Many pathways

This is number 12 in my series of short posts on learning theories. I'm working through the alphabet of psychologists and provide a brief overview of each theory, and how it can be applied in education. In my most recent post I examined Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory and its applications to education. In this post, we explore the work of Howard Gardner, known universally as Multiple Intelligences Theory. As usual, this is a simplified interpretation of the theory, so if you wish to learn more, please read the associated literature.

The theory

Intelligence testing has long been practised in the education, military and business communities. In business and the military it is used to correlate intelligence quotient (IQ) scores against performance. Essentially, IQ is a psychological measurement of individual differences. In education, IQ testing has been used to measure children's intelligence so that they can be placed in the appropriate ability group. Later in life, students can be IQ tested for admission into university. Yet IQ has been shown to fluctuate over a period of time, and is now viewed by many as an unreliable indicator of holistic abilities and potential. One critic of IQ tests, Howard Gardner - a professor of psychology at Harvard University - argued that it IQ tests were too limited and only measured specific abilities such as visual-spatial awareness and logical-mathematical reasoning. He surmised that there must be a better way of showing how individuals differ in their potential and actual abilities. Gardner developed a new approach to the study of intelligence, by proposing a theory of multiple intelligences.

In MI, according to Gardner, there are at least nine discrete intelligences, including interpersonal, intra-personal, existential, spatial, mathematical, naturalistic and musical. Each can be developed in every individual, depending not only on their natural abilities, but also on their motivation and other external factors. Gardner argues that each individual has a unique blend of intelligences, and that labeling students as being predominantly one kind of intelligence is inaccurate and disempowering. In short, there are many pathways to learning, and we all choose our own.

How it can be applied in education

Gardner's theory is a student centred theory in as much as it recognises the many individual differences and acknowledges that there are many ways to learn. Teachers should be aware that every child is different, and will excel in different circumstances. This means varying the pace, focus, method and content of lessons so that a menu of different experiences are available. It also means rejecting the labeling of children as failures or lacking intelligence because they do not excel in particular subjects. Not all children have good logical or mathematical skills, but they can be taught to acquire them if the subject is made interesting. For Gardner, a rounded education is where all children are served by a 'broader vision of education' where a wide range of methods, experiences and opportunities are presented.

Schools do not fail because they do not call at every station along the curriculum. They fail because their pedagogic carriage is restricted, and they are unable to bring all the children with them on the education journey.

Reference

Gardner, H. (1983) Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. London: Fontana Press.

Previous posts in this series:

Anderson ACT-R Cognitive Architecture
Argyris Double Loop Learning
Bandura Social Learning Theory
Bruner Scaffolding Theory
Craik and Lockhart Levels of Processing
Csíkszentmihályi Flow Theory
Dewey Experiential Learning
Engeström Activity Theory
Ebbinghaus Learning and Forgetting Curves
Festinger Social Comparison Theory
Festinger Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Photo by Simon G on Flickr


Many pathways Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.