Multiple Intelligence in the Classroom

“An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings.” –Howard Gardner, FRAMES OF MIND (1983)

The theory of multiple intelligences states that there are nine different types of intelligences and each person may be stronger in some areas and weaker in others.  This could be why one student may learn best by hearing the information, another student my learn best by seeing/reading the information, and another student may learn the information best by actually doing a hands on activity of what they are learning.  So how can it be fair to have standardized tests if we are learn better in different situations?  To me it doesn’t really make sense.   I think revamping the testing criteria will be very complicated to do and also very expensive, but I think that our school systems need to start accounting for these various ways of learning.

Here is a link to a website that brings these different learning concepts to life in the classroom: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/  . The website also gives a short quiz to help you determine where your strengths and weaknesses are in the nine intelligence areas.  If teachers start off the school year giving their students this sort quiz, they could easily figure out how each student learns best and could plan their lessons accordingly.