Multiple Intelligence Essay

Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences in 1983, in his book Frames of Mind (Giles, Pitre, & Womack, 2003). This book became the centerpiece to understand and teach human intelligence and the different types of learning styles. During this discovery he found seven unique intelligences. A decade later Gardner discovered two additional intelligences which were published in Gardner’s Intelligence Reframed. Gardner states that all intelligences can be measured by an IQ test. He defines intelligence as the “human ability to solve problems or to make something that is valued in one or more cultures” (Checkley, 1997, p. 8). There are eight criteria’s that each intelligence needs to meet in order to be identified as an intelligence they (Armstrong, 2009, p. 8) are: potential of isolation by brain damage; existence of savants, prodigies, and other exceptional individuals; an identifiable core operation or set of operations; support from experimental psychological tasks; support from psychometric findings; a distinctive developmental history with a definable set of expert “end-state” performances; evolutionary plausibility; susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system.
The first intelligence is known as verbal-linguistic. This intelligence refers to the ability to comprehend words oral or written and the capability to manipulate them (Giles, Pitre, & Womack, 2003). Some great examples for this intelligence belong to poets, teachers, reporters, and writers. The second intelligence that was discovered is the logical-mathematical intelligence. The ability to use numbers efficiently to collect and organize data refers to the mathematical intelligence (Giles, Pitre, & Womack, 2003). Bankers, engineers, scientists, and...

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...s to figure out if they are satisfactory or require adaptability. Some great benefits of using intelligence in the classroom include the development of problem solving skills that can be used in life like situations and increased self-esteem (Giles, Pitre, & Womack, 2003).
As you can see from Frames of Mind, Gardner states that each intelligence can be measured by IQ test. He identifies eight specific criteria’s that every intelligence should have before it is classified as intelligence. After identifying all eight intelligences he goes into depth and gives examples of each one. Later he discuss that learning styles are similar to the different types of intelligences. More research was discovered on how student’s best learn through each intelligence. By discussing the different needs for each learner this helps with identifying the educational implications.