Multiple Intelligences Presentation by Áine Hyland for the Parents’ Association, Loreto Secondary School, Dalkey - 11 th April 2016.

What is intelligence? Intelligence A single, fixed and inherited entity that can be measured by IQ test? Or Human capacity - what people can do or what they create in the real world?

The traditional view of Intelligence In the heyday of the psychometric and behaviourist eras, it was generally believed that intelligence was a single entity that was inherited and that could be measured along a single scale.

How was IQ tested? There were different kinds of IQ tests, but most analysed your visual, mathematical and language abilities as well as your memory and information processing speed. A licensed psychologist administered a series of subtests; the results were then combined into one score: your IQ. What your specific numerical score meant depended on the test you took. IQ was really a measure of how well you did on a test compared with other people your age. The average score was 100.

What does an IQ test test? An IQ score doesn't measure your practical intelligence, i.e. knowing how to make things work. It doesn't measure your creativity. It doesn't measure your curiosity. It doesn't tell your parents or teachers about your emotional readiness.

Recent Brain Research

Implications of Brain Research for Learning Visual, semantic, sensory, motor and emotional neural “networks” all contain their own memory systems and multichannel learning engaging a variety of “networks” increases the likelihood of both storage and recall.

Implications of Brain Research for Learning The brain requires stimulation and connection to survive and thrive Early learning is powerful – BUT the brain continues to develop throughout life Exercise and use stimulate the birth of new neurons (“use it or lose it”) Learning involves the strengthening of connections between neurons Fear and stress impair learning.

More Recent Beliefs about Intelligence Nowadays an increasing number of researchers believe ….. that there exists a multitude of intelligences, quite independent of each other; that each intelligence has its own strengths and constraints; and that it is unexpectedly difficult to teach things that may be counterintuitive ……

Intelligence has different meanings Intelligence is seen differently in different cultures. Indigenous peoples in remote areas of the world value different “intelligences” to those valued in western “structured” societies. But every society needs a variety of “intelligences” to survive.

Words for “Intelligence” in the Irish language Éirimiúil Cliste Glic Críonna Stuama Tuisceanach Intleachtúil

Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences In the past few decades, the traditional view of Intelligence has been challenged by a number of researchers, including Howard Gardner. Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences challenges the traditional “dipstick” view of intelligence as a unitary and fixed capacity that can be adequately measured by IQ tests. 6/24/2016

What is Intelligence?

Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences “The human mind is better thought of as a series of relatively separate faculties, with only loose and non- predictable relations with one another, than a single, all purpose machine that performs steadily at a certain horsepower, independent of content and context” (Gardner 1999). 6/24/2016

Multiple Intelligences

Verbal / Linguistic Word Smart smart smartmart uses words effectively

Logical/mathematical: Number smart thinks logically, reasons, calculates

Spatial: Picture smart thinks in terms of physical space

Bodily kinaesthetic: Body smart uses the body effectively

Musical: music smart show sensitivity to rhythm and sound

Interpersonal: people smart understands, interacts with others

Intrapersonal: self- smart understands own interests, goals

Naturalist: nature smart recognises, categorises and draws upon certain features of the environment

Pathways to learning We all have difference kinds of minds, we learn in different ways

Multiple Intelligences… MI is about taking human differences seriously - individuals cannot be grouped into one single intellectual dimension “at the practical level, one acknowledges that any uniform approach is likely to serve only a minority of children.” (Howard Gardner 1995)

Activities! 1.Read the MI handout and complete the Quiz