Multiple Intelligences:

Let ‘em show you how they’re smart!

Diana Beasley
April 17, 2007
East Carolina University
 Some facts about me:

Name 3 things you Name something you

like to do in nature. recently read.
Write the name of a List 3 words that
favorite song you like express your feelings
to sing. about math.
Write down a physical Draw your bedroom as
exercise you are able it looks right now.
and willing to do. Describe someone you
When alone, I like to.. really admire.
BELIEFS:
Students are one-of-a kind individuals with unique
strengths, weaknesses, aptitudes, interests, and
capabilities.
Well educated students acquire a background in
academics, arts, and in critical and creative
thinking.
By knowing who they are and what they can do,
students love of learning, excitement about life,
and self-confidence becomes a bedrock for
lifelong growth and success.
What is INTELLIGENCE?
Webster’s defines it
as:
The power of knowing
The ability to understand
and/or deal with new
situations
The skilled use of reason
1916 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Mental Age (MA)
Chronological Age
(CA)
MA/CA X 100 = IQ
Average is 100
Tests mostly Verbal
and Math skills, some
Visual/Spatial
 How Intelligences Develop:

Intelligence

Biological Personal Life Cultural/Historic

Endowment History Background
“nature” “nurture” “time/place”
Howard Gardner (1943- )
Graduated from Boston School of Medicine in Neurology.
Harvard Graduate School professor and psychologist in
cognition and education.
He defines intelligence as: “an ability to solve problems or
fashion products that are valued in one or more cultures.”
The question is not “How smart am I?” but rather “How
am I smart?”
It is how we learn, process, and understand information.
Theory of Multiple Intelligences consists of 8 types of
intelligence.
Dr. Howard Gardner, Harvard
Frames of Mind, 1983
Each person is a unique Rarely do they work
blend of dynamic alone, rather intelligences
intelligences which grow, are combined in our
expand and develop activities. One can
throughout life. enhance another.
Intelligence is not Teaching students about
singular. Multiple their intelligence
intelligences can be strengths helps them be
identified and described. self-advocates in their
learning.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Verbal/Linguistic Bodily/Kinesthetic
Logical/Mathematical Interpersonal
Visual/Spatial Intrapersonal
Musical/Rhythmic Naturalist
 Name of Intelligence
(Nickname and Brief description)
Famous people who
show high levels of
this intelligence.

Characteristics of the Best teaching Best assessment

student with high level practices. How can strategies. How can
of this intelligence material be presented? students show mastery?
Verbal/Linguistic
The ability to read,
write, and
communicate with
words
The ability to use
language to express
one’s thoughts and to
understand other
people orally or in
writing
Logical/Mathematical
The ability to reason
and calculate
Enables individuals to
use and appreciate
abstract relations
The ability to
manipulate numbers,
quantities,operations,
etc.
Visual/Spatial
The ability to think in
pictures and visualize
future results
The ability to imagine
things in your mind’s
eye
The ability to perceive
spatial information
Musical/Rhythmic
The ability to create,
communicate, and
understand meanings
made out of sound
The ability to compose
music, to sing, and to
keep rhythm
The ability to hear
music, tones, and
larger musical patterns
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Allows individuals to
use all or part of one’s
body to create
products, solve
problems, or present
ideas and emotions
Using the body in
highly differentiated
ways for expressive,
recreational, or goal
directed purposes
Interpersonal
Enables individuals to
recognize and make
distinctions among
others’ feelings and
intentions
The ability to work
effectively with others
and display empathy
Intrapersonal
The ability to
distinguish among an
individual’s own
feelings, to accurate
mental models of
themselves, and use
them to make
decisions about life
The capacity to know
one’s self
Naturalist
Allows one to
distinguish among,
classify, and use
features of the
environment
The ability to
discriminate among
living things and to
see patterns in the
natural world
Qualities of an Effective Teacher
Positive Compassionate
Communicative Flexible
Dependable Perceptive
Personable Ethical
Organized Knowledgeable
Committed Creative
Motivational Patient
Resourceful Sense of Humor
Questions to Ponder:

What does it mean to be a multiple intelligences teacher?

How can I do a better job of teaching to diverse
intelligences?
What are my strongest /weakest intelligences?
What are my goals? Will this benefit my students?
QUALITY EDUCATION
Rigor

Relevance Relationships
Sources of Information:
http://www.ga.unc.edu/NCTA/NCTA/TAmultin
t.htm
http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/gardner.shtml
NC Teacher Academy, 2003. Multiple
Intelligences Participant Manual.
Silver, Harvey F., 2000. So Each May Learn,
ASCD.