HOWARD GARDNER'S THEORY ABOUT MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
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1.- Begin the lesson by spending about 5 minutes to write about the traditional definitions of intelligence. You may think about the following questions: -What does it mean to be intelligent in our society ? -The intelligence is the capacity of a person for adapting to different contexts. An intelligent person is not only that one who has the best marks, is also that one who knows taking goods decitions, that one who isn't carried along by the people. -What abilities do school value and promote ? -Most of the schools value above all the memory and the intelligence, to get good marks at the exams. But, in my school for example, we learn searching that information, finding sources that are reliables, and, finally writing up, transmiting and presenting that information. -How do we measure a person's intelligence? -The psicometry is the discipline that measures the intellectual quotient of a person. They are psicological measures that are carried out by tests for measuring the intelligence of each person.
2.- Howard Gardner's Theory using the classroom activity sheet: Howard Gardner's theory about multiple intelligences. Read the description of multiple intelligences. Which of these intelligences you think are most valued by schools and society. Is it possible for an individual to have more than one intelligence ? -In my opinion the intelligences that are most valued by schools and society are the following: Mathematical-Logical and Verbal-Linguistic, thats why, the high school is divided in two sections: scientific and technology or social and humanistic. But I think that the society also values the interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences, because, in this way, you can understand other people and working collaboratively and cooperativily with them.
3.- Short biographies of Eminent people. Read through the biographies and determine the types of intelligences of these people have in society. You might also consider how these intelligences match the traditional ideas about the intelligence. -For example Picasso and Frida Khalo have a high level of Visual-spatial intelligence ; in the other hand, Albert Einstein, John Nash and Isaac Newton have a great level of Mathematical-logical intelligence ; Mozart and Plรกcido Domingo, in exchange, have musical intelligence ; Shakespeare and Zig Ziglar, two good poeths, are Eminent in Verbal-linguistic intelligence; Michael Phelps and Rafa Mรกrquez have Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence; Gandhi and Confucio, on the other hand, have a high level of intrapersonal intelligence; Madre Teresa and John F. Kennedy, interpersonal intelligence; Charles Darwin and Steve Irwin, in exchange, naturalist intelligence and Oprah Winfrey and Juan Pablo II, are good at existential intelligence.
4.- Writing. Do these people fit the traditional definition about intelligence? Point out that Gardner's multiple intelligences do not necessarily fit those traditional definitions. Think about of any other people that you consider intelligent who do not fit the traditional definition. Finally think if you have changed your ideas about intelligence. If so, how ? -According to the traditional idea of the intelligence, the intelligent people are those who have the capacity of adapting to different contexts and those who know taking good decitions. So the eminent people that I named previously, do not match the traditional idea of the intelligence. Personally, before knowing Howard Gardner's Theory, I thought that the people could only have one intelligence, but, I realized that in reality we have almost nine different intelligences, each f them developed in a different way and in a particular level, of course.
5.- Writing discuss the following questions: If school recognized multiple intelligences, how might the following activities be revised? a.- activities in the classroom ; in my opinion, for making the activities in the classroom, for example the work in groups, the teachers should create groups with people with different intelligences. A group compounded of a person with a high level in mathematical-logical intelligence, another person with good intelligence in music...like this, each of them would contribute different knowledges and each member of the group would learn something of those knowledges. b.- classroom assigments ; in the distribution of the classroom assignments, the teachers should know the most developed intelligences in each of their students, so they could distribut an assignment or another and, in conclusion, get a better result. c.-graduation requirements: seeing the capacities of each student, the teachers should value in a way or in another to the students.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS * Traditionally, people have defined someone who is intelligent as an individual who can solve problems, use logic to answer questions, and think critically. But psychologist Howard Gardner has a much broader definition of intelligence. Compare the traditional idea about intelligence with Gardner's. How have his ideas changed the way we assess the strengths and weaknesses of people? -Like Howard Gardner says, people have at least nine different intelligences and, on the other hand, the traditional idea of this concept place the people like possesors of only one intelligence. All of us have these nine intelligences, each of them developed in a particular level, depending the culture we grew up in, the environment wich we interact with... These idea of Gardner has possibly changed the way of assess the students, exploring like this the capacities, strenghts and searching the most developed intelligence in each of the students. The teachers have improved the plans and daily routines and in this way the student can learn better, with more effectivity and motivation. The idea of Gardner has also helped us to have a better understanding of the human being and the differents forms it has for learning and for putting forth its intellectual and social knowledge.
* Why are linguistic intelligence, emphasizing sensitivity to the meaning and order of words, and logical-mathematical intelligence, stressing ability in mathematics and other complex logical systems, more valued than other intelligences? Are they really more important forms of intelligence? -In my opinion, they are valued more than other intelligences because when we talk about intellingence we used to relate it with the maths and with a person who get the
best marks, so, the teachers can maybe think that the students who get the best marks in those spheres will be the most intelligent. But they are wrong because it is not really more intelligent who get the best marks in the sphere of liguistic intelligence and in logical-mathematical intelligence. Each person is more clever in one thing or in another, and linguistic intelligence and logicalmathematical intelligence are only two of the nine different intelligences that we have and which should be valued in the same way.
One criticism of Gardner's theory is that he classifies talents as a type of intelligence. Critics might say that a talented dancer or chess player is not necessarily smart. How would you reply to this criticism? -A talented dancer or chess player is as intelligent as a person who is intelligent in logical-mathematical, even he/she could be more intelligent. Because, as I said previously, there are in total nine different intelligences, some people are more intelligent in music or in which spatial-visual refers to and less intelligent in logical-mathematical and other people upside down; but this does not mean far from that are less intelligent.
Does it matter if we call special abilities "talents" or "intelligences"? -In my opinion, it is not the same having a special ability that being intelligent in one aspect, because, each of us born with some special abilities and the intelligence, in exchange, goes developing depending the culture we grew up in, the environment wich we interact with...
suggests that schools must develop assessments that better represent what people will have to do to survive in society. For example, rather than writing an essay about urban development, students studying structures might be assessed in their group work determining what kind of building is most appropriate for an urban, residential area. Give an example of an assessment that could be used to evaluate what students learn about the civil rights movement or the deforestation of rain forests. -If I were a teacher, to value the students about the civil rights movement, I would not send them making a work of the history of the civil rights movement. In exchange, I would make them think about how would they act If they were a black person, a slave in that period of time; how they would have protested for changing the politic and the society that ruled in EEUU in 1877 to finish with the ratial segregation.
How does an understanding of multiple intelligences change how you view your own abilities? -After knowing the existence of the theory of the multiple intelligences, I have came to the conclusion that I am more intelligent at visual-spatial, because I anticipate the consecuences, I make intellectual reproductions and I recognise objects in different circumstances. I am also more intelligent at verbal-linguistic, considering that I memorize things with facility and I am good at many languages.
EXTENSIONS -The origin of Multiple Intelligences Theory-
Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences has been evolving since 1983, when he proposed it. Hhave students research how his theory has evolved since them. For example, have the number of intelligences changed? Have Gardner's ideas about how to implement his ideas in educational setting evolved? -The number of intelligences in the theory of Howard Gardner has changed, because in 1983 he have added a new intelligence, the naturalist. -The theory of Gardner, has involved in school reform efforts in the United States since 1980s. His theory of multiple intelligences has not been completely accepted in academic psychology. According to Gardner, the tests used in the current American education system do not measure all his multiple intelligences, which vary from one person to another and determine the way in which each person learn most effectively. Gardner's theory mentions that if the teachers use different methodologies like exercises and activities to reach all the students, they will be better served by a broader vision of education.
DESIGN A NEW SCHOOL Based on what students have learned about the theory of multiple intelligences, have them design a school that makes use of these theories. Have students consider the layout of the school, how students are grouped, how the main subjects are taught and the strenghts the teaching staff should have. Suggest that the students sketch the school and write a paragraph describing it. -The school I have designed, in which the theory of Howard Gardner would predominate in all the aspects, would be small, with a maximun of ten students per class. In each class, would be a student with more capacity in one of the nine intelligences and, in this way, the groups of the class would be equalised and the students would be more attended.The strenghts that the teaching staff should have would be the following: they would have to know all the knowledges about the intelligences of each of their students and value them according to their capacities and effort. The main subjects would be taught with few knowledge exams, the students would learn in a way to could survive in a future in the society and the group work would be very important.
Measuring my intelligence:
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