Page 108 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

Moving From Learning Styles to Multiple Intelligences

Along with learning styles, you may have heard mention of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Howard
Gardner, a famous psychologist and educational theorist, was dissatisfied with how intelligence was defined.
He felt it focused too much on those whose strengths were in logical thinking, reading and writing. While
he agreed these were important aspects of learning, he asserted that “intelligence” was much more complex.
He came up with eight areas of intelligence. They’re given in Table 4.2 following.

Table 4.2 Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Intelligence type Contexts Is a person who...

Verbal-linguistic reading, writing, and speaking is good with language and words

Logical-mathematical numbers and problem solving likes to ask questions, think, experiment and explore

Spatial art and architecture enjoys drawing and designing; using pictures

Musical sounds, harmonics, and tones enjoys music, sounds, and melodies; has rhythm

Intra-personal feelings and a sense of self enjoys working alone; follows instincts about himself/herself

Interpersonal relationships, interacting with others enjoys socializing and trying to understand people

Kinesthetic physical action and body movement enjoys being active and in motion; uses the body to express ideas

Naturalistic nature and natural phenomena senses patterns and is good at categorization

Adapted from Gardner, H. 1983. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books, New York.

You will see that there are similarities between learning styles and these multiple intelligences. For example,
someone with a musical intelligence would most likely prefer learning through auditory means.

Which of these intelligence(s) do you most relate to? You may very well have strengths in more than one:
you may apply these intelligences differently depending on the situation you are facing.

Levels of Learning

We’ve now talked a bit about what intelligence is and how people differ in the way they use their natural
intelligences to learn. You’ve also completed a Learning Style Inventory to assess your preferred learning
style. Having this awareness and acting on it will help to make you a more efficient learner. What next?

In the 1950s, Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist who contributed many ideas about learning
that are still used today. He developed what has become known as Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives. A “taxonomy” is simply a form of classification and a way to look at the general principles of
a system. If you are taking botany or zoology, for example, you are learning to classify plants or animals.
This kind of classification is also a taxonomy. Many educators have used Bloom’s taxonomy to help them
think through how to present knowledge to learners. In the taxonomy, Bloom identified a progression of

102 Foundations of Learning