Theories of multiple intelligences

Hello my dear friends of read.cash, a few days ago I talked to you about "Education, Didactics and Pedagogy" and "Class tips" where I told you a little about my experience teaching. I also told you that there are different types of intelligences, it is not that some people are smarter than others, but that some people develop more in one area than others and that's fine and it is totally common.

It's like someone who makes cakes, maybe that person makes good cakes and I don't, but I can make pizzas and she can't, I'm not better than her, and she's not better than me, we just develop in different areas.

To start with the theories of multiple intelligences, we must first know "What is intelligence?", " Are we born intelligent?", "Do we become intelligent?"

Years ago, intelligence was considered something innate and immovable. One was born intelligent or not, and education could not change this fact. So much so that in very recent times, people with mental deficiency or moderate weakness were not educated.

The first intelligence tests appeared in 1904 with the psychologist Alfred Binet in France, and then they were developed in a broader way in the United States. After several studies, intelligence began to be measured in an objective way called IQ.

In the model of conception of the mind, proposed in 1983 by the psychologist Howard Gardner, he says that "Intelligence is like a network of autonomous sets related to each other and for development more than one type of intelligence is needed".

Theory of multiple intelligences

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences is a model for understanding the human mind proposed in 1983 by Howard Gardner, an American psychologist and professor at Harvard University. According to his approach to intelligence, intelligence cannot be defined as a fixed and determined set of specific abilities that some people have and others do not. On the contrary, he understands intelligence as a network of autonomous but interrelated capacities, which are present to one degree or another in individuals.

The development of each of these capacities depends on three main factors: their biological or genetic inheritance, their personal life and their cultural and historical inheritance. In other words, intelligence is a combination of biological and psychological potentials that allow us to process information in a creative and useful way, but within a cultural framework of needs and values.

For this reason, there are no intelligent and unintelligent people, but rather people with one or another type of intelligence more developed, since it is always a potential capacity, it can be active or not.

Thus, in his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Gardner starts from the fact that as there are many types of problems and needs, there are also many types of intelligences that are distinguished from each other according to their specific areas of application.

Types of intelligences:

• Linguistic-verbal intelligence

• Musical Intelligence

• Logical-mathematical intelligence

• Spatial Intelligence

• Corporal-Kinesthetic Intelligence

• Interpersonal Intelligence

• Intrapersonal Intelligence

• Naturalistic Intelligence

• Existential-Spiritual Intelligence

Linguistic-Verbal Intelligence

It is the ability to master language and be able to communicate with others. It is usually linked to skills such as interpretation and comprehension of messages, oral and written expression, creative writing, vocabulary acquisition and use, or language learning.

This type of intelligence encompasses the handling of languages, writing, oral expression and poetic resources. People with high linguistic intelligence present a particular facility for learning languages, the handling of words or the organization of language, talents common in cultivators of the oral or written word, such as writers, translators or lawyers.

To a large extent this type of intelligence is connected with musical intelligence and with logical-formal intelligence, since it has to do with the portion of the brain capable of recognizing and producing patterns and rhythms, in this case expressed through verbal language.

How can this type of intelligence be worked on and developed in class and at home?

It can be developed and practiced in the following way:

• Reading texts, writings or stories aloud.

• Inventing stories or tales

• Solving crossword puzzles, or any word game that involves the use of language, either in Spanish or English (in the case of Venezuelan schools).

• Conducting debates where students argue their thoughts and opinions.

• Having students research a topic, gather information, analyze it, select, summarize and compare different information.

• Writing texts in another language.

Musical Intelligence

According to the American psychologist Howard Gardner, creator of the theory of multiple intelligences, "musical intelligence is the ability to appreciate, discriminate, transform and express musical forms, in addition to sensitivity to rhythm, tone and timbre".

This intelligence is linked to the linguistic, spatial and kinesthetic-bodily intelligences. Musical intelligence is predominant in artists dedicated to music, music critics and those individuals who seem "gifted" for this type of expression.

They are recognized because they are attracted to rhythms, even in nature, and are comfortable expressing themselves through musical instruments, or even using objects intended for something else in a musical way.

How can this type of intelligence be worked on and developed in the classroom and at home?

• By taking children regularly to concerts, recitals and events where music is the center of attention.

• Listening to music throughout the day, for example in free time at home or having an extracurricular subject at school where music is taught.

• Learning to play a musical instrument or taking dance classes that focus on the different rhythms that exist in songs.

• Emphasizing the perception of the sounds around us.

Logical-Mathematical intelligence

It is one of the most recognized in intelligence tests, since it corresponds to the thinking of the logical hemisphere and to what the culture considers as the "only intelligence".

This type of intelligence involves non-verbal abstract reasoning. Non-verbal abstract reasoning is that which involves calculation, geometric perception, recognition of numerical or logical patterns, or the handling of formal reasoning mechanisms, such as mathematics, logic, physics, chemistry, among other exact and applied sciences.

This mode of intelligence has been valued throughout history for its capacity for the creation and manufacture of instruments or for the deduction of the natural laws of the universe, given that it is closely associated with the human being's capacity for inductive and deductive reasoning. It is common for this type of intelligence to be higher in scientists, engineers, inventors, mathematicians, accountants, etc.

How can this type of intelligence be worked on and developed in class and at home?

• Applying notions of calculus to solve everyday challenges or problems.

• Solving exercises that use logic and mathematics.

• Relating concepts and ideas of any topic in a diagram

• Deducing a logical game or pastime

• Analyzing and interpreting statistics

As I said before, we are all intelligent, just that some of us develop more in other areas. What do you think about this my dear friend?

Do you feel identified with any of these intelligences?

For the moment I will only talk about these 3, wait for the next article where I will talk about the following types of intelligences...

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See you in the next article!

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Greetings from Venezuela!

Friday, June 17th