Seven ways of being smart - developing childrens' multiple intelligences - includes related articles

Instructor, July-August, 1995 by Kristen Nelson

How to develop your students' multiple intelligences

Throughout my teaching career I've been perplexed and fascinated by students who perform poorly in math and language activities, and appear unmotivated - yet thrive outside of the classroom. I'd see these "underachievers" in the streets after school, their faces lit with laughter and enthusiasm for whatever they were doing. They were engaged, expert, joyful - why couldn't I bring this out of them in class? Dr. Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory nudged me toward the answer: I could reach many of these turned-off kids if I discovered their special ways of being smart.

You're probably familiar with Gardner's theory, but here's a refresher of his basic premise: Individuals don't have one fixed intelligence, but at least seven distinct ones that can be developed over time - linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. See the box (opposite page) and the clip-and-save chart (page 29) for more details about these seven kinds of smarts.

HOW MY TEACHING CHANGED

Gardner's theory is a dream come true for teachers - because it means intelligences can be nurtured. And with that in mind, I reinvented my curriculum and the way I taught it so that it met the needs of a wider range of learning styles - which, as educator Thomas Armstrong says, are "the intelligences put to work."

The strategies you can use to put the Multiple Intelligences Theory into play in your own classroom are limitless.To add to your thinking, here are two approaches that have had a big impact on my students' achievement: one is a focused unit that introduces kids to the concept of diverse strengths; the other is an open-ended exploration of the seven intelligences through classroom flow areas, which are similar to learning centers.

7 Smarts: An 8-Day Unit

Think a kindergartner will have trouble grasping the theory of Harvard psychologist Gardner? Think again. As a mentor teacher on multiple intelligences, I work with children throughout grades K-6, and even the youngest students naturally take to the idea that there are multiple ways of being intelligent.

I begin the unit by asking students what being smart means to them, and then list their replies on the board. Since their answers usually revolve around reading, writing, and math, we discuss the importance of these subjects in school success.

Next, I ask them to brainstorm other ways a person can be smart, conveying the idea that humans have proven time and again that although having strong math and language skills is important, it is not the only predictor of success in life. With grades 3 to 6, I discuss famous people who performed poorly in school but were smart in other ways. Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso - who both disliked school rules and dropped out to study under experts - are two good examples to use. With younger students, we talk about the fact that not everyone likes school all of the time.

As we continue our discussion, I give kids lots of examples of skills, activities, and professions that make use of each intelligence area.

EXAMINING STRENGTHS

After the introductory lesson, I focus on a different intelligence area for each of the next seven days. For example, on a spatial intelligence day with fourth graders, I might have students draw floor plans of the Spanish mission we are studying and have them practice picturing numbers in their minds as we do oral calculations in math. On body-kinesthetic day, we role-play a scene from a novel we're reading, and learn a new sport. Each day, I also devote 45 minutes to exploring the famous people, book characters, and historical figures who are good role models in that intelligence.

By now, students are not only familiar with the different ways they're smart, but they are now ready and usually very, willing to use their intelligences in daily work.

NURTURING KIDS ALL YEAR

After the opening unit, I integrate Multiple Intelligences Theory into my lesson plans for the rest of the year, adapting activities to meet various learning styles. For example, a child who is strong in spatial intelligence and is a visual learner can strengthen her reading and writing skills by drawing a picture before writing about a book she's reading. See the chart Draw Out Your Students' Strengths (opposite page) for more ideas on how to build on your kids' multiple intelligences.

Flow Areas Foster Intelligence

Using multiple intelligences in your teaching has to go beyond detecting strengths in students and flexing just those intellectual muscles. You need to give students the opportunity to explore all seven domains. Setting up flow areas - which are centers organized around the seven intelligences - will help you accomplish this.

The concept of flow was developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., professor of human development at the University of Chicago, who describes flow as a state of complete absorption in something, to the point where one loses track of time. Csikszentmihalyi first observed flow when studying artists; he then looked for and found it in dancers, athletes, scientists, musicians, and talented people in many other fields.