This theory of human intelligence, developed by psychologist Howard Gardner and known as Gardners' Multiple Intelligences Theory, suggests there are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving and understanding the world. Gardner labels each of these ways a distinct 'intelligence' -- in other words, a set of skills allowing individuals to find and resolve genuine problems they face.
Gardner defines an "intelligence" as a group of abilities that:
- Is somewhat autonomous from other human capacities;
- Has a core set of information-processing operations;
- Has a distinct history in the stages of development we each pass through;
- Has plausible roots in evolutionary history.
Students benefit when you use Multiple Intelligences theory.
Curriculum --Traditional schooling heavily favors the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. Gardner suggests a more balanced curriculum that incorporates the arts, self-awareness, communication, and physical education.
Instruction -- Gardner advocates instructional methods that appeal to all the intelligences, including role playing, musical performance, cooperative learning, reflection, visualization, story telling, and so on.
Assessment -- This theory calls for assessment methods that take into account the diversity of intelligences, as well as self-assessment tools that help students understand their intelligences. While Gardner suggests his list of intelligences may not be exhaustive, he originally identified the following seven:
Verbal-Linguistic -- The ability to use words and language
Logical-Mathematical -- The capacity for inductive and deductive thinking and reasoning, as well as the use of numbers and the recognition of abstract patterns
Visual-Spatial -- The ability to visualize objects and spatial dimensions, and create internal images and pictures
Body-Kinesthetic -- The wisdom of the body and the ability to control physical motion
Musical-Rhythmic -- The ability to recognize tonal patterns and sounds, as well as a sensitivity to rhythms and beats
Interpersonal -- The capacity for person-to-person communications and relationships
Intrapersonal -- The spiritual, inner states of being, self-reflection, and awareness
Acknowledgement: On Purpose Associates
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Complete the Foundation Unit of 4 lessons then choose which other lessons are of particular interest to you.
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MI and Assessment
How do I assess my students using multiple intelligence theory?
How can I find out what my students' multiple intelligences are?
Where can I find a multiple intelligence survey?
I am looking for multiple intelligence theory tests?
How do I prepare a multiple intelligences inventory?
Find answers in these booklets
Multiple Intelligences Tests, Quizes and Assessments
Have a PDF sent to you by email or order a hard copy
PDF booklets $7.95 each
Hard copies $15.75 each (includes postage)
MI and Lesson Planning
How do I plan lessons so that I provide for all my students' multiple Intelligences?
Where can I get some ideas for lessons based on MI?
Where can I find some example lessons?
Find the answers in these booklets
Each subject specific example gives you:
the aim of the activity;
the learning objectives linked to different intelligences;
the context of the lesson;
the task/activity to be completed;
an assessment task.
Benefits to your students
e.g. teaching visually, for those with a strong visual intelligence;
teaching through movment or making things, for those with a strong kinaesthetic intelligence;
teaching through group work, for those who have a strong interpersonal intelligence.
Multiple Intelligences and Lesson Planning
Another useful booklet to have.
PDF booklets $7.95 each
Hard copies $15.75 each (includes postage)
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The following three books are of particular interest to those of you interested in the psychological basis of the theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Frames of Mind - The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner second edition 1993 (Fontana Press)
‘Offers a cogent, multi-dimensional answer to the IQ testing fanatics… a real alternative to the blind empiricism of the IQ testers. How refreshing to see it justified in scholarly terms.’ Issac Asimov
‘When Frames of Mind was first published in 1984 it was acclaimed as ‘a most important contribution to cognitive psychology’. In it Howard Gardner demonstrates that there exist many human ‘intelligences’, common to all cultures – each with its own patterns of development and brain activity, and each different in kind from the others. These potentials include linguistic, musical, and logical/mathematical capacities, as well as spatial and bodily intelligences, and the ability to arrive at an emotional and mental sense of self and other people. Rather than reducing an individual’s potential to a single score on an IQ rest, it is the fostering and education of all these intelligences that should be our concern. Gardner’s controversial argument has resounding implications for the ways in which we think about intelligence and education.’ (Book cover)
The original book on Multiple Intelligences
If you are an IQ searcher – READ this first and then make up your own mind.
Click Here to Order Your Copy
Intelligence – Multiple Perspective
Howard Gardner, Mindy L. Kornhaber, Warren K. Wake 1996
Harcourt Brace College Publishers
‘In one volume we have surveyed the major approaches to intelligence that have evolved since the scientific study of intelligence began, a century ago. We begin by considering conceptions of intelligence in different cultures and historical eras. We then explore intelligence as it is usually conceived of – as a psychological and biological property of the individual. Next we present alternative concepts of intelligence. Finally, we investigate intelligence as it plays out in broader contests, such as in the school and the workplace.’ (Preface)
This is an introductory textbook on intelligence – a good basis for further study.
Get Your Copy Now
Intelligence Reframed – Multiple Intelligence for the 21st Century
Howard Gardner 1999 (Basic Books)
‘The Harvard psychologist who revolutionized our thinking about intelligence and creativity – the award-winning author of Frames of Mind and Creating Minds – now offers a brilliant state-of-the-art report on how the landmark theory of multiple intelligences is radically changing our understanding of education and human development.’ (Book cover)
‘Wherever Howard Gardner focuses his synthesising mind and cast erudition on any topic,
we can be sure that an exciting intellectual adventure is in store”
Get Your Copy Now
These next two books are studies of famous people and how their intelligences were developed, often from a very young age. They are of interest to class teachers and those aspiring to leadership positions.
Howard Gardner 1997. (Phoenix)
A fascinating read for only £6.99
($12.89) ‘A short but wide-ranging study of the psychology of exceptional achievement’
‘It is humane, intelligent and full of interest’ Sunday Times
Learn more about the exceptional minds of people such as Mozart, Freud, Woolf and Ghandi, and apply some of what you learn to the students in your class, especially the potential leaders. The beginning and end of it are particular relevant to teachers and the motivation behind the lives of the four people are fascinating. A very good buy, which will not only help you foster strengths in the children you teach but also makes you look at what motivates you!
This book shows how different intelligences can be observed in children at a very young age. A must for teachers who want to note the particular talents of students in their classes.
Leading Minds - an anatomy of leadership
Study Portraits of Great Leaders
Howard Gardner 1995 Harper Collins
Robert Maynard Hutchins; J. Robert Oppenheimer; Margaret Thatcher; Martin Luther King; Eleanor Roosevelt; Pope John XXIII; Mahatma Gandhi; Margaret Mead; Alfred P. Sloan; Jean Monnet.
‘Whilst there have been many previous studies of leadership, Howard Gardner’s is the first to concentrate on the crucial component of leadership – the human mind. …..Drawing a distinction between direct and indirect leaders – the former, politicians, military men and business gurus who seek to exercise power and influence people, and the latter, scientists, novelists, painters who do so through the creation of symbolic products – Gardner reveals the key to leadership: the ability to create a story that affects the thoughts, feeling, and actions of other individuals.’ (Book cover)
Of particular interest to teachers with leadership responsibilities.
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The next two books give practical advice as to how you too can achieve this success in your own school.
*The Intelligent School
Barbara MacGilchrist, Kate Myers and Jane Reed 2004 (Sage)
‘The Intelligent School offers a practical resource for schools to enable them to maximize their improvement efforts. In this fully revised edition, the authors set out the most recent messages from four inter-related areas of research:
They illustrate, with practical examples, how these findings can be pieced together through the use of a combination of nine intelligences to improve teaching and learning and to strengthen a school’s capacity to achieve its goal successfully.
Some new intelligences are identified along with fresh thinking about intelligences and their dynamic relationship. Intelligent schooling in the future is also explored.’ (Book cover)
Get Your Copy Now
Multiple Intelligences - the theory in Practice
Howard Gardner 1993 Basic Books
Howard Gardner’s brilliant conception of individual competence is changing the face of education today. In the ten years since the publication of his seminal Frames of Mind, thousands of educators, parents, and researchers have explored the practical implications of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory – the powerful notion that there are separate human capacities, ranging from musical intelligence to the intelligence involved in understanding oneself. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice brings together previously published and original work by Gardner and his colleagues at Project Zero to provide a coherent pictures of what we have learned about the educational applications of MI theory from projects in schools and formal research over the last decade. (Book cover)
“Brilliantly connecting what must happen in the classroom
to what must happen in educational policy,
this is important reading not just for teachers,
but for school board members, legislators, and other policy makers.”
REXFORD G. BROWN, Senior Fellow, Education Commission of the States;
author of Schools of Thought
OUT OF PRINT
but MAW Education has a few copies still in stock
The next three books
are published by The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Order direct from MAW Education a distributor for ASCD
The first book shows how six schools have successfully introduced the theory of multiple intelligences into their way of teaching and the other two are of practical help in your classroom.
Multiple intelligences & student achievement success stories from six schools
Linda & Bruce Campbell 1999 Pub. ASCD
'Multiple Intelligences and Student Achievement describes six schools that have used MI theory for five or more years. Through case studies of two elementary, two middle-level, and two high schools, Linda and Bruce Campbell illustrate why markedly different schools – large and small, rich and poor, inner-city and suburban – looked to MI when they wanted to boost student learning.' (Book Cover)
'Finally, a book about multiple intelligences (MI) theory that answers the questions that all educational innovations must ultimately address: “What are the results on student achievement?" “How were those results achieved?" '
The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing
Making the Words Come Alive
Thomas Armstrong 2003 Pub. ASCD
The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing appeals to all educators who work with reading and writing skills, from the pre-school teacher leading the class in phonemic awareness activities to the post-graduate professor helping students examine kinaesthetic imagery in Shakespeare’s plays. (Book Cover)
'Armstrong provides hundreds of ideas, strategies, tips, and resources for teaching everything from grammar and spelling to word decoding and reading comprehension.' (Book cover)
"Teaching and Learning through Multiple Intelligences"
Linda Campbell, Bruce Campbell, Dee Dickinson
Publisher - Pearson Higher Education
If you are a teacher, start with this book.
'..and outstanding resource that offers expert analysis of Dr. Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligences Theory " - and the knowledge to extend this theory to effective classroom practice.''.... Ready to use assessment tools and lessons plans make this book a starting point and a reference guide. ....' (Book Cover)
An excellent survey of multiple intelligences from the perspective of the educator. The book is chock full of valuable classroom exercises, resources, materials for assessment, and ideas for interdisciplinary units. It also contains a full discussion of the newly discovered naturalist intelligences, along with many timely instructional suggestions." - Dr Howard Gardner
If you would like to order this or any other book
Multiple intelligences in the classroom, 2nd Edition
Thomas Armstrong 2004 Pub. ASCD
Combining clear explanations and practical advice, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom is an excellent guide to identifying, nurturing, and supporting the unique capabilities of every student.’ (Book Cover) ’You’ll find information on how to explore your own intelligences, introduce students to the seven intelligences, develop multiple-intelligence (MI) lessons conduct MI assessments and much more. (Book Cover)
Multiple Intelligences - New Horizons
Completely Revised and Updated
(Basic Books 2006)
This new edition of Multiple Intelligences covers all developments since its original publication in 1993, and stands as the most thorough and up-to-date account of the theory and application of Multiple Intelligences available anywhere. Completely revised throughout, it features new material on global applications and on Multiple Intelligences in the workplace, an assessment of Multiple Intelligences practice in the current conservative educational climate, new evidence about brain functioning, and much more.
Click Here to Order Your Copy
Five Minds for the Future
(Harvard Business School, 2007)
Responsibility at Work
(Jossey Bass, 2007)
Multiple Intelligences Around The World
Jie-Qi Chen, Seana Moran
(Jossey Bass, 2009)
Order through Blackwell's on-line Bookshop
To buy books from Blackwell's bookstore
pay through Blackwell's shopping cart.
If you want PROOF of the success of teaching the MI way, read
'Multiple Intelligences & Student Achievement: success stories from six schools'
Your students’ successes depend on your expectations.
“Meaningful reconstructing first takes place within the minds of teachers and their beliefs about the nature and possibilities of their students. From there, all else follows.”
(From Success Stories from Six Schools, ASCD)
Learn how famous people were motivated and how their talents were developed.
Discover what motivates you and your students, so that you can build on this for success.
Find similarities to your own leadership style.
Build on your own strengths and enhance your chances for promotion.
Brain-based Teaching in the Digital Age by Marilee Sprenger
Inviting Students to Learn : 100 Tips for Talking Effectively with Your Students
by Jenny Edwards
Gardner's Multiple Intelligences & Bloom's Taxonomy
follow these links
Books on the Brain, Mind and Memory
Compare Brain Functions and Multiple Intelligences.
Books of MI Activities
buy direct from
Best of Multiple Intelligences Activities Multiple Intelligences Activities
Introducing Children to their Amazing Brains
Introducing Children to their Intelligences
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to read Margaret's letter to you