How Are You Smart?
Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

Stanford Binet IQ
Scholastic Aptitude
Who is Smart?
• Theory introduced by Howard
Gardner in 1983
• People are not born with all of
the intelligence that they will
ever have
• Intelligence can be learned
throughout life
• Everyone is intelligent in at least
eight different ways and can
develop each aspect of
intelligence to an average level
of competency
Dee Ann - Back in the Day…..
•Played Flute/Piccolo
•Sang in Church Choir
•Played Softball
•Very Social
•Wrote in Journals
Take a moment to reflect upon your history of your
own intelligence
Multiple Intelligences
Word Smart
Number Smart
Picture Smart
Music Smart
Body Smart
People Smart
Self Smart
Nature Smart
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
 Listens and responds to the
spoken word
 Enjoys reading, writing, and
discussing
 Remembers what has been
said
 Remembers what has been
read
 Speaks and writes
effectively
 Can learn other languages
Famous People With
Verbal/Linguistic
Intelligence
•William Shakespeare
•Edgar Allen Poe
•Earnest Hemmingway
•F. Scott Fitzgerald
•Emily Dickinson
•Agatha Christie
•T.S. Eliot
•Rudyard Kipling
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Book
Reporting
•Telling Jokes
•Writing Words
•Reading
•Journal Writing
•Speaking
•Letter writing
•Storytelling
•Discussing
•Creative writing
•Debating
•Persuading
Logical/Mathematical Intelligence
 Is familiar with the
concepts of
quantity, time, and
cause and effect.
 Uses abstract
symbols to
represent concrete
objects and
concepts.
 Likes math and
using technology to
solve complex
problems.
 Expresses interest
in careers such as
accounting,
computer
technology, and
law.
Famous People With
Logical/Mathematic
Intelligence
• Einstein
• Pythagoras
• Newton
• Pascal
• Archimedes
• Euclid
• Copernicus
• Plato
• Galileo
• Aristotle
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Analyzing
•Reasoning
•Categorizing
•Time Lines
•Formulas
•Synthesis
•Logic Games
•Sequencing
•Outlining
•Rational Thinking
•Problem Solving
•Scientific Thinking
•Patterns
•Venn Diagrams
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
 Prefers to touch, handle, or
manipulate what is to be
learned
 Develops coordination and a
sense of timing
 Learns best by direct
involvement and
participation
 Remembers most clearly
what was done, rather than
what was said or observed
Famous People With
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Intelligence
• Babe Ruth
• Kristi Yamaguchi
• Shawn Johnson
• Joe Montana
•Mickey Mantle
•Carrie Ann Inaba
•Johnny Weir
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Acting
•Impersonations
•Charades
•Inventing
•Collections
•Martial Arts
•Demonstrations
•Miming
•Experiments
•Puppetry
•Field Trips
•Visiting
•Gymnastics
•Exercise
Visual/Spatial Intelligence
 Learns by seeing and observing
 Recognizes faces, objects, shapes,
colors, details, and scenes
 Thinks in pictures and visualizes
detail
 Uses visual images as an aid in
recalling information
 Enjoys doodling, drawing, painting,
sculpting, or otherwise reproducing
objects in visible form
Famous People With
Visual/Spatial Intelligence
• Leonardo Da Vinci
•Pablo Picasso
•Spike Lee
•Vincent Van Gogh
•Frank Lloyd Wright
(architect)
•Steven Spielberg
•Ansel Adams
•Michaelangelo
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Brochures
•Painting
•Collages
•Photography
•Designs
•Posters
•Drawings
•Pretending
•Flow Charts
•Sculpting
•Mapping
•Visualization
•Molding Clay
•Idea Sketching
•Patterns
•Labeling
Musical Intelligence
 Listens and responds with
interest to a variety of sounds
including the human voice,
environmental sounds, and
music, and organizes such
sounds into meaningful patterns
 Is eager to be around and learn
from music and musicians
 Develops the ability to sing
and/or play an instrument
Famous People With
Musical/Rhythmic
Intelligence
•Ludwig van Beethoven
•Ray Charles
•Robert Schumann
•Sergei Rachmaninoff
•Yehudi Menuhin
•Willie Nelson
•The Mavericks
•Lawerence Welk
•George Gershwin
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Singing
•Instrumental sounds
•Create Chants
•Listening
•Create Concept Songs
•Mood Music
•Environmental Sounds
•Music Composition
•Humming
•Musical Performance
•Illustrate With Sounds
•Percussion and Raps
•Vocal Sounds and Tonal
Patterns
•Reproduce sounds and
rhythms
Interpersonal Intelligence
 Bonds with parents and interacts
with others
 Forms and maintains social
relationships
 Perceives feelings, thoughts,
motivations, behaviors, and
lifestyles of others
 Expresses an interest in careers
such as teaching, social work,
counseling, management, or politics
Famous People With
Interpersonal Intelligence
• Abraham Lincoln
•George Washington
•Ghandi
•Dr.Joyce Brothers
•Oprah Winfrey
•Jesse Jackson
•Martin Luther King
•Rev. Billy Graham
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Understanding
other's feelings
•Person-to-person
communication
•Group projects
•Teaching someone
else something new
•Creating "phone
buddies" for
homework
•Learning from
someone outside of
school
•Creating group rules
•Acting in a play or
simulation
•Conducting an
interview
•Sensing others’
motives
Intrapersonal Intelligence
 Aware of his range of
emotions
 Motivated to identify and
pursue goals
 Works independently
 Establishes and lives by an
ethical value system
 Strives for self-actualization
Famous People With
Intrapersonal Intelligence
•Aristotle
•Emily Dickinson
•General George Patton
•Helen Keller
•Malcolm X
•Mohammed
•Maya Angelou
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
 Autobiography
 Concentration
 Goal Setting
 Independent Study
 Free-Choice Time
 Thinking Strategies
 Expression of Feelings
Naturalist Intelligence
 Recognizes and can name many
different types of trees, flowers,
and plants
 Has an interest in and good
knowledge of how the body
works and keeps abreast of
health issues
 Is conscious of tracks, nests, and
wildlife on a walk and can “read”
weather signs
 Has an understanding of, and
interest in, the main global
environmental issues
Famous People With
Naturalist Intelligence
• Louis Pasteur
•John Muir
•Jack Hanna
•Charles Darwin
•John Burroughs
•Steve Irwin
•John Lyons
•Cherry Hill
Activities Students Would
Enjoy….
•Planting/Gardening
•Having Class Outdoors
•Ecological Studies
•Animal Care
•Nature Walks
•Camping
•Outdoor Field Trip
•Nature Collections
•Take a moment to reflect upon your present
multiple intelligences
•Go to Birmingham Grid for Learning
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/cli
ent_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/questions.c
fm
OR
• Google Multiple Intelligence Test (look for bgfl in
the web address)
Applications
 Dr. Gardner says that our schools focus on linguistic and
logical-mathematical intelligence
 Leads to kids being labeled as “learning disabled” or
“hyperactive” when they may not be
 Theory of multiple intelligences suggests that teachers be
trained to present their lessons in a wide variety of ways
using music, cooperative learning, art activities, role play,
multimedia, field trips, inner reflection, and much more
The Key is ….
 Don’t try to fit MI
into a box.
 As educators we
must teach the
whole child and
work to address all
intelligences and
their many facets.
Implementing Gardner
 Lesson Design – Using all or different intelligences
and asking students for opinions on them
 Student Projects – Students can learn to "initiate
and manage complex projects" when they are
creating student projects.
 Assessments – Devised to allow students to show
what they have learned.
Implementing Gardner
 Misuses
 Trying to teach all concepts or subjects using all
intelligences
 Using an intelligence as a background for other
activities
 Direct evaluation or grading of intelligences without
regard to context.
Implementing Gardner
Common Good Uses (from Gardner himself)
 “Cultivate those skills and capabilities that are valued in the
community and in the broader society.”
 “It makes far more sense to spend a significant amount of time
on key concepts, generative ideas, and essential questions and
to allow students to become familiar with these notions and
their implications.”
 “At the heat of this perspective- in theory and in practice-
inheres in taking human difference seriously.”
References
Armstrong, Thomas. Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 2nd Ed..
Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2000.
Birmingham Grid for Learning Multiple Intelligences Test. Retrieved from
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/
multiple_int/questions/questions.cfm
Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, 1983
Kagan & Kagan. Multiple Intelligences: The Complete Handbook. 1998.
Kagan Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, CA
How Are You Smart?
Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom
