MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES APPLIED TO PEDAGOGY

Sonia Delgado de Valencia

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 3

Mayo de 2003

   Since the moment Gardner identified other intelligences different from the linguistic and mathematical ones, much has been said and written about this subject all around the world. The author of this new theory first thought in Psychology rather than Pedagogy for applying it. However, it has been within this last discipline that his theory has been used with more emphasis, and it has been proposed as an excellent tool for working in the classroom.

   Gardner (1999) says that all human beings posses the eight intelligences and that our duty as teachers and is to promote in the learners the use of all of them to enhance the possibilities of both educators and learners to acquire knowledge relevant for their own lives. For an intelligence to be considered as such it has to fulfill eight requirements, otherwise it would be only a skill or a talent but not an intelligence:

1. It can be potentially isolated in the brain due to brain damage. For example, if a person suffers an accident that involves the Broca region, he or she may have limitations in language but not in math, or in dancing or even in singing.

2. There can be individuals that show superior skills in one intelligence but not in other ones. That is the case of Raymond in Rain Man,

who could calculate accurately but could not have good relationships with other people.

3. It can be identified culturally and with individuals that perform it as a final state. It means that there are human beings that perform in this intelligence, as Mozart for the musical or Mutiz for the naturalistic.

4. It has to be present in the evolution of the species with more or less emphasis according to the needs of the different cultures. For example, the spatial intelligence can be observed when the bees are able to find flowers far away from their territory and communicate their findings to the group by means of a dance.

5. Psychometric discoveries complementary of other measures like IQ (intelligence quotient) or Cooopersmith for measuring self-esteem.

6. Complementary Psychological tasks. Such is the case when the individuals are very keen on a specific skill, as for example reading, but are not able to transfer this skill to another field. Every person can demonstrate different competence levels in all the eight intelligences.

7. A set of nuclear identifiable operations. Each intelligence has a set of nuclear items in charge of prompting the different natural activities corresponding to each one. For example, in the musical intelligence its components would include the ability to separate different rhythmical structures.

8. Possibility of encoding it in a system of symbols. According to Gardner, one of the best indicators of human behaviour is the capacity we have to use symbols. The word "cat" is not a cat but the symbolic representation of the animal that permits me to recall its image.

   Gardner insists that there are some important elements within the Multiple Intelligences Theory that have to be taken into account:

1. All human beings have the eight intelligences.

2. Most of the people can develop each one of the intelligences until an appropriate level of aptitude.

3. The different intelligences work interwoven in a complex way.

4. There are different ways of being intelligent within each category.

The eight intelligences we have been talking about so far are:

Language Intelligence

The person with this intelligence remembers poems and short readings easily, enjoys telling stories and work with puzzles and tongue twisters. They express themselves properly and can follow the rhythm of various languages. As representative of this intelligence we can mention Gabriel García Marquez.

Logical- mathematical Intelligence

Going from the concrete to the abstract is easy for a person with this intelligence, since thinking in a conceptual mode is her / his natural way.

Spatial-Visual Intelligence

The person with this intelligence will use charts, maps, drawings, designs and colouring for expressing himself or herself in a better way. A good example of a person with this intelligence would be Christopher Columbus, and in general all fishermen, and architects as well.

Musical Intelligence

Mozart used to remember long melodies with ease and modified them on purpose according to his mood, surprising every body with his creativity. A person with this intelligence can differentiate sequential patterns in sounds, and expresses his/her feelings through songs and by playing musical instruments.

Kinestetic intelligence

The person can be easily identified because he or she can move smoothly and beautifully. They can be great dancers and sport-people, since they have good motor abilities that they demonstrate with physical dexterity.

Interpersonal intelligence

The person with this intelligence can understand and interpret the feelings of the people around him or her. They are popular and have many friends and they enjoy to play in teams and solve problems in group.

Intrapersonal intelligence

Recognising strong and weak areas of our personality is not an easy task. However, for the person with this intelligence to be reflective and intuitive make him and her feel comfortable and shows preference for being alone than in large groups.

Naturalistic intelligence

The person prefers to walk along the river than being inside a room. Nature and himself establish a pantheistic continuos. This person will be able to distinguish among the different trees and flowers of the environment. Darwin, Mutiz, Sabio Caldas, ecologists of our times as well, are people that have this intelligence more developed than any other one.

   It is important to recall that no intelligence exists by itself. In general terms all the intelligences exist and work at the same time, with more or less emphasis depending upon the natural abilities of every one. However, we can help other people nearby, our students, children, sons and daughters, among others, to recognise which intelligences they have more developed in a natural way. It might be interesting to propose a life project to bring the other intelligences to a good standard that, surely, will awake in ourselves a lot of potentials that had been slept for years in our minds.

   How can we organise a syllabus based on M.I.? First of all taking into account that every learner has a different route to approach knowledge and that is the best way for us to understand what intelligence he/she has more developed .Observe how your learners misbehave and you will discover what kind of intelligence they have. In the classroom it is necessary to introduce readings, formulas, drawings, music, kinesthetic activities, walks and visits outside the room, and promote group work and good relationships among the students. Little by little they will develop their M.I. up to a point where all of them have a standard level that will make them better citizens of the world.

Gardner (1999). Inteligencias Reformuladas, Ed. Paidos, Madrid.