Question

Multiple intelligences and mind for the future in child's education

Answer 1

What are multiple intelligences?

Over the past few decades, research in the field of learning has led to the discovery of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In short, this theory states that each person has different ways of learning and different intelligences they use in their daily lives.

While some can learn very well in a linguistically-based environment (reading and writing), others are better taught through mathematical-logic based learning. Still others benefit most from body-kinesthetic intelligence (learning by doing with the hands).

Each person possesses each intelligence to an extent, but there is always a primary, or more dominant, intelligence.

The work on multiple intelligences began in the early 1980s with Howard Gardner, and the research continues.

HOWARD GARDNER'S THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE

Howard Gardner of Harvard University originally identified seven distinct intelligences. According to Gardner, this theory, which emerged from cognitive research, "documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways."

In greater detail, the theory proposes that "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals and an understanding of ourselves. Where individuals differ is in the strength of these intelligences and the ways in which such intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems and progress in various domains."

THE 9 MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Gardner claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. These multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened or ignored and weakened. His research from 1991 identified seven intelligences; in the intervening time, he has come to believe there are a total of nine intelligences:

• Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence: Well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words.
• Mathematical-Logical Intelligence: The ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and the capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns.
• Musical Intelligence: The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timbre.
• Visual-Spatial Intelligence: The capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: The ability to control one's body movements and to handle objects skillfully.
• Interpersonal Intelligence: The capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others.
• Intrapersonal Intelligence: The capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes.
• Naturalist Intelligence: The ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other objects in nature.
• Existential Intelligence: The sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die and how we got here.

While all people possess some level of each intelligence, most will experience more dominant intelligences which impact the way they learn and interact with the world around them.

Five minds of the future

Five Minds for the Future outlines the specific cognitive abilities that will be sought and cultivated by leaders in the years ahead.

These include:

• The Disciplinary Mind: the mastery of major schools of thought, including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one professional craft.
• The Synthesizing Mind: the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others.
• The Creating Mind: the capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions, and phenomena.
• The Respectful Mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups.
• The Ethical Mind: fulfillment of one’s responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen.