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Multiple Intelligences Action Research

Introduction


American schools have traditionally favored those students who excel in the linguistic and analytical arenas because these skills are highly valued in our culture. Unfortunately, this traditional approach leaves certain students behind to stumble blindly through an educational system that ignores their unique abilities. This action research study seeks to show that instructional activities that incorporate the multiple intelligences can improve students' attitudes toward learning and students' academic achievement in English class.

by Michele R. Acosta

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Part 2

In addition to the biological basis for the intelligences, Gardner (1983) places great emphasis on cultural influences on the development of each intelligence. He says: "It is the culture that defines the stages and fixes the limits of individual achievement" (Gardner, p. 27). Culture determines what parents and schools will teach their children based on the needs of the community. For example, educators have found that the Mexican American culture places a strong emphasis on community and on family (Vasquez, 1990); therefore, many members of this community have well-developed interpersonal intelligences.

The influence culture has on the development of the intelligences points to one of the most important components of the theory-the makeup of intelligences changes over time with age and with experience (Gardner, 1983). Thomas Hatch (1997b) profiled the intelligences of several children when they were in kindergarten and again when they were in the sixth grade. He discovered that their intelligence profiles had changed over time. He says: "Just because young children display particular capacities does not necessarily mean that they will grow up to excel in activities involving those capacities. Children's intelligences, the manner in which they display them, and how successful they are, shift, grow, and vary over time" (Hatch, p. 3). In other words, if intelligences change with time and experience, they can be learned. If they can be learned, they can be taught. As a result, students who are not strong in one intelligence can be taught to develop that intelligence.
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According to Torff (1996): "The intelligences develop-they grow and change over time, which allows strengths to be exploited and weaker areas remedied. ...If you provide the right kinds of support for students, they build the kinds of intellectual structures that enable them to do things" (p. 37). Lazear (1994) says that teachers should watch for "ways to help students stretch into new intellectual areas-maybe areas in which they are uncomfortable or weak" (p. 19). Not only are weaker areas strengthened, but students develop a better self-image because they use a well developed intelligence to improve a weaker one. In an interview with Checkley (1997), Gardner says: "Teachers have to help students use their combination of intelligences to be successful in school, to help them learn whatever it is they want to learn, as well as what the teachers and society believe they have to learn" (p. 5). In other words, Gardner believes that teachers need to find ways to incorporate instruction into their classrooms that encourages students to develop weaker intelligences by drawing on their strengths. This in turn improves both attitude toward learning and academic achievement.

 According to Torff (1996): "The intelligences develop-they grow and change over time, which allows strengths to be exploited and weaker areas remedied. ...If you provide the right kinds of support for students, they build the kinds of intellectual structures that enable them to do things" (p. 37). Lazear (1994) says that teachers should watch for "ways to help students stretch into new intellectual areas-maybe areas in which they are uncomfortable or weak" (p. 19). Not only are weaker areas strengthened, but students develop a better self-image because they use a well developed intelligence to improve a weaker one. In an interview with Checkley (1997), Gardner says: "Teachers have to help students use their combination of intelligences to be successful in school, to help them learn whatever it is they want to learn, as well as what the teachers and society believe they have to learn" (p. 5). In other words, Gardner believes that teachers need to find ways to incorporate instruction into their classrooms that encourages students to develop weaker intelligences by drawing on their strengths. This in turn improves both attitude toward learning and academic achievement.
The author is a writer, a former English teacher, and the mother of three boys. She spends her time writing and teaching others to write. Visit articles.TheWritingTutor.biz for more articles or TheWritingTutor.biz for other writing and educational resources for young authors, teachers, and parents. Visit writing_editing_service.TheWritingTutor.biz for a description of writing and editing services provided by the author.

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