (2013), Differentiating for Multiple
Intelligences; A Study of Students' Understandings through the Use of
Aesthetic Representations, Issues in Teacher Education, Vol.22 No.2,
p.69-91
Ekinci, B (2014) The relationships among Sternbergs triarchic abilities,
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Behaviour and Personality, 42(4), 625-634
Moran, S., M., Kornhaber & Garner, H. (2006), Orchestrating Multiple
Intelligence, Educational Ledership, September, pp22-27
Norel, M. & Necoi, D (2011), Valorisation of students individual potential
using the Multiple Intelligence theory. Examples of good practice,
Journal of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Vol. I (63), pp102 109
Sternberg, R. & Grigorenko, E. (2004) Successful Intelligence in the
Classroom, Theory Into Practice, 43:4, 274-280,
Sternberg, R. (1984) Towards a triarchic theory of human intelligence,
The Behavioural and Brain Sciences, Vol.7, 269-315
Takahashi, J (2013) Multiple Intelligence Theory Can Help Promote
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Developmental Disorders: Historical Reviews of Intelligence Theory,
Measurement Methods, and Suggestions for Inclusive Education,
Creative Education, Vol.4, No.9, pp605-610

Temiz, N. & Kiraz, E. (2007) The implications of multiple intelligences

theories on literacy education at first grade, Eurasian Journal of
Educational Research, Vol.27, pp111-126
Vialle, W., Lysaght, P. & Verenikina, I. (2014) Psychology for Educators,
Cengage Learning, Australia
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