The theory of multiple intelligences is a model proposed by Howard Gardner in which intelligence is not seen as something unitary, which groups different specific capacities with different levels of generality, contrary to this it is seen as a set of multiple intelligences, different and independent. Intelligence is defined as the brain capacity by which we manage to penetrate the understanding of things by choosing the best path. (Antunes, 2006) The formation of ideas, judgment and reasoning are essential acts and indicators of intelligence. Contrasting this definition, Howard Gardner began by defining intelligence as the ability to solve problems or create products that are valued in one or more cultural contexts.Two decades later it offers a more refined definition and defines multiple intelligences as a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to create problems or create products that have value for a culture (Gardner, 1999). This change in definitions It is important since it indicates that intelligences are not something tangible or concrete, a culture and all its activities are determining factors to develop and show potential capacities in an individual.1999) This change in the definitions is important since it indicates that intelligences are not something tangible or concrete, a culture and all its activities are determining factors to develop and show potential capacities in an individual.1999) This change in the definitions is important since it indicates that intelligences are not something tangible or concrete, a culture and all its activities are determining factors to develop and show potential capacities in an individual.
Gardner acknowledges that academic brilliance isn't everything. It establishes that to function optimally in life it is not enough to have a great academic record. There are people of great intellectual capacity but incapable of, for example, choosing their friends correctly; on the contrary, there are less brilliant people at school who succeed in the business world or in their personal lives. Succeeding in business, or in sports, requires being smart, but a different kind of intelligence is used in each field. It does not require having an intelligence or better or worse, or higher or lower, but it does. There is no one person more intelligent than another, their intelligence simply belongs to different fields.
Previously there was the perception that you were born intelligent or not, and education could not change that fact. So much so that in times very close to the mentally handicapped they were not educated, because it was considered a useless effort.
Considering the importance of the psychology of multiple intelligences, it must be more rational to have an object for everything we do, and not only through these intelligences. Since it leaves out objectivity, which is the order to capture the world.
Gardner makes the analogy that just as there are many problems there are also various intelligences. Together with his team at "Harvard" they have defined and established eight types of intelligences.
Types of Intelligences:
Linguistic intelligence- It lies in the ability to use words in a creative and effective way, both in oral and written expressions. It always means having a great skill in the use of syntax, phonetics, semantics and the pragmatic uses of language.
• Logical-mathematical intelligence- used to solve logic and math problems. It is the intelligence that scientists have. It corresponds to the way of thinking of the logical hemisphere and to what Western culture has always considered the only intelligence.
• Spatial intelligence- It is the skill in the perception of images, internal and external, recreating, transforming and modifying them, in addition to traveling through space, making objects travel through it and producing or decoding graphic information. It is typical of the so-called three-dimensional thinking.
• Musical intelligence -It is the ability of people to perceive, discriminate, express and transform the various musical forms. It involves having a great sensitivity to the rhythm, tone and timbre of music.
• Kinetic Body Intelligence- This is the ability to use the body for the expression of ideas and feelings. This intelligence supposes having skills of coordination, balance, flexibility, strength and speed.
• Intrapersonal intelligence-It is organized around the ability to build a very precise perception of yourself, to organize, plan and direct your own life. It includes behaviors of self-discipline, self-understanding and self-esteem.
• Interpersonal intelligence- Understands the ease of understanding others and interacting effectively with them. It includes a great sensitivity to understand facial expressions, voice, gestures, postures, to respond appropriately. They enjoy teamwork.
• Naturalistic intelligence - Understands the ease of distinguishing, classifying and using elements of the environment, the environment. Understand the skills of observation, experimentation, reflection and concern for the environment.
Criteria for defining intelligence as a function of its roots:
The possibility that an intelligence can be isolated in cases of brain injuries, that is, that despite the fact that a faculty suffers damage, it has other faculties in perfect operation that have to compensate and function for the one that suffered those damages, this increases the possibility that the faculty that substitutes damaged areas is an intelligence.
• Have a plausible evolutionary history, evidence on the evolution of species.
• The existence of one or more identifiable operations that perform an essential or central function, it is important to isolate the capabilities that appear to play a basic, essential or central function in an intelligence.
• Possibility of coding in a symbol system, mastering and manipulating symbol systems such as spoken and written language, mathematical systems, graphics, drawings, etc.
• A well differentiated development and a definable set of actions that indicate a final state, each intelligence has its own development history.
• The existence of prodigies and other exceptional people, people who without any documented evidence of brain injury have unusual intelligence profiles, an example of this are some autistic children who excel in something but have deficiencies in other areas.
• Having the support of psychometric data, despite the fact that multiple intelligences were born from a reaction against psychometry, it is necessary in the support criteria of intelligences, an example of this is that between the studies of spatial and linguistic intelligence exists at best a weak correlation.
Intelligence: As a factor in genetics or learning?
Defining intelligence as a capacity makes it a skill that can be developed. Gardner does not deny the genetic component, but maintains that these potentialities will develop in one way or another depending on the environment, lived experiences, education received, etc.
No elite athlete reaches the top without training, no matter how good their natural qualities. The same can be said of mathematicians, poets, or emotionally intelligent people. Because of this, according to the model proposed by Howard Gardner, all human beings are trained for the broad development of their intelligence, supported by their abilities and motivation.
Intelligence, a combination of factors
According to this theory, all human beings possess the eight intelligences to a greater or lesser extent. As with learning styles, there are no pure types, and if there were, it would be impossible for them to function. An engineer needs a well-developed spatial intelligence, but he also needs all the others, logical-mathematical intelligence to be able to perform structural calculations, interpersonal intelligence to be able to present his projects, body-kinesthetic intelligence to be able to drive his car to the work, etc. Gardner emphasizes the fact that all intelligences are equally important and, according to this, the problem would be that the current school system does not treat them equally but prioritizes the first two on the list, (logical-mathematical intelligence and linguistic intelligence).However, in most current school systems, teachers are encouraged to carry out the teaching and learning process through activities that promote a diversity of intelligences, assuming that students have different levels of development of them and therefore it is necessary let everyone put them into practice.
For Gardner it is clear that, knowing what is known about learning styles, intelligence types and teaching styles, it is absurd to continue to insist that all students learn in the same way. The same subject could be presented in very different ways that allow the student to assimilate it based on their abilities and taking advantage of their strengths. In addition, it would have to consider whether an education focused on only two types of intelligence is the most appropriate to prepare students to live in an increasingly complex world.
Learning centers within multiple intelligences
Gardner and his partners developed the learning centers for the purpose of assessing cognitive competence, that is, measuring knowledge. These spaces are intended to ensure that all children have the same opportunities and explore the materials available in the eight different domains or intelligences. (Ferrándiz, C., Prieto, MD, & Bermejo, MR, Ferrando, M., 2006). These centers were formulated by Decroly (1927, 1929), who proposes them as complex thematic units. In the same centers, both globalized and individualized education is required.
The learning centers are built as spaces arranged around each of the intelligences where they will be promoted; In them the children work with the materials of each intelligence and promoting a practice not centered on a single intelligence. They require self-help, self-government, personal and collective activity of the students. (Ferrándiz, C., Prieto, MD, & Bermejo, MR, Ferrando, M., 2006). As an evaluation method, the teacher assesses both the strengths and the difficulties or deficiencies that the child shows in order to reinforce these difficulties and promote greater learning.
