Multiple Intelligences

Hello!

First of all, this is NOT, split personality disorder. Yes, I have legitimately had people come up to be and ask "Oh, Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences? Like...when someone is just one person, but they think they're like...more than one person, you know....man?"

No.

Perhaps I overemphasized the "like" and "man"'s in that sentence, BUT, my point remains. Totally different.

Gardner's multiple intelligences is a theory that proposed that rather than a single domain of intelligence, or "smart" as exemplified by academic achievement, high IQ, quick cognition, etc. there are many different ways in which people think and learn.

Here is a shiny-colourful picture graphic (For all the non-linguistic favouring learners)

Interesting, no? It shows a variety of the different intelligences people may display, or rather, the different forms their intelligence may take! The diagram is actually missing one of the newer intelligences, Existentialist smart. These guys are the deep thinkers who see the big picture and ponder the big questions about the universe, you know, philosophy types.

Anyways, it just goes to show how many different forms information can take, and could be presented for learning. Huh...that seems like...ah, it is an application to teaching. Yes, there will be kids in your classroom with different preferences as far as learning and creating information. Yes, Gardner's Multiple Intelligences can help you to see this and make the classroom a much more conducive environment to learning for everyone. Yes, it takes a bit more effort and thought on the part of the teacher, but, in my opinion, well worth the results when every student can find something to be engaged and/or interested in from the class material.

Thats about all for now, Can YOU think of any additional Intelligences, or subcategories of the above that could perhaps be considered a separate form of intelligence?

I know I can. I know people who LOVE to write, and keep journals/storybooks/entire drives on their computer just for creative writing. This may fall under the linguistic category. Do you think these people would like to get up in front of the class and demonstrate a complex math problem? Or be tasked with creating a mystery story with math problems woven into it, which must be solved to find the end of the story? Yeah, its obvious. Think about it some more. =)

Zach