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How Do Multiple Intelligences Influence Teaching and Learning?
Gardner describes intelligence as “bio psychological capability to process information that may be triggered in a cultural situation to solve problems or generate products of cultural worth.” Gardner claims that there are more methods to do this than just logical and verbal intelligence.
Gardner argues that the objective of education should be “to develop intelligences and to assist people in achieving occupational and avocational goals that are suited to their unique range of intelligences.”
People who are helped to do so, (he) believes], feel more engaged and competent and therefore more inclined to serve society in a constructive way.”
Gardner claims that IQ testing primarily assess logical and verbal competence. When students perform well on these examinations, their chances of joining a top institution or university rise, resulting in productive members of society. While many kids thrive in this setting, there are those who do not. Gardner’s thesis contends that a wider view of education, in which teachers employ a variety of approaches, exercises, and activities to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and logical intelligence, will benefit children more. It asks educators to think of “means that will work for this kid studying this material.”
The majority of academics in intelligence or education have not embraced Gardner’s theory, according to James Traub’s piece in The New Republic. The theory of multiple intelligences, according to Gardner, “is consistent with much empirical evidence, but it has not undergone rigorous experimental testing… Within the field of education, the applications of the theory are currently being examined in many projects, and our hunches will have to be revised many times in light of actual classroom experience.
The intelligences were “useful fictions,” as Jerome Bruner agreed with Gardner, and he went on to say that “his technique goes so much beyond the data-crunching of mental tests that it ought to be welcomed.”
Gardner’s reasoning, according to noted cognitive psychologist George Miller, is based on “hunch and opinion,” while Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrnstein described Gardner’s theory as “uniquely empty of psychometric or other quantitative data” in The Bell Curve (1994).
According to Thomas Armstrong, Gardner’s original seven intelligences are all utilised in Waldorf education. Gardner’s theory has been embraced by many schools and is frequently used to support discussions on learning styles, despite the fact that it is not generally accepted by the psychology community. Hundreds of books have been produced about Gardner’s theory’s applicability in education.
Gardner has acknowledged that he is “uncomfortable” with how his theory has been applied to education.
