Ch 1 - The Foundations of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Abstract:
We begin with the history of intelligence testing, In 1904 Paris’s Minister of Public Instruction charged French Psychologist Alfred Binet and his colleagues with developing a way to determine which primary grade students were at risk of failure and may need remedial attention. These went on to become the first intelligence or “IQ” tests.
Eighty years later a Harvard Psychologist Howard Gardner suggested that intelligence has more to do with the ability to solve problems and fashion products.
Gardiner initially found seven separate intelligences: Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. Gardner went on to add an eighth intelligence, Naturalist, after finding that it fit the eight criteria described below.
There are eight basic “tests” that the intelligences passed to be considered full-fledged intelligences. These factors include potential isolation by brain damage, the existence of savants or prodigies, and an evolutionary history/plausibility just to name a few. Some key points to mention regarding the multiple intelligences theory:
1. Each person possesses all eight intelligences.
2. Most people can develop each of the intelligences to an adequate level of competency.
3. Intelligences usually work together in complex ways.
4. There are many ways to be intelligent within each category.
There may be more intelligences that have yet to pass all the tests to be put on the pedestal of intelligences. However, by having these tests to pass, Gardner has allowed for the expansion of the MI theory.

How did I connect with the reading, reflection on my thoughts on the chapter?
The multiple intelligences are very interesting reading. It was surprising to realize how recent the development of intelligence tests was. However, it was not surprising to learn that the MI theory was only 20 years ago. I feel that many disciplines take the old ideas as law instead of challenging the things we have always known and believed. As I was reading this chapter, I began to figure out where I fit in as an individual. As an educator I do not know where I fit or how to find it. I am assuming that I will learn more about that aspect of the MI theory later on in this book.