Multiple Intelligence
The key idea of multiple intelligence is that every person has multiple types of intelligence. A person may have a natural flair for music butmay not be a good athlete. So, a single IQ score cannot be used to identify how intelligent a person actually is. Each type of intelligence must be separately assessed and the person’s score measured for that type of intelligence.
Howard Gardner (1983) defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting". According to him, everyone has all forms of intelligences but in varying proportions. He has proposed a new theory of multiple intelligences. The following table lists the eight intelligences identified by him.
| Intelligence | Dimension / Aspect | How to Develop |
|---|---|---|
| Bodily Kinesthetic | The ability to use one's physical body very effectively. Such children also have a good awareness of their body. | Physical activity, hands-on experiences, acting and role playing |
| Interpersonal | The ability to sense others' feelings. These children learn by interacting with others and often have many friends. | Group activities and team games |
| Intrapersonal | The ability to know one's body and mind (self awareness). These childre have a clear understanding of their goals and interests. They tend to keep to themselves. | Study materials, creative materials and books. |
| Linguistic | The ability to communicate well - perhaps both orally and in writing, and may be in several languages. These children love reading and word games. | Saying new words, understanding meanings of words and reading books. |
| Logical - Mathematical | The ability to learn higher mathematics and handle complex logical aspects. These children love reasoning and calculating, and can think conceptually and abstractly. | Puzzles, logic games and simple experiments. |
| Musical | The ability to learn, perform and compose music. These children show an interest towards rhythm and sound. | Music in the background, lessons in music and speaking rhythmically. |
| Naturalisitc | The ability to understand different species, recognise patterns in nature and classify natural objects. These children love to classify plants and animals. | Visits to museums, zoos, gardens. |
| Spatial | The ability to know where you are to fixed locations, accomplish tasks requiring three-dimensional visualisation and placement of hands or other parts of the body. It also refers to the ability to think in terms of pictures, and make accurate and abstract visualisations. This also helps in problem solving. | Through drawings, puzzles and imaging. |
Thus multiple intelligence helps parents in identifying a broad range of talents and skills in their children, and to guide them in developing expertise in those skills. Here is a
check list that parents might find useful in assessing their children's intelligence.
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