In his landmark book Frames of Mind: The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences, published in 1983, Harvard University education professor Howard Gardner unveiled a theory of multiple intelligences that famously rejected the traditional and long-held view that aptitude consists solely of the ability to reason and understand complex ideas.

Instead, he identified seven separate human capacities: musical, verbal, physical, interpersonal, visual, logical, and intrapersonal. And not all of them, including the category he added years later -- naturalistic -- could be easily evaluated by the standard measuring stick of the time: the IQ test.

Psychologists, unimpressed with Gardner's mold breaking, mostly looked the other way. Teachers, on the other hand, were electrified. The book supported what educators had known for a long time: Kids in their classrooms possess natural aptitudes for music, sports, emotional understanding -- strengths that cannot be identified in traditional tests. Gardner had given voice, as well as a scholarly support, to their experience. Boston University education professor Scott Seider describes the reaction as a "grassroots uprising" of educators at all levels who embraced multiple intelligences (MI) theory "with a genuine passion." http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-int...s-introduction

Mr. Gardner gave an interview in 1997 that you may listen to here: http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-int...-gardner-video

Gardner was interviewed again in 2011: More to this story.

These links also have related articles. If it is your fancy, you can take a quiz to find out your learning style. http://www.edutopia.org/mi-quiz

As an undergrad, I participated in a study that required taking five different IQ tests. The various tests were written differently than those I previously had taken.

The purpose of the study was to help develop a less biased and more comprehensive test. Although I do not recall the specifics, I do remember being surprised and rather nonplussed about the relatively high degree of variance in the scores I received.

Apparently, interest in Dr. Gardner's work is experiencing a resurgence. I wonder how different education in the U.S. would now be viewed if Gardner's work had been implemented?

[madisgram]

oh i support his theory 100%. it's not just about brain specific. many factors should be included to ascertain one's abilities and intelligence. it only makes sense what garner proposes. hope it sticks this time around.

[Travelinglady]

I definitely agree that the standard IQ tests leave a lot to be desired. However, they were originally designed by Binet to see why kids were not being successful in school--hence their emphasis on the usual academic skills such as math, reasoning, and language.

I think of "learning styles" as being how a person best learns--e.g., visual, auditory, etc. Teachers have also been encouraged to be aware of such differences. However, that said, I still contend that students need to try to be open to all sorts of teaching styles and not expect any given teacher to be able to utilize them all. Oh, well, somewhat my bias, but I'm not alone in my thinking. I was blessed, though, that my learning style fits in with the standard lecture format of college professors.

I did try as I taught over the years, however, to add different kinds of techniques beyond just lecturing!

This whole topic of IQ tests and learning styles is quite interesting. Thanks, Byz, for bringing it up.

Although I cannot find the article, it discussed use of Gardner's intelligences at a private school. The classes were broken down into groups. Each group rotated through the various learning styles. Those with a dominant style did better when the dominant style was employed. What I found interesting is that students got better after some adjustment to the use of a non-dominant style to learn. Seems like a win win.

Of course, Gardner's work has been controversial. Expense has been a constraint in some cases. Even so, I doubt I could of earned enough to live on if verbal skills were not the predominant intelligence the employer required.

Another Gardner article and a learning site for those who might be interested:

http://pzweb.harvard.edu/pis/hg_mi_after_20_years.pdf
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles/metalearning.html

[Perna]

I loved the questioning of different intelligences and learning styles, etc.; anything that gets a student to be seen as or see themselves as an individual and respond to that individuality is good, I think. I have a hard time reading textbooks on demand :-) so gave that up in my last year or two of school and found other ways to study/learn the material. I wish I'd learned all that about myself 50 years earlier.