Chapter 1:The Foundations of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardiner was dissatisfied with the idea that the intelligence of a person could be summed up in a single number, the IQ score. He came up with the theory of multiple intelligences, eight of them originally, with one that has since been added and another one still being considered. This is a cognitive model that focuses on the content of the world and how people use their intelligences to solve problems and build products. The types are: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. The qualifications for an intelligence are the following: the ability to exist without one or more of the others due to brain damage, the existence of intense specialization in one intelligence leaving the others underdeveloped, also known as a prodigy or a savant, the ability to test a single intelligence, a clear evolutionary path that has been traced, the existence of an exceptional piece of work using that intelligence in history, and a set time in a human's life that the development, peak, and decline of the intelligence exists. This information affects me as a future teacher by simply knowing that these intelligences exist. My students will use their different cognitive abilities to understand my lesson. Even though a few students might share dominant intelligences, the way the intelligences interact and express themselves is completely different. However if I don't try to teach to the different intelligences I will inevitably leave some students behind or struggling. For example, if I never use anything that has to do with nature in my lessons, the naturalist in my class won't ever get a chance to use his natural or most dominant intelligence in my class. This will make the lesson harder to learn because the student will have to use a secondary intelligence. This affects my students because even though I will try to appeal to all intelligences, all of them have all of the intelligences, and they could, with extra work, develop their less dominant intelligences. I might even try to help my students develop other intelligences.