Question

• What is meant by Multiple Intelligences?
• Do you feel the test was culturally fair? Explain.
• What applications do the theory of Multiple Intelligences have in educational settings?

Answer 1

Multiple Intelligences was first introduced by Dr. Howard Gardner and he told about 9 types of intelligence which tell about the modalities the specific parts that are present in our brain lobes and according to him, it is completely unfair to define the human intelligence on the basis of one generalized understanding of intelligence. Teachers should such methods so that the children can be hopeful that they also belong to one category of intelligence. They can have musical intelligence, natural intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, linguistic intelligence or body-kinesthetic intelligence, spatial and existential etc. People with kinesthetic intelligence mostly learn through movements so in educational fields it is important to provide proper tools to students so that they learn better. Some critics said his research as subjective and they told that he avoided to give the proper definition of intelligence and he named it only where some call it as capabilities but he rejected the idea that one single capability like logical-mathematical abilities can't define a person whether he/she is intelligent or not.

However, the MI tests are not culturally fair because one culture consists of several people and though the culture people possess contradictory thoughts but they have different opinions for similar culture and that cant be transferred to different places like what is fair in intelligence tests and people who are less educated may not have the understanding to participate in the test when it comes to any language speaking ability then that's not suitable for a cultural level. The verbal or non-verbal testing process also matters. The test is not discerning but the people elucidating the test scores.

It has mostly hold a greater significance in the world of education and for Gardner it encourages every student to identify their own intelligence and to on those aspects of learning where they are good at and he also said that he feels uneasy seeing the way his methods have been used in schools, he said use it in effective ways and provide materials and don't make the theory look confusing to them. He broke the stereotypes of learning.