Journal Entry four

Entry Four:

Quote:	In addition to the linguistic and logical-mathematical forms of intelligence that are at a premium in the schools, I proposed five additional intelligences… musical, special, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal.[1]
Section:	Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (MI)	Ch. 9	The Brain and Cognitive Functioning

Objective:

Chapter nine, the brain and cognitive functioning deals with the physical aspect of the brain and how we cognate with it. Although it starts off with structure, it also assigns mental attributes to the physical structure, such as memory, intelligence, and cognitive development. The quote that I have used here deals with Gardner’s concepts of multiple intelligence. Prior to this theory, the notion of intelligence was fairly flat. There was one type of intelligence and if you had it, you had it, but if you did not you, you didn’t. This did not account for higher than average abilities for people with low, “traditional” IQs. This quote is the beginning of an understanding of differing types of intelligence, independent from each other.[2]

Reflective:

The reason for choosing this particular quote is directly with the cliental that I deal with, First Nations. In Canada, educational standards for reaching higher education, and graduation from grade twelve has always been at a lower level for FN learners. Traditionally, they have also scored poorly on standard IQ tests. And yet, after working with this group of learners, it is easy to see that their strengths lay outside traditional held belief about intelligence.

I was made quite aware of this when I taught for seven years in Japan. From my observations there, I found that most (although not all) Native English Speakers, don’t learn another language, because English is the only language they think they need to know. If you think about it, this is a bit arrogant, but not without validation. Most English teachers in Japan stay less than a year (about 95%), and never learn Japanese. This mentality about the importance of learning the language of the culture you are in, is reflected in how knowledge is perceived. “I speak English, so I already know all the language I need.” The same could be said of traditional concepts of intelligence. “If you don’t know what I know, you are not intelligent.”

Interpretive:

Gardener proposed that this limited view of intelligence was just that, limited. His proposal was that we have five additional types of Intelligence. It should be noted that other have expanded to this list, and many MI tests will look for eight types of intelligences, and there is even talk that there might be as many as 50 kinds. Mind you, this is not a new notation, we regularly give learning needs analysis and aptitude test to potential learners all of the time. Through these, we see what the learner’s strengths and weaknesses are, and plan our lessons around what is needed to meet the minimum standards of the knowledge and how best to achieve them.

Gardner however does have some weaknesses in his theory.[3]

1.       He did not use traditional definitions of intelligence and incorporated the concepts of abilities and skills into his definition of intelligence. Although you could argue that they should have been included before, this does not help, when you change the rules of the testing.

2.       When he first made his proposal, he never actually made any MI tests in order to measure these types of intelligences. The tests listed in the decisional are actually made from his research, but not by him.

3.       And of course there is also the glaring lack of empirical evidence. As a science major myself, this is concerning.

And yet, there still appears to be value in this theory, because it accommodates many learner’s needs for further education, in particular my group of learners. This could also be taken into account with Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence theory, which also has validity (in the opinion of this reporter) in adult education.

Decisional:

There are many ways in which to view MI. You can view it as a new hypothesis that has not been proven into an accepted theory, or you can look at the benefits of utilizing the concepts in this proposal. I tend to use the latter, because of the nature of my learning group. I have found that looking at the different strengths of the learner is a good start for the delivery of effective learning. There are many ways to do this. As mentioned the college that I work at utilizes skills testing, but there are also online tolls as well, such as BGFL’s Multiple intelligence tests, or the Multiple Intelligence Test for Adult Education and Literacy, that I have used in the past.

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[1] Gardener, H., (2000). A case against spiritual intelligence. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 10(1), 27 – 34

[2] Merriam S.B. & Bierema, L. L (2014). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. Wiley & Sons., P. 178

[3] Sternberg, R. J. (Winter 1983). "How much Gall is too much gall? Review of Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences". Contemporary Education Review 2 (3): 215–224.