Reflection on MI with Apps

Multiple Intelligences

This topic has been researched extensively, and it is a core concept of pedagogy.
Therefore, it deserves a cursory knowledge at least by any educator. Howard Gardner posed the conundrum
why are you smart as opposed to how smart are you which was the traditional analysis. Many others have
been involved beginning with Thurstone and more recently J.P. Guildford. This was a quantum leap and over
the last few decades it has become more encompassing to the numerous forms of intelligence that humans
possess. It’s brilliant because of its necessity. And where people may be intelligent in some ways, they may
be less so in others. Broadening the number from a purely mathematical and linguistic perspective is
useful although maybe some of the newer intelligences that have been generated have moved the boat out so
far that it be could questioned as to whether they are quantifiable intelligences; these include spiritual,
existential, naturalistic, moral etc. Gardner has seven criteria for what constitutes an intelligence and so ergo
the above must have fulfilled it. Some of the more interesting criteria include clear developmental and
evolutionary history and the intelligence must be capable of being systemically encoded (Breitborde,165).
Are some of the intelligences really a measure of the capacity for retention or ultimately a matter of
circumstance and environment? Surely more reading of his work is necessary before being excessively
critical as research in this area develops in the near future.
Intelligences continue to grow in this field. Actually I always wrongly or rightly believed in the idea
that retention was a focal measure of higher intelligence (and problem solving in Mathematics) even though it is extremely low on Bloom’s or Marzano’s taxonomy of thinking skills. It’s similar to the ideal that kids all have their own diverse “talents”.
Nel Noddings had an interesting comment to relate about MI in an essay entitled A Morally
Defensible Mission for Schools in the 21st Century:
“ A moral policy, a defensible mission, for education recognises a multiplicity of human capabilities and interests. Instead of preparing everyone for college in the name of democracy and equality, schools should instill in all students a respect for all forms of honest work done well“ (Breitborde, p.428).

Applications
ESL classroom: A clear use of this concept is the realization that kids learn in many different ways and that this should be incorporated into an educator’s lesson plans. Therefore while instructing it is paramount to touch the multiple intelligences of all kids in the classroom in order for them to create their own personalized comprehension of the content. This may be achieved by bringing props into the classroom so that the kids can play with and touch appropriate learning realia or bringing in posters of key concepts displaying pictorally what assists for highlighting purposes. It really should run the gamut of the intelligences spectrum.
Topic App: South American Rainforest. This was located while reading and
captures how an MI lesson can be achieved:
“..they read about it and write essays and stories. Listening to indigenous music and making up their own, tabulating and declining numbers of endangered animals, drawing pictures depicting the biota, “climbing” through layers of the atmosphere, debating economic and ecological points of view, and creating fictional biographies of children living in the region” (p.165).

This entails interconnectedness in thematic teaching because art, music, P.E. and Social Science teachers tailor content to the subject. I think it would correct in saying that there is more flexibility for MI teaching in an L1 classroom than in the ESL/EFL environment. Reference should be made to the “Project Spectrum” which is a ready made environment for escalating MI (Woolfolk,p116).
Music in the classroom: The one area that I’m extremely interested in is the use of Music in the classroom to stimulate a more productive learning environment. The group plotted a graph on the board that links importance level of different segments of learning and how this should relate to the rhythm of the beat.Music is hugely important to kids but even more so in the local culture. It’s an avenue to get the kids on board. References and URLs
http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/142-Kumbar-en.pdf
http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.htm
Breitborde, M. & Swiniarski L.,(2006). Teaching on principle and promise: the foundations of
education. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Woolfolk, A. (1998). Educational psychology seventh edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn &
Bacon.