Questions? Call 1-800-237-0178 or email leellington@vcu.edu
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June 2006
No. 4
www.valrc.org

 

 

 

 

What's in Update on LD this month?

Multiple Intelligences theory draws on the concept that everyone has areas of strength and weakness. By tapping into different intelligences during the learning process, learners with disabilities or difficulties can capitalize on their strengths to learn. Learn more about the use of Multiple Intelligences theory in this issue.

You'll also find Book Blurbs. Remember that all books reviewed in Book Blurbs are available in the Resource Center's library for you to check out.

This issue also features websites that give more information about Multiple Intelligences theory.

Learn about your own intelligences!

Accelerated Learning offers a free profile of your intelligences. To learn more about yourself as a learner, go to: www.acceleratedlearning.com/
method/test_your_style.html.

Thirteen Ed Online also offers an intelligences inventory at: www.thirteen.org/edonline/
concept2class/mi/w1_interactive1.
html.

The Learning Disabilities Resource Community offers a Multiple Intelligences Inventory that is a thorough assessment of your specific intelligences at:
http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/
miinventory/ miinventory.php.

Websites for more on MI theory:

Thirteen Ed Online's Concept to Classroom Workshop: Tapping Into Multiple Intelligences
www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/
index.html

The Association for Curriculum and Development
www.ascd.org
(click on Education Topics and then Multiple Intelligences)

Walter McKenzie's Surfaquarium: I Think Therefore MI! Multiple Intelligences in Education
http://surfaquarium.com/MI/

New Horizons for Learning's Multiple Intelligences
www.newhorizons.org/strategies/mi/
front_mi.htm

Dr. Howard Gardner's website
www.howardgardner.com/

David Lazear's Multiple Intelligences Website
www.multi-intell.com/

Multiple Intelligences: Classroom Applications for Students with Learning Disabilities self-paced online workshop
http://snow.utoronto.ca/prof_dev/tht/multint/

Who should I contact if I have questions?

Lauren Ellington is the Learning Disabilities Specialist for the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center.

If you have any questions about learning disabilities, please contact her by email at: leellington@vcu.edu or by phone at 1-804-828-6158 or
1-800-237-0178.

She will be happy to answer your learning disabilities-related questions or find an answer for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Blurbs

With each issue of Update on LD, books on learning disabilities or related issues that are available in the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center's library will be highlighted.

If any of the books are of interest to you, you may contact the Resource Center to borrow the books.

Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice by Howard Gardner. New York: BasicBooks, 1993.

Howard Gardner's brilliant conception of individual competencies is changing the face of education today. In the years since the publication of his seminal Frames of Mind, thousands of educators, parents, and researchers have explored the practical implications of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory -- the powerful notion that there are separate human capacities, ranging from musical intelligence to the intelligence involved in understanding oneself. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice brings together previously published and original work by Gardner and his colleagues at Project Zero to provide a coherent picture of what we have learned about the educational applications of MI theory from projects in schools and formal research.

 

Eight Ways of Teaching: The Artistry of Teaching with Multiple Intelligences, Third Edition by David Lazear. Arlington Heights, Illinois: SkyLight Professional Development, 1999.

Learn vocabulary through physical movement? Learn math through poetry or rap? Certainly -- with the help of Eight Ways of Teaching! Now in the third edition of this landmark book, David Lazear shows you how to create lessons that draw upon the many ways of knowing you and your students possess -- and how to transform your classroom into a place where fun and learning take place at the same time. This practical guidebook takes you through each of the eight intelligences -- verbal (linguistic), mathematical, visual (spatial), kinesthetic, rhythmic (musical), interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist -- and helps you expand your teaching repertoire by exploring hundreds of new ways for you to present, and your students to process, information.

 

Multiple Intelligences and Adult Literacy: A Sourcebook for Practitioners by Julie Viens and Silja Kallenbach. New York: Teachers College Press, 2004.

In this breakthrough volume, the authors present an overview of Multiple Intelligences theory along with concrete examples that educators can use in their classroom with adult literacy students. Featuring the experiences of teachers who participated in the Adult Multiple Intelligences (AMI) Study, this practical sourcebook includes:

  • MI Basics - providing educators with the "basics" of MI theory: what it is and how it can inform practice.

  • MI Reflections - looking at the successes and challenges involved in using MI theory in adult education, including an array of activities for exploring MI theory with students.

  • MI-Inspired Instruction - discussing how MI theory can be used to develop learning experiences and instructional strategies that tap into students' intelligence strengths.

  • Discussion Questions for individual and group reflection.

  • Classroom Experiences for trying out ideas in your own settings.

Multiple Intelligences Theory

"The introduction of Multiple Intelligences theory (MI theory) in 1983 generated considerable interest in the educational community. Multiple Intelligences was a provocative new theory, claiming at least seven relatively independent intelligences, in marked contrast to the traditional view of a unitary, 'general' intelligence. Multiple Intelligences theory was intended for an audience of psychologists. Gardner's introduction to MI theory, Frames of Mind, had little to say about classroom applications. Yet many educators who are aware of the many different 'smarts' their students bring to the classroom have enthusiastically received it. They are drawn to MI theory because it supports pedagogy and approaches such as whole language, cooperative learning, and multisensory teaching. As a formal theory based on empirical research, it validates what teachers already know and do when they use diverse classroom practices." --- Julie Viens and Silja Kallenbach in Multiple Intelligences and Adult Literacy: A Sourcebook for Practitioners , 2004

Multiple Intelligences theory was developed by Howard Gardner. Through his work in neuropsychology and cognitive development, Gardner began to have questions about the traditional definition of intelligence which was measured by IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests. Gardner created a new definition of intelligence that stated that intelligence is "a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture" (Gardner, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, 1999, pp.33-34). This new definition made a distinction that intelligence could be culture specific.

There are currently eight distinct intelligences. The last intelligence, naturalist, was added in 1995. A ninth intelligence, existential, is now under consideration by Dr. Gardner and his colleagues but it has not yet met all of the criteria as an intelligence. The table below gives an overview of the eight intelligences as defined by Gardner and Checkley in "The First Seven and the Eighth: A Conversation with Howard Gardner," Educational Leadership, 55(1), p. 8-13 and Viens and Kallenbach in Multiple Intelligences and Adult Literacy: A Sourcebook for Practitioners, 2004.

Type of Intelligence
Definition
Roles or Domains that Significantly Use this Intelligence
Linguistic Linguistic intelligence is the capacity to use language, your native language, and perhaps other languages, to express what's on your mind and to understand other people. novelist, journalist, poet, preacher, dispatcher, law, coaching, teaching, stand-up comedian
Logical-Mathematical People with highly developed logical-mathematical intelligence understand the underlying principles of some kind of a causal system, the way a scientist or a logician does; or can manipulate number, quantities, and operations, the way a mathematician does. math teacher, architect, budget analyst, scientist, computer programmer, accountant, engineering, building, knitting
Musical Musical intelligence is the capacity to think in music, to be able to hear patterns, recognize them, remember them, and perhaps manipulate them. People who have a strong musical intelligence don't just remember music easily --- they can't get it out of their minds, it's so omnipresent. musician, conductor, composer, choreographer, disc jockey, sound engineer, music critic, piano tuner, cheerleader
Spatial Spatial intelligence refers to the ability to represent the spatial world internally -- the way a sailor or airplane pilot navigates the large spatial world, or the way a chess player or sculptor represents a more circumscribed spatial world. Spatial intelligence can be used in the arts or the sciences. gardner, mechanic, photographer, sculptor, house painter, dancer, surgeon, carpenter, athlete
Bodily-Kinesthetic Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence is that capacity to use your whole body or parts of your body -- your hand, your fingers, your arms -- to solve a problem, make something, or put on some kind of a production. The most evident examples are people in athletics or the performing arts, particularly dancing or acting. dancer, coach, sculptor, athlete, artisan, actor, mime, surgeon, sign language interpreter
Interpersonal Interpersonal intelligence is understanding other people. It's an ability we all need, but is at a premium if you are a teacher, clinician, salesperson, or politician. Anybody who deals with other people has to be skilled in the interpersonal sphere. educator, activist, counselor, diplomat, community organizer, religious leader, social scientist / researcher, management consultant, negotiator
Intrapersonal Intrapersonal intelligence refers to having an understanding of yourself, knowing who you are, what you can do, what you want to do, how you react to things, which things to avoid, and which things to gravitate toward. therapist, psychologist, musician, poet, artist, spiritual / religious leader, motivational speaker, activist, philosopher
Naturalist Naturalist intelligence designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). florist, botanist, biologist, fisherman, chef, environmental educator, forest ranger, farming, sailing

Multiple Intelligences theory also has six key features that distinguish it from other theories.

  1. A definition of intelligence based on real world intelligence
  2. A pluralistic view of intelligence
  3. All eight (or more) intelligences are universal
  4. Unique profiles of intelligence that develop and change
  5. Each intelligence involves subabilities or different manifestations
  6. Intelligences work in combination in domains, not in isolation

Bridges to Practice: Learning Disabilities Trainings are now available.

Are your teachers at a loss as to how to adapt instruction for the learner with learning disabilities? Do they question which techniques would be the best to use with specific learning problems? If your program needs to learn more about learning disabilities, please contact Lauren Ellington to discuss a training.