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Illinois School Board Journal
September-October 2000

Howard Gardner’s theory:
Multiple intelligences

by Jessica C. Billings

It’s not how smart you are — it’s how you’re smart. That line has gotten a lot of use since the mid-1980s, when Howard Gardner of Harvard University isolated and codified seven distinct "intelligences." (In 1993, he added an eighth.)

The premise is simple: people are intelligent in different ways. This is something that most people—and certainly most educators—understand intuitively. And yet, most schools are focused primarily on two kinds of intelligence: language and mathematics/science. Think of the primary indicators of student success in the U.S.: reading scores and math scores.

Gardner argues that other kinds of intelligence are just as important. His work breaks down these broad categories into eight (so far) kinds of intelligence. They are:

• Word smart: Verbal/linguistic intelligence is the use of language. Such people learn by reading and listening. They generally have good memories for names and dates and have well-developed vocabularies. They’re good at word games and may be comedians.

• Logic smart: Logical/mathematical intelligence is associated with what we call "scientific learning" or inductive reasoning. Logic-smart people are good at math and like to explore patterns and relationships. They enjoy sorting things into categories and using spreadsheets and databases. They experiment to test what they don’t understand and enjoy solving problems. They like logic games, such as chess.
  
• Picture smart: Visual/spatial intelligence involves the ability to visualize and think in images. Picture-smart people may be seen as day-dreamers. They like maps, charts and diagrams. They enjoy the visual arts and such activities as drawing, painting, and photography.
  
• Music smart: Musical/rhythmic intelligence includes the ability to recognize and use rhythmic tonal patterns and a sensitivity to sounds from the environment (human voice, musical instruments). Music-smart people are likely to be sensitive to noise in the background. Music often helps them concentrate when they study or read. They often sing or hum to themselves and are likely to play a musical instrument.
  
• Body smart: Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence is the ability to use the body to express emotion (dance and body language), to play games or sports, and to create a new product (invention). Body-smart people "learn by doing." If forced to be inactive for too long, they become restless.
  
• People smart: People with interpersonal intelligence are social and like to work with others. They do well in cooperative or group projects. They communicate well and feel empathy for others.
  
• Self smart: People with intrapersonal intelligence understand their own strengths, weaknesses, and feelings. They often have a deep sense of self-confidence and may be strong willed. They are independent and can motivate themselves. They use their intuition to solve problems.
  
• Nature smart: Naturalist intelligence is the ability to adapt and survive in one’s environment. Nature-smart people understand the relationship of man and nature. People with this intelligence relate well to animals and may like having pets. (Gardner added this eighth "intelligence" to his list in 1993.)

If you’ve never given the subject much thought, try noticing the following the next time you attend a workshop:

Who listens intently and takes notes during the lecture and who sits there with glazed eyes?

Who perks up and who nods off when the lecturer stops talking and starts the slide show?

When it’s time for hands-on activities, who is raring to go and who finds an excuse to leave the room?

Who is distracted by background noise and who doesn’t seem to notice?

Who always gets the job of organizing and reporting on the discussions of small work groups?

Who encourages the quiet ones to participate in discussion and reassures everyone that their contributions were great?

Finally, when it’s all over, what do you remember: the words, the images, or the activities?

When you look for it, it’s obvious that some people prefer to learn by hearing, some by seeing, some by doing. It is clear that some people are great at logical thinking, while others are better at dealing with people.

The best teachers have always known it, and planned for a variety of activities to engage and interest children. This is especially true at the elementary level.

The implications of Gardner’s work for educators are as great as they are obvious. Students behave better and learn more when they are involved in a way of learning that is natural for them.

In his book, The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach (Howard Gardner, BasicBooks, 1991, 303 pages), Gardner says that a wide range of research on early learning, including his own, shows that children tend to spontaneously develop their patterns of thinking and learning by the time they are five years old.

When children begin school, they are required to develop forms of learning that may not relate to their own preferred patterns.

True understanding results only when students are allowed to integrate their own preferred ways of thinking with the school-approved ways of learning, he says.

Similarly, one might say that teachers will teach most effectively when they combine their intuitive understanding that students learn in different ways with the substantial research on the subject.