Multiple intelligences

The academic system focuses on growing and assessing intelligence. However, Spearman’s theory of general intelligence (measured by IQ) limits the understanding of different intelligences possessed by individuals.

The theory of multiple intelligences (MI), developed by psychologist Howard Gardner in the late 1970s and early 1980s, posits that individuals possess eight or more relatively autonomous intelligences. Individuals draw on these intelligences, individually and corporately, to create products and solve problems that are relevant to the societies in which they live.

The eight identified intelligences include:

Linguistic: An ability to analyze information and create products involving oral and written language such as speeches, books, and memos
Logical-Mathematical: An ability to develop equations and proofs, make calculations, and solve abstract problems.
Spatial: An ability to recognize and manipulate large-scale and fine-grained spatial images.
Musical: An ability to produce, remember and make meaning of different patterns of sound.
Naturalist: An ability to identify and distinguish among different types of plants, animals, and weather formations that are found in the natural world.
Bodily-Kinesthetic: An ability to use one’s own body to create products or solve problems
Interpersonal: An ability to recognize and understand other people’s moods, desires, motivations, and intentions
Intrapersonal: An ability to recognize and understand his or her moods, desires, motivations, and intentions

According to Gardner’s analysis, only two intelligences—linguistic and logical-mathematical—have been valued and tested for in modern secular schools; it is useful to think of that language-logic combination as “academic” or “scholarly intelligence”.

This conception of intelligence as multiple rather than singular forms the primary distinction between MI theory and the conception of intelligence that dominates Western psychological theory and much of common discourse. MI theory conceives of intelligence as a combination of heritable potentials and skills that can be developed in diverse ways through relevant experiences (Gardner, 1983).

This understanding of different intelligences will help design differentiated instruction. The actual testing of these intelligences and utilizing them to help effective learning will enhance the narrow view of differentiated learning with a single (general) intelligence.

References:

Davis, Katie and Christodoulou, Joanna and Seider, Scott and Gardner, Howard Earl, The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (2011). Davis, K., Christodoulou, J., Seider, S., & Gardner, H. (2011). The theory of multiple intelligences. In R.J. Sternberg & S.B. Kaufman (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 485-503). Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2982593

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences