Book Review

Name of the Book:

Intelligence Reframed Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century Howard Gardner Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education,

Author:

Year of Publication: Publisher: ISBN: Price:

Harvard Graduate School of Education. 1999 Basic Books 0-465-02611-7 US $ 17.00

Summary: Intelligence reframed Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, is an absorbing book dealing with the theory Multiple Intelligences which has revolutionized the concept of Intelligence. The book is 285 pages long and is divided into 12 Chapters. Chapter 1, Intelligence and Individuality, deals with historical references to what has been valued in a human being in different cultures. While the ancient Greeks valued Physical agility and Virtuousness, Romans traditionally valued Courage and the Chinese admired Poetry and Music. In the modern Western societies, an Intelligent person is admired most. So, how does the society identify an intelligent person? In Chapter 2, History of psychometric testing, a historical account is provided of how since Francis Galton tried to establish an anthropometric laboratory for getting evidence of intellectual differences between people in the late 19th century, a number of psychologists and psychometricians have used different methods to test verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, logic and ability to solve day to day problems. However, the three key questions about intelligence according to the author are -1) Is Intelligence singular or are there various independent faculties? 2) Is it inherited? and 3) Are the tests biased? Chapter 3 deals with the Development of the theory of multiple intelligences. A new definition of intelligence as A biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture is proposed. Evidence from a number of different approaches and studies including Neurobiological studies, Logical studies, Developmental Psychology, Experimental Psychology and Psychometric studies is presented showing the existence of at least seven separate intelligences which are the Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Bodilykinesthetic, Spatial, Inter-personal and Intrapersonal. The eight Criteria applied for calling each an intelligence include a) Potential for Isolation b) Evolutionary evidence c) Having an identifiable core or set of operations d) Susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system e)

Developmental history with definable end-state performances f) Existence of idiots, prodigies and autistic people g) Experimental Psychology evidence and h) Psychometric evidence. Chapter 4 goes on to discuss the possibility of existence of additional intelligences, some of which could be Naturalist, Spiritual or Existential. While Naturalistic and Existential score well against the criteria, Spiritual is not an intelligence according to the criteria. The existence of a Moral intelligence is dismissed in Chapter 5. Moral behaviour requires a range of human intelligences but cannot itself be classified as one, since intelligences are morally neutral. Chapter 6 deals with the common Myths and Realities regarding assessment of multiple intelligences, confusion of learning styles with multiple intelligences and compatibility of multiple intelligences with psychometric testing. Chapter 7 is in a questionanswer format where some of the commonly asked questions on multiple intelligences are answered. Is MI a theory and does brain research support the theory? MI is a theory based on certain criteria and neurological evidence supports this theory. It is also compatible with a number of existing theories like the Biocultural and the Multifactorial Inheritance theories. Need the intelligences be completely separate or they linked? They need not be separate and may be linked especially in some cultural settings. Example is provided showing that Music and Mathematical Intelligence are found linked in certain ethnic groups where both are valued. Concepts of Creativity and Intelligence are discussed and compared in Chapter 8, using examples of creative personalities. Creativity and intelligence both involve solving problems and creating products, however, creativity includes the additional category of asking new questions. Creative people have at least two intelligences, one of which is unusual for that domain. Examples discussed are Einstein, who had an extraordinary spatial intelligence along with logical-mathematical and Mahatma Gandhi who had extraordinary inter-personal as well as linguistic-verbal intelligence.

Multiple Intelligences and their applications in schools are discussed in Chapter 9. There have been a number of schools who have claimed to adopt MI theory but in reality carry out inventories on each child but do not use the information for learning/teaching. MI should be used as a tool and not as an end. Faculty and parents should be aware of the practices and the culture should encourage diverse learners. Steps to establish an MI environment are also listed which include learning more about the MI theory, study groups to discuss needs of that particular school, planning and launching activities growing out of the MI theory. MI theory stimulates teachers and students to be imaginative in selecting curricula, deciding how it is to be taught and determining how student knowledge is to be demonstrated. In Chapter 10, multiple approaches to understanding and the real purpose of education is discussed. The importance of Outcome and Application or Performance of understanding is stressed which is basically activation of understanding when needed. Focused approaches through Multiple Intelligence include use of key Entry points and instructional analogies. Diverse assessment methods are also needed for assessing varied performances or outcomes. Chapter 11 goes on to discuss Multiple Intelligences in the wider world and how the theory has had a major impact on schools, museums and in the world of business. At the workplace too, different sectors use different intelligences and people with particular intelligences should be selected. While hiring, it is important to not judge future employees in terms of a single set of dimensions. The book ends by asking the question Who owns Intelligence? in Chapter 12. Earlier, it used to be Psychometricians who used to decide Intelligence but today Brain scientists, Geneticists, Computer Programmers and Educators all have a say since it is no longer limited to linguistic and logical capacities and testing needs to take other capacities into account. The book concludes by saying that the 21st century is the Century of the brain and mind and predicts that intelligence will be studied at many levels including the genetic and cellular levels.

Critique: The title reads Intelligence Reframed indicating that it is a sequel (although it is not mentioned anywhere as a sequel except in the acknowledgements) to the book Frames of mind where Prof. Gardner had, in 1983, described for the first time the theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) listing out the seven intelligences. The main purpose of the book appears to be to update the reader with the newer information that has come to the fore in the 16 years since Frames of Mind was written. However, even if a person has not read the Frames of mind, it is possible to understand the content of this book since the book starts with a historical account of intelligence and psychometric testing, goes on to give evidence for the existence of Multiple Intelligences including the newer ones and discusses the applications of the MI theory. The definition of Intelligence as a Biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture gives us a good model to account for the role of culture and environment on the intelligence of a person. The theory of MI also helps us understand why a number of candidates who do not perform well in the traditional systems of testing go on to become huge successes in their chosen field. The book is organized well and the reader is taken smoothly from the history of the study of Intelligence to the existence of Multiple Intelligences. Apart from the seven intelligences proposed earlier, the possibility of more Intelligences existing is also discussed and the common myths about Multiple Intelligences dispelled. Some frequently asked questions regarding Multiple Intelligences are also answered. The evidence provided for Multiple Intelligences is from different disciplines including Neurosciences, Developmental psychology, Education and is very convincing. The possibility of existence of four new intelligences, the Naturalist, Existential, Spiritual and Moral is discussed. Naturalistic and Existential are accepted as Intelligences while the existence of Spiritual and Moral are

rejected based on the criteria proposed. However, the book does not discuss how Existential Intelligence is different from the Intrapersonal. One of the chapters that I found very interesting was The Intelligence of Creators and Leaders where Creativity and Intelligence were compared and the relationship between them drawn using examples of Creative Personalities. The importance of Environment in bringing out Creativity in a person is very thought-provoking. The chapter on Multiple Intelligences in schools stimulates us to be more varied and imaginative while selecting curricula, deciding how it is to be taught, and equally important, how it is to be demonstrated. Good practical tips for using the MI theory are provided in the chapter on Multiple Approaches to Understanding including the use of Entry Points and Analogies. It is emphasized that MI based approaches are not random and that it is possible to examine each topic in detail and decide which Intelligence and approach is likely to capture the important aspects of a topic and reach a significant number of students. The difficulty in providing individualized curricula for different students and the usefulness of software, though discussed, is not in sufficient detail. The full form of the abbreviation CODA was not provided anywhere in the book and I had to look it up on the internet! The most interesting part of the book is the one on Multiple Intelligences in the wider world where use of Multiple Intelligences in making museums more interesting and the role of MI in different work sectors including Business is discussed. On the whole, it is a very interesting book to read with concepts very relevant to teachers. However, be warned, the entire book is just text and has no tables, diagrams, graphs or images! The book has a very useful 50 page appendix on MI related articles by Howard Gardner and others (including some critics of the MI theory) and contacts addresses of people applying the MI theory in practice.

Applicability of the book to my own teaching activities:

Evidence that human beings possess a wide range of capacities and potentials, i.e. Multiple Intelligences, reinforces what we as teachers know, that all students are not the same in their ways of processing information. Each student has his/her own unique blend of intelligences and the challenge of teaching is to put the uniqueness to good use. Students ability to deal with novel information, adapt to diverse educational content and the reasoning process to arrive at a solution to a problem, can be very different. Intelligence can also be very different across cultures and this becomes very important in a medical school like ours where students come from different parts of the world and from very diverse cultures. Our ways of learning and teaching medicine, stresses a lot on Linguistic and Logical intelligence whereas in actual clinical practice especially in certain fields like Surgery, the Bodily and Spatial intelligence can be very important and in Psychiatry, the Inter-personal intelligence can become crucial. I find that we already incorporate MI practices into our curriculum, especially in the new integrated curriculum, by using a variety of learning/teaching methods. Small group sessions where the tutor gets to understand how a particular student learns, Case based/ Problem based learning which provides good entry points, Clinical skills laboratory to target the Bodily and kinesthetic intelligence of students and interaction with real/simulated patients to identify Inter-personal intelligence are used to reach important concepts across to more students. However, it is equally important to use a variety of assessment methods to assess the performance of students. Project work, where the students can choose different ways of learning/demonstrating knowledge and having Electives in the curriculum (which we do not have yet except in the form of the summer training program) can be included to increase interest, understanding and participation by students with differing intelligences.