Question

Mr. Hooper is a fifth-grade teacher at Mt. General Elementary School. He believes very strongly in Gardner's theory of intelligence and that students have various areas of relative strength and weakness. He has attended numerous workshops regarding the application of multiple intelligence theory in the classroom. Over the years, he has developed a classroom that he believes fosters development in all of Gardner's eight Frames of Mind. Mr. Hooper's classroom is bright and cheerful. On the walls hang motivational posters that he believes help children to think about who they are and what they want out of life. In addition, the walls are covered with student-produced art. The room has a conversation area, a naturalist area, and a reading area, as well as the main area where each table accommodates four students. The conversation and reading areas have beanbag chairs so students can be comfortable and are set apart by rolling bookcases. The naturalist area consists of a table filled with rocks, bird nests, shells, and other objects that Mr. Hooper's students have found. Mr. Hooper is also fortunate enough to have three computers in his room. Mr. Hooper believes that allowing students to work in each academic area within their areas of strength will enhance learning. Therefore, when studying the American Revolution, students whose strength is in linguistic intelligence engage in research and write about what they have found. Those whose strength is spatial intelligence create maps of the colonies and battles. Those whose strength is logical-mathematical reasoning compute distances between points and estimate the amount of time required for soldiers to travel. Students with high naturalistic intelligence discuss the various plants and animals likely to be found in different regions of the colonies and discuss whether colonial soldiers could have eaten them to ward off starvation. To ensure that bodily-kinesthetic needs are met, Mr. Hooper regularly has his students stand and either run in place or jump up and down. Interpersonal intelligence needs are met for all students through the use of cooperative learning groups. Intrapersonal intelligence needs are met through journaling. Mr. Hooper always has music playing while the students are working to help meet student's musical intelligence needs.

To what extent do you believe Mr. Hooper has appropriately implemented Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences? Why? What do you think the student's reactions to this classroom would be? Why? How do you think parents would respond? Why? How could you improve on Mr. Hooper's ideas? Explain.

Answer 1

Intelligence is 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. An individual’s intelligences develop and change; intelligence is not solely inherited and develops bases on interaction with our environment. Cultural, societal and individual factors shape how much you see of a particular intelligence. For example, a child whose house is filled with books, a computer and writing implements might have more developed writing abilities than a child without those environmental supports.

MI theory also claims that intelligence is learnable, you CAN get smarter. In other words, our profiles of intelligence change. The eight type of intelligences are as follows:

1. Linguistic Intelligence: “ Linguistic intelligence is the capacity to use language, your native language, and perhaps other languages, to express what’s on your mind and to understand other people.” It includes sensitivity towards subtle forms of language, making adequate sense of spoken or written communication, etc.
2. Logical mathematical Intelligence: “ People with highly developed logical – mathematical intelligence understand the underlying principles of some kind of a causal system, the way a scientist or a logician does; or can manipulate numbers, quantities, and operations, the way a mathematician does .” This tends to enable individuals to make sense of abstract relations in the environment. It also includes facility in the use of numbers and logical thinking. However, it is not a type of intelligence which is confined to the orientation with numbes
3. Musical intelligence: “Musical intelligence is the capacity to think in music, to be able to hear patterns, recognize them, remember them, and perhaps manipulate them.” It involves perceiving and understanding patterns of sound
4. Spatial intelligence: “ Spatial Intelligence refers to the ability to represent the spatial world internally in your mind – the way a sailor or airplane pilot navigates the large spatial world. Spatial intelligence can be used in the arts or in the sciences. If you are spatially intelligent and oriented towards the art, you are more likely to become a painter or a sculptor or an architect than, say, a musician or a writer.” It involves perceiving and transforming visual or 3 – D information in your mind and understanding casual or functional relationships through observations , use of spatial information to navigate through space , sensitive perception or observation of visual world and arts , production of visual information or works of art
5. Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence: “ Bodily–kinesthetic intelligence is the capacity to use your whole body or parts of your body – your hands, your fingers, your arms– to solve a problem, make something, or put on some kind of a production. The most evident examples are people in athletics or the performing arts, particularly dance or acting.” The key abilities of a person high on this domain of intelligence are the ability to use one’s body to create products or solve problems and the ability to control all or isolated parts of one’s body
6. Interpersonal Intelligence: “Interpersonal intelligence is understanding other people. It’s an ability we all need, but is at a premium if you are a teacher, clinician, salesperson, or politician. Anybody who deals with other people has to be skilled in the interpersonal sphere.” The key abilities include having sensitivity to the feeling, beliefs, moods and intentions of other people, involves the use of that understanding to work effectively with others and includes capitalizing on interpersonal skills in pursuit of one’s own ends
7. Intrapersonal intelligence: “ Intrapersonal intelligence refers to having an understanding of yourself, of knowing who you are, what you can do, what you want to do, how you react to things, which things to avoid, and which things to gravitate toward. We are drawn to people who have a good understanding of themselves because those people tend not to screw up.” The key abilities comprise of enabling individuals to form a mental model of themselves. It involves drawing on the model to make decisions about viable courses of action. It also includes the ability to distinguish one’s feelings, moods and intentions and to anticipate one’s reactions to future courses of action
8. Nturalistic Intelligence: “ Naturalist intelligence designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals ) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world ( clouds, rock configurations).This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef.” It enables individuals to form a mental model of themselves. It allows us to distinguish among, classify, and use features of the environment and it is also applied to general classifying and patterning abilities.

   It is postulated that all eight intelligences are universal, Intelligences are educable and individuals possess unique profiles of intelligences that develop and change over time. Each intelligence has sub?abilities and operates differently in different domains or contexts. Intelligences work in combination, not isolation. Mr. Hooper has appropriately implemented Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences because intelligences are something that can be refined and worked upon and are not stagnant in nature. Therefore, by using such a framework in a classroom set up and giving the opportunity for different modalities of exploration and experimentation, the children are likely to develop in these varied domains. The student's reactions to this classroom would be positive and would enable the classroom to function smoothly because students often look forward to learn along with having fun. Monotonous teaching-learning methodologies are likely to create boredom and inattention in children. However,  parents would respond in a not very encouraging manner initially since the framework is relatively new and has not been adopted in too many schools for learning. The ideas therefore need to structured well and the parents need to be taken in loop in order to have themm truly convinced about the work being initiated with the children.