Over twenty-three years ago, Dr. Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, introduced the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. While conducting research with brain-damaged patients, he became aware that these patients lost different abilities depending upon the location of their brain injury. These studies suggested a biological basis for specialized intelligences. Defining intelligence as the ability to solve a problem or create a product that is valued in a culture, Gardner developed criteria for determining what set of skills make up intelligence.
It is important to note that up until this point, intelligence had been solely defined through standardized testing that measured mathematical and language ability. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences offered an entirely new schema regarding what intelligence means. Although Dr. Gardner viewed the Theory of Multiple Intelligences as a contribution to psychology rather than to education, educators readily embraced his theory, recognizing its potential implications for the educational setting. The multiple intelligences theory is applied in schools throughout the world today and multiple intelligences research continues as educators further explore and develop applications.
In his book, Frames of Mind, Gardner (1983 /1993) identifies the eight intelligences and their core operations as:
Linguistic (syntax, phonology, semantics, pragmatics;
Musical (pitch, rhythm, timbre);
Logical-Mathematical (number, categorization, relations);
Spatial (mental visualization, mental transformation of images);
Bodily-Kinesthetic (control of one's own body, control of handling objects); Interpersonal (awareness of others' feelings, emotions, goals, motivations); Intrapersonal (awareness of one's own feelings, emotions, goals, motivations); Naturalist (recognition and classification of objects in the environment).
Skyview’s active pedagogy is informed through the multiple intelligences (M.I.). M.I. is used as a tool to access content and as a mechanism for delivering rich curriculum in which an array of intelligences are blended together during curriculum investigations. Furthermore, student capacity and growth within the eight intelligences is encouraged.
