MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
IN THE CLASSROOM
Denver Jewish Day School
Bringing Differentiated Instruction to Life
Daniel Hettleman, Ph.D., P.C.
October 31, 2012
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
INTELLIGENCE TESTING
Alfred Binet (1904), France: very verbally
oriented
 Charles Spearman and “g”
 Raymond Cattell: fluid and crystallized
 David Wechsler, 1955
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◦ WISC (4 editions), WPPSI (4 editions), WAIS (5
editions)
◦ Verbal, Performance (Perceptual), Working
Memory, Processing Speed
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Howard Gardner (1980s)
DEFINING INTELLIGENCE
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“Mainstream Science on Intelligence" (1994),
an editorial statement by fifty-two researchers:
A very general mental capability that, among
other things, involves the ability to reason,
plan, solve problems, think abstractly,
comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and
learn from experience. It is not merely book
learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking
smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper
capability for comprehending our
surroundings—"catching on," "making
sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.
A QUICK GUIDE TO HOWARD
GARDNER
Anti- “g”-factor
 Anti- office-based IQ tests
 Intelligence =abilities for “problemsolving” and “fashioning products in a
context rich and naturalistic setting”
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**EARLY CAVEAT: these 8 intelligences are
strengths and weaknesses, not all-or-nothing
EIGHT INTELLIGENCES
Linguistic
 Logical-mathematical
 Spatial
 Bodily-Kinesthetic
--------------- Musical
 Interpersonal
 Intrapersonal
 Naturalist
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THEORETICAL BASIS
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Can the skill be isolated in brain damage studies?
Do savants/prodigies exist with that particular form
of intelligence?**
Does it have a distinctive developmental history and
a definable set of performances?
Evolutionary plausibility
Support from psychometric findings**
Support from experimental psychological tasks
An identifiable core operation or set of operations
Susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system
LINGUISTIC: Martin Luther King
“Comprehending our surroundings” through language
 Talks a lot (verbal output)
 Makes sense of information verbally (even if the child does not
talk a lot)
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◦ Takes in verbal instructions readily (auditory memory)
◦ Organizes information through verbal means (talks self through
problems, e.g. sub-vocalizing)
◦ Explains processes verbally
Syntax, semantics, pragmatics: catching on to the meaning
 Expressive Language measured by WISC/WPPSI Verbal
Comprehension subtests, CELF, Picture Vocabulary tests
 Receptive Language measured by WISC/WPPSI Working
Memory subtests, sentence and narrative memory tests, DAS
Verbal Comprehension subtest (following verbal instructions)
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LINGUISTIC, part 2
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Gardner also includes phonological
processing, phonemic awareness here
◦ But we know now this is a fairly different
process (with some overlap, some correlation)
◦ Measured by Word Attack tests, Nonsense
Word reading, DIBELS, CTOPP, WIAT Early
Reading skills
◦ Wordplay, rhyming
◦ People good with foreign languages, mimics
(comedians – Robin Williams), rappers
Utilizing linguistic intelligence in the
classroom
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INPUT: storytelling, lectures, Socratic dialogue
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Stories about any subject matter
Poems, rhymes
Verbal repetition
Others???
OUTPUT:
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Tape recorders
Have them explain processes
Have them teach others
Homework assignments to describe what they’ve
learned to their parents, siblings or friends
◦ Letter writing, publishing
◦ Others???
LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL:
Rain Man
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“Comprehending our surroundings” through logic, sequences,
patterns, categories
Capacity to use numbers effectively
If-then, cause-effect
Piaget: categorization, classification, abstraction, inference
Drawn to numbers, counting, quantifying, comparing,
categorizing
Measured by WISC/WPPSI Perceptual Reasoning, math
comprehension tests, SAT Analogies, GRE Analytic, LSAT
HOWEVER (BUYER BEWARE!):
◦ rote math facts actually related just as much to phonological
processing skills, rote memory
◦ And logic is obviously just as much verbal as it is
mathematical
◦ And math skills are just as much language-related as spatial
Utilizing logical-mathematical
intelligence in the classroom
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INPUT:
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Outlines, sequences, Venn diagrams
Lists (“High Fidelity”), time lines
Analogies
Legal analysis: historical precedent, current
circumstances, hypotheticals (if-then, if-then)
◦ Scientific: establishing hypotheses, isolating variables,
predictions, measurements
◦ Teach computer language!!!
◦ Others???
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OUTPUT:
◦ Same as above: outlines, lists, timelines, etc.
◦ Others???
SPATIAL: Leonardo Da Vinci
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“Comprehending our surroundings” through visual-spatial
means
Strong crossover with Logical-Mathematical; more distinct
from verbal than L-M
Strong crossover with Bodily-Kinesthetic (Larry Bird)
Considerable crossover with musical and interpersonal
Perceiving spatial relationships
Artistic, engineering, architecture: loves to draw, arrange, and
build
Good at graphs, maps, diagrams
Knows where everything is in the classroom
Has good ideas for setting up space for activities
Measured by WISC Perceptual Reasoning, DAS Spatial,
Beery VMI
Utilizing Spatial Intelligence in the
Classroom
INPUT: movies, diagrams, visualizations
◦ Putting information they have to memorize into a
memorable visual space
◦ Method of loci (Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua
Foer)
◦ Color cues
◦ Paintings, sculptures, etc.
◦ Graphic symbols
◦ Role-plays, hikes, walk throughs
◦ Others???
OUTPUT: role plays, diagrams, art work, maps,
graphs
◦ Others???
INTERPERSONAL: Oprah Winfrey
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“Comprehending our surroundings” through
interpersonal interactions
Highly social, perceptive of others’ emotions
Empathic, attuned, sensitive
Good at imitating others
Heightens/enhances learning
Responds differently to different teachers’
personalities
Measured by WISC “Comprehension” subtest,
WISC Picture Arrangement, “projective tests” (e.g.
Rorschach), questionnaires, interviews
Highly related to spatial intelligence
Utilizing Interpersonal Intelligence in
the Classroom
INPUTS:
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Cooperative group learning (accountability)
1:1 time
Group projects
Chevruta learning
Learning about others’ lives, others’ parents’
lives/professions
◦ Reading biographies
◦ Social-emotional learning, character education
◦ Others??
OUTPUTS:
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Same as above:
Peer counseling, honor councils
Others??
RESEARCH SUPPORTING
COOPERATIVE GROUP
LEARNING
◦ Seattle Social Development Project
 http:www.ssdp-tip.org/ssdp/findings.html
◦ Child Development Project
 http:wch.uhs.wisc.edu/13Eval/Tools/Resources/Model%20Programs/C%20DP.pdf
◦ Robert Slavin; David and Roger Johnson
 http://www.co-operation.org/?page_id=65
 Slavin, R (1994). Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and
Practice, 2nd Ed. (published by Pearson)
BODILY-KINESTHETIC: Michael
Jordan
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“Comprehending our surroundings” through physical, motoric
channels
Heavy crossover with spatial, but this adds the motor-component.
You can have strong spatial reasoning, with weak motor skill, but
it’s rare to have strong motor skill with weak spatial reasoning
Agility (Cirque-du-Soleil, dancers, athletes)
Hand-eye coordination (surgeons, mechanics)
In-class: athletic, play with tools, operate physically on the
environment in order to understand it, touch everything (these kids
might get on your nerves)
Measured by (not much in the psychology literature, because not
typically valued): Beery VMI, Fingertapping, Occupational
Therapists
Utilizing Bodily-Kinesthetic
Intelligence in the Classroom
INPUT (think Montessori classroom)
◦ Activity centers
◦ Manipulatives, “hands-on,”
◦ Body maps: mapping concepts on to parts of
the body
◦ Others???
OUTPUT:
◦ Charades, role-plays, theater, constructions
◦ Athletics
◦ Others???
MUSICAL: Mozart, Beethoven
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“Comprehending our surroundings” through
music: now Gardner gets flimsier.
VERY rare in isolation of the others.
◦ Prodigies are rare
◦ Among the rest of us, there is high crossover with
logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic –
and even verbal.
◦ Really good musicians usually have high g
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We know what this looks like: hums, sings,
taps
The field of psychology does not measure this.
“Name that Tune?”
Utilizing Musical Intelligence in the
Classroom
INPUTS: songs, poems, rhythms,
◦ Schoolhouse rock
◦ Multiplication table songs
◦ Old folk songs: John Brown, Bob Dylan, lots of history in
them
◦ Teaching to the rhythm of classical music in 4/4 time e.g.
Pachelbel’s Canon
◦ Background music
◦ Others??
OUTPUT: songs, poems
◦ Beethoven’s wig (Richard Perlmutter); putting answers to
classical music
◦ Others??
INTRAPERSONAL
INTELLIGENCE: Sigmund Freud
“Comprehending our surroundings through
understanding ourselves” – the definition
of navel gazing?
 Self-awareness
 Names emotions, reflects on own behavior
 Capacity for self-discipline
 Tolerance of weakness
 Highly related to verbal intelligence,
intrapersonal intelligence
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Utilizing Intrapersonal Intelligence in
the Classroom
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INPUT:
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Meditation, self-reflection times, silence
Self-assessments
Healthy approach to strengths and weaknesses
Goal-setting (“yellow-brick road”)
Personal reflections, associations, “connections”
Social-emotional learning, character education
Others??
OUTPUT:
◦ Autobiographies, personal reflections/essays
◦ Self-assessments
◦ Others??
NATURALIST: John Muir
“Comprehending our surroundings”
through exploration of the natural world
 Outdoors-y, sensitivity for nature
 Passion for nature
 Appreciation for biological sciences
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Utilizing Naturalist Intelligence in the
Classroom
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INPUT
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Nature walks: learning science, math, history
Plants
Animals/pets
Others??
OUTPUTS
◦ Daydreamers – ask for their observations while
looking out the window; have them track changes in
light, shading, weather
◦ Others??
COMPENSATION FOR
WEAKNESSES
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How can you learn math or geometry while taking a
walk?
How can you discuss a book by asking a child to
reflect on him/herself ?
How can you teach multiplication tables through
music?
How can you teach phonemic awareness through
body or mouth movements?
How can you teach geography through poetry?
How can you teach history through a group
competition?
How can you teach social skills with lists?
CAVEATS
These are preferences, not absolutes.
 Just because a child comprehends his/her
surroundings best using language does not
mean an inability to do so through spatial
or mathematical or musical means.
 Just because a child has a score that is
average, or even below average on an IQ
test does not mean he/she is UNABLE to
learn through that means, it just means it’s
not as readily available or accessible.
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WHAT TO DO?
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In 2012, you’re probably already providing all
or most of these opportunities for inputs and
outputs.
Maybe this is a good reminder to yourself to
notice the cognitive strengths in each child,
and try to reach them through their strengths.
Don’t underestimate the student’s weak sides;
they can be developed – even if not to the
same extent as their greatest strengths.
Try a Howard Gardner matrix for each kid.
RESOURCES
Armstrong, Thomas (2009). Multiple
Intelligences in the Classroom (3rd edition).
Alexandria, Virginia: ACSD.
Gardner, Howard (1993) Multiple
Intelligences: The theory in practice. New
York: Basic Books.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Daniel Hettleman, Ph.D., P.C.
1115 Grant St. #204
Denver, CO 80220
(303) 912-6632
dhettleman@comcast.net
http://danielhettleman.com/