12/07/2023
At the time Howard Gardner shared his research regarding multiple intelligences in 1993, it was still widely held that there was only 1 way to be “smart,” intelligent, gifted, etc. The thinking was that one was either generally (“g” or “g factor”) intelligent, or one was not.
Gardner’s research was conducted on individuals who had sustained brain damage. In that research, he discovered evidence of something he had proposed about 10 years prior: There are different ways one can be intelligent. Gardner’s computer analogy: It was long thought that the human brain was like 1 big computer that was either good or not good. Instead, it’s more like a network of 8-12 smaller computers that any of which could be more (or less) excellent.
Multiple intelligence is not the same as learning style or preference, but it is in the same tax bracket. As a student, how often were you given, in school, an opportunity to shine brightly in non-traditional ways? As a teacher, how often have you given students varying modalities?
It’s time to RE-Imagine education.
