The Goal of Multiple Intelligences MI The Function and Benefits of MI
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Gardner’s criteria that considered are evidenced by: 1 The potential isolation of an intellectual competence by brain
damage; 2 The presence of highly uneven profiles of abilities of idiot
savants, prodigies, and autistic children; 3 The existence of one or more basic information processing
mechanisms or core operations on various kinds of input, such as the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic capacities in language, or the
rhythmic and pitch abilities in music; 4 The existence of a distinctive developmental history linked to an
identifiable set of expert performances; 5 The plausibility of an evolutionary history;
6 The support from experimental tasks showing the difficulty of establishing transfers of learning across tasks;
7 The support from psychometric findings on the high correlation among tasks designed to assess one type of ability; and
8 The susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system such as language, mathematics, and picturing Chan, 2000.
Based on these criteria above, firstly, Gardner 1983 initially identified seven intelligences that all individuals possess to varying degrees. These all
intelligences can be combined and used in highly personal ways. In his 1999 book, entitled Intelligence Reframed, Gardner considered additional candidate
27 intelligences. The intelligence includes spiritual, existential, and moral ones.
Finally, in 1999, Gardner added naturalist intelligence as the eighth intelligence. Below are the definition of the eight intelligences and also the example.
Table 2.1 Definition of MI and the Examples
Intelligence Definition
Example
Verbal-linguistic intelligence
Ability to think in words and language, and to use in
expressing and appreciates complex meanings listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. Authors, poets,
journalist, speakers, newscasters.
Logical-mathematical intelligence
This intelligence deals with deductive and inductive
reasoning, numbers and relationships. It involves the
ability to calculate, to recognize patterns, to work with geometric
shapes, to consider propositions and hypotheses, and to carry out
complex mathematical operations.
Scientist, accountant,
engineer, computer programmer.
Visual-spatial intelligence
This includes
the ability to
visualize an object and to create mental images. It deals with the
visual arts,
navigation, architecture,
games such
as chess, and to producedecode
graphic information. Sailor, pilot,
sculptor, painter, architect.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
It is
related to
physical movement, the knowledge of the
body and
its functions.
It includes the ability to manipulate
objects, to use the body to express emotions, to play a
game, and to interpret and to invoke effective body language.
Athletes, dancers, surgeons,
Musical intelligence It
includes the
ability to
recognize melody, pitch, rhythm, and
timbre. It
includes the
sensitivity to
environmental sounds, the human voice and
Composer, conductor, musician,
critic, instrument makers.
28 musical instruments.
Interpersonal intelligence
It is used to understand and to interact effectively with others.
It includes
the ability
to communicate with others, to
have empathy for their feelings and beliefs, to work with and
relate
to others,
and to
understand their
moods, temperaments, motivations, and
intentions. Teacher, social
worker, actor, politician.
Intrapersonal intelligence
It refers
to the
ability to
construct an accurate perception of
oneself and
to use
the knowledge
in planning
and directing one’s life.
Theologian, psychologist,
philosopher.
Naturalist intelligence It consists of observing patterns
in nature,
identifying and
classifying objects,
and understanding
natural and
human made systems. Farmer, botanist,
hunter, ecologist, landscaper.
Every student may have different intelligences. It means that they cannot be assessed and evaluated in the same way or one way. Below are some activities
which can be applied in class according to Christison and Amstrong, as quoted by Freeman 2000: 170. They are:
Table 2. 2 Example of Activities for MI
Intelligence Examples of activities
Logical-mathematical Puzzle,
logical games,
classifications and
categorizations, cards games Visual-spatial
Jigsaw puzzle, videos, drawing, maze, map globe, chards and grids
Bodily-kinesthetic Fieldtrips, pantomime, magic tricks, hands-on activity
Musical Singing, playing music instrument, listen to the music
or songs Interpersonal
Pair work, group discussion, project work Intrapersonal
Self-evaluation, journal keeping
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Intelligence Examples of activities
Verballinguistic Story-telling, debates, crossword puzzle, scrabble,
note-taking. Although nowadays there have been nine intelligences found, the writer
only used seven intelligences to be covered in her English speaking material design. The seven intelligences are linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical
intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence.
As the conclusion which is based on the criteria of MI and the ways of assessing the intelligences, it can be seen that MI is a ‘flexible’ method in
teaching learning process. It seems flexible since it gives more chances for any new knowledge, techniques, concepts, plans or anything that may help students in
developing their dominant intelligences. Through MI, the students’ needs may fulfilled by the teachers. The teaching learning process may become a comfortable
zone for the teachers and of course for the students since they can explore themselves in the suitable ways.
MI may bring some benefits for the teachers and also the students since it can be applied in any schools and family. It gives chances on some new
discoveries techniques, or concept, or the way in understanding. The teachers can be more creative and have initiative to find more ways in helping students to
fulfill their needs. On the other hand, the students may get more chances and ways to express their intelligences. Through this way, the students can be more active
and successful learners in their own unique ways.