Multiple Intelligences

Remember:  In 1983 Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner published his theory of multiple intelligences in his book Frames of Mind. Gardner identified eight separate intelligences. He defines intelligences as independent mental abilities characterized by core operations. For example,  musical intelligence focuses on the core operations of recognizing pitch and rhythm. Gardner states that most people have at least seven of these intelligences, but that in some people one intelligence may dominate, and in other people the intelligences blend. Below are descriptions of Gardner’s eight intelligences.

• Linguistic intelligence: the ability to use language to express one's thoughts and to understand other people orally or in writing
• Musical intelligence:  the ability to hear music in one's head, and to hear tones, rhythms, and larger musical patterns
• Logical-mathematical intelligence:  the ability to manipulate numbers, quantities, and operations accompanied by a love of dealing with abstraction
• Spatial intelligence:  the ability to represent the spatial world visually in one's mind
• Bodily kinesthetic intelligence:  the ability to use the whole body or parts of the body to solve a problem, create a product, or put on some kind of production.
• Intrapersonal intelligence:  the ability to know and understand one's self, including goals, tendencies, talents, limitations
• Interpersonal intelligence:  the ability to notice and make distinctions among other individuals; a strong understanding of other people
• Naturalist intelligence:  the ability to discriminate among living things and to see patterns; also, a sensitivity to features of the natural world

Your Task

GO TO: Literacy Work's Multiple Intelligences Assessment, take the survey, print out the results, and answer the following reflection questions:

• According to your results, what were your top three intelligences?  (If you don’t know what some of these terms mean, please look them up on dictionary.com)
• Do you agree with this analysis? Explain.
• Do any of the other intelligences sound more like you?  If so, click on them to learn about them.
• How do you think you learn best?
• How can you use this information to help you?