Using Multiple Intelligences Theory Wisely

Multiple Intelligences

Blogs are good for ranting, so they say. I promised myself mine would not only be a rant (useful sometimes)but be a source of interesting information and prompts for rational thought. But with the way things are in our education systems around the globe, (not just in my little part of the Caribbean for sure) it is difficult, nay impossible, not to rant on a regular basis.
One hears and sees so many things in our classrooms and from the general public that makes us either cringe, shake our head in bewilderment, want to scream to make sure somebody hears and fixes things, laugh with joy, cry with pain or feel pride. The point being that education being what it is (not what it is supposed to be) is fraught with dilemmas and events.

It would take a multi-volume tome to outline all that needs to be thought about on a constant basis in educating our children. Some of us make it more bearable on ourselves by choosing one issue to focus on and advocate for, hoping that there are many others looking after all the other issues.

But I digress. My latest cringe moment came when I heard that one school was setting down a ‘law’ that every lesson plan written by every teacher in every subject must address all of Howard Gardner’s 8 multiple intelligences ( yes, I know he is working on increasing that number, but that is for another time). I want to hope that the implications of this are so obvious to everyone that I should not even be writing this here. But I know better than that. I do not think that that is what good ole Howard had in mind and I suspect he too would cringe if he heard this.

Outside of all the concerns about what a decision like that implies and causes to happen, my main worry is the fact that so often in trying to improve our education systems we go from one extreme of rigidity to another. Another concern could be how we impose structures and instructions on our teachers without the least amount of training and support. I admit I do not know what is in place in this school to accompany this directive. I am speaking generally here. Sometimes I get so flabbergasted when I hear things that my brain shuts off from overwhelm and I do not follow up and ask the right questions.

That is not the point either. I have seen enough and experienced enough to worry about the lack of insight that goes with hearing about a new theory and insisting that it be implemented in the school.

What should we consider when incorporating Multiple Intelligences theory into the curriculum?
1. Individuals should be encouraged to use their preferred intelligences in learning. Notice it says should be encouraged to use their preferred intelligence- not forced to use all
2. Instructional activities should appeal to different forms of intelligence. – again it doesn’t say every activity should include every intelligence.
3. Assessment of learning should measure multiple forms of intelligence- it still doesn’t say all the forms in any one instance.

Or as quoted from ERIC Digest (http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/multiple.htm Amy Brualdi:1996) “Many learning styles can be found within one classroom. Therefore, it is impossible, as well as impractical, for a teacher to accommodate every lesson to all of the learning styles found within the classroom. Nevertheless the teacher can show students how to use their more developed intelligences to assist in the understanding of a subject which normally employs their weaker intelligences (Lazear, 1992).”

I hope therefore that the powers that be in that school and all other schools take some time to understand the theory of Multiple Intelligences and examine rational ways to incorporate it into the curriculum. Also to explore some of the research and the cautions about going to the ‘other extreme’ with teaching to the multiple intelligences.

Here are some examples:

1. You don’t have to teach or learn something in all eight ways, just see what the possibilities are, and then decide which particular pathways interest you the most, or seem to be the most effective teaching or learning tools. Thomas Armstrong http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

2. You won't always find ways of including every intelligence in your curriculum plans. But if this model helps you reach into one or two intelligences that you might not otherwise have tapped, then it has served its purpose very well indeed! Thomas Armstrong : Seven ways to approach curriculum http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/articles/7_ways.htm First published in Educational Leadership- 1994