Learning Strategies and Multiple Intelligences
The Theory of Multiple Intelligences was developed by Howard Gardner and he states that “it is of the upmost importance that we recognize and nurture all of the varied human intelligences, and all of the combinations of intelligences” (Armstrong, 2009, p.5). The eight intelligences that have currently been identified as noted by Armstrong (2000) are linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. It is important to understand Gardner’s idea of intelligence and that he had “three distinct uses of the term “intelligence” (Gardner, 2003, p. 8), which were:
- A property of all human beings
- A dimension on which human beings differ
- The way in which one carries out a task in virtue of one’s goals
Knowing Gardner’s ideas and meanings behind his theory whom educators have “found the theory of most interest” (Gardner, 2003, p.4) is essential for Instructional Designers when creating materials. As I proceed on in my career and start developing instructional materials for all different learners, I will need to remember the people who are going to use those materials. People vary in many different ways and in their intelligences and curriculum will need to reflect that. Gardner (2003) stated that because people have so many different intellectual profiles, that it only makes sense for our educational system to devise a plan around that. This holds true for Instructional Designers as well. What I have taken from different learning styles or strategies and the acquisition of intelligences is that everyone is different. As designers we will not always create materials that are perfect for every learner, but we need to be aware of those differences, vary our resources, and “approach topics in a number of ways (Gardner, 2003, p. 9). Our learners can better themselves and increase their abilities that pertain to each intelligence with the help of educators and materials that have been designed for those learners.
Throughout my quest of understanding learners and providing high quality instruction, I can start by teaching learners about strategies as noted by Ormrod (2009). She talked about three specific strategies that “anybody can learn and use effectively (Laureate Education, 2009), which were: elaboration, comprehension monitoring, and mnemonics. Elaboration according to Ormrod (2009) is when a learner takes a piece of new information and does something with it, uses it mentally. Comprehension monitoring as noted by Ormrod (2009) is when the learner stops periodically to check themselves for comprehension and understanding. Mnemonics is the strategy of remembering a group or series of items by coming up with a clue or way to remember. An example Ormrod (2009) provided of a mnemonic was HOMES for the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
Categorizing students with a learning style and specific intelligence strengths can have its drawbacks. A drawback that concerns me is the fact that students can develop a negative self-fulfilling prophecy in that they learn they have a really high bodily- kinesthetic intelligence and spatial intelligence, so they automatically believe those are the only intelligences they need to focus on. The same applies with learning styles, if it has been ingrained in a learners head that they learn the best verbally, they may feel that is the one and only way they learn. It is important for educators and instructional designers to create materials in diverse ways touching on multiple intelligences and learning styles.
References
Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the classroom (2nd ed ). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Gardner, H. (2003, April 21). Multiple intelligences after 20 years. Paper presented to the
American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. Retrieved from
https://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG_MI_after_20_years.pdf
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Learning Styles and Strategies. [Transcript].