Planning Ideas

Multiple Intelligences

What are Multiple Intelligences?

The theory of Multiple Intelligences is that people process (interpret) information in different ways. We all have different ways of processing information or learning. And, we find some ways of learning new information easier than others.

Remember like yourself – Students Are Unique in How They Think and Learn

Ask yourself…

  • Were there subjects at school that you were particularly good at and really liked?
  • Do you prefer to read books/websites or watch videos to get information?
  • Do you like to talk about issues/work problems you are trying to solve or reflect on them personally?
  • Do you have an “inner artist”?
  • Do you like working with numbers?
  • Do you like writing and reading?
  • Is music important to you?
  • Do you find it easier to understand things when there are pictures, graphs, or tables showing information and ideas?

The Benefits of Using Multiple Intelligences in your Teaching

  • Allows us to get ideas about how to present our courses’ knowledge and skills in different ways
  • Allows all of our students to more easily access and learn our course’s content
  • Allows us to get ideas about alternative ways that our students can show their knowledge and understanding of our courses
  • Makes our classes more interesting, engaging and fun

What is your Preferred Intelligences or Learning Style?

Try this Self-Evaluation: Before you read the information on this page, take this quick survey – Assessment: To Find Your Strengths – to help you identify the ways that you like to learn. This will take you about 5 minutes. At the end you will get a profile of your preferred intelligences or learning styles and be able to read about the characteristics of each intelligence.

What is the Theory of Multiple Intelligences?

Dr. Howard Gardener proposed his Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983, identifying 8 types of intelligence. Basically, his theory puts forward that we all have preferred ways to learn new information. Some people like to read and then reflect deeply on new information. Some people like to watch videos or listen to lectures and then talk about the new information.

We all have all of these intelligences, but use some of them more than others when we are learning. This is important information for teachers as it allows us to reflect on different ways to present the knowledge and skills from our courses and allow students different ways to show their knowledge and understanding of our material. This will facilitate all our students access to our courses’ knowledge and skills and facilitate the success of all our learners.

Watch this video to learn about how to use Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences in your teaching. This video focuses on auditory (say it), visual (show it) and kinesthetic (do it) teaching inputs, but has lots of good ideas for teaching-learning activities.

Ideas to get you Using Multiple Intelligences in your Teaching

Below is an example of suggestions for Social Intelligence: People who are strong in the social intelligence like to develop ideas and learn from other people. They like to talk. They have good social skills.

Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons:

  • Take part in group discussions or discuss a topic one-to-one.
  • Read a dialogue or a play together.
  • Do team learning/investigating projects.
  • Set up interview questions, and interview your family. Write the results.
  • Write notes to one another instead of talking.

You could share the quick survey with your students. Get them to do the self-evaluation (the one you did at the start) and then report on the group’s major intelligences. This will give you a good idea about the dominant or preferred intelligences/learning styles in your group.

You can use this vital information to adapt your teaching to meet the learning needs of your students. You could change the ways you present information; you could use different instructional strategies; you could adapt your assessment tasks to allow students to show their understanding in different ways.

To learn more: An example of an Adapted Topic using Multiple Intelligences (PDF)

First, write down how you teach this material at the moment and then think of alternative ways that you can:

  • Present the information
  • Get students using the information
  • Assess that the students have understood the information

Points to consider:

  • Try to develop a range of strategies using a range of intelligences
  • You don’t need to use every intelligence for every activity: try to match the intelligences with the learning task

Extend Your Learning

  • This website takes you to the Introduction page of the Literacy Works website. It explains how to get the most out of their excellent website. Explore this website to get lots of great ideas to use multiple intelligences to enhance your students’ learning.
  • This website gives lots of information on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. The table half way down the page gives a very good summary of the features of the different intelligences, typical jobs/professions that use each intelligence and learning activities that promote the use of each intelligence.