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The Multiple Intelligence Theory in 21st Century Instructional Design
Maggie Jackson
American College of Education
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory and Merrill's First Principles of Instruction guide instructors as they create meaningful courses for 21st century learners. By intergrating the theory and model, instructors can create student-centered courses that challenge students to problem solve and build real-life skills.
Introduction to the Multiple Intelligence Theory
Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence focuses on eight intelligences. These eight intelligences are linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic (Smith, 2018).
- Logical-Mathematic Intelligence: Students with logical-mathematic intelligence can find patterns, think logically, and reason. They can solve math operations and analyze problems. Logical-mathematic intelligence is mostly related to science and math.
- Linguistic Intelligence: Students with linguistic intelligence have strengths with spoken and written language. They use language as a way to recall information. These students may excel at writing stories, poems or public speaking.
- Musical Intelligence: Students with musical intelligence have strengths performing, creating, and understand patterns in music.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence involves using their body to problem solve. They benefit from brain-based learning, hands-on opportunities, and movement activities.
- Spatial Intelligence: Students with spatial intelligence are able to see patterns in large and small areas. They learn best with visuals, such as videos, graphics or illustrations.
- Interpersonal Intelligence: Students with interpersonal intelligence have the ability to understand other the emotions and intentions of people. These students enjoy collaborating with others in groups or on teams. Counselors, salespeople, teachers, and leaders have strong interpersonal intelligence.
- Intrapersonal Intelligence: Students with intrapersonal intelligence have a strong understanding of themselves, such as their feelings or fears.
- Naturalistic Intelligence: The eighth and newest intelligence, naturalistic, enables students to recognize patterns in the environment and nature (Smith, 2018).
Assessments
Instructors can give students a multiple intelligence survey as a pre-course, formative assessment. The survery will allow them to collect data on the different learning styles of their students. Instructors can then use this information as they plan.
Google Play App - Multiple Intelligence Survey
Providing students with choice is a powerful instructional strategy. Creating learning menus and choice boards allows students to choose how to complete a project based on their learning styles. Choice boards can be used in a formative or summative assessment activity.
References
Instructional Design. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/double- loop/
Instructional Design Central. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/instructionaldesignmodels
Smith, M. (2008). Howard Gardner, multiple intelligences and education. Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/
Key Theorist: Howard Gardner
In 1943, Howard Gardner was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Gardner’s family fled Germany in 1938 with their son, Eric. Eric died in a sleigh accident, so his parents limited physical activities and encouraged intellectual and creative activities for Howard. He went to Harvard University to pursue law and was tutored by Eric Erikson. Erikson inspired Gardner to become a scholar in psychology and social sciences. Gardner briefly worked for Jerome Bruner on the MACOS Project. He also read the work of Jean Piaget and Claude Levi-Strauss, which impacted his future work.
In 1966, Gardner joined the Project Zero research team at Harvard to study human cognition during his doctoral program. Project Zero has become a leading research center for education. Gardner stayed at Harvard as a lecturer and professor. He finished his first book, The Shattered Mind, in 1975 (Smith, 2018). In 1983, Gardner published Frames of Mind, which was his first full-explanation of his multiple intelligence theory (Smith, 2018). Gardner updated Frames of Mind in 1999 based on further findings.
Gardner's Major Work
In Gardner’s first major book, The Shattered Mind, his discusses different types of brain injury. Gardner also makes connections between brain injuries to the effects on verbal, artistic, physical and mental abilities. He studies important questions about brain structure and function.
Gardner’s popular book, Frames of Mind, explains the criteria that defines intelligence and shares the seven intelligences in his theory. In the 1983 edition, he discusses logical-mathematic, linguistic, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences. Gardener added his eighth intelligence, natural intelligence, to his updated edition of Frames of Mind in 1999 (Smith, 2018).
Multiple Intelligences & Merrill's First Principles of Instruction
Merrill's First Principles of Instruction Explained
Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction focuses on problem-based and real-world activities. The Merrill model “suggests that the most effective learning environments are those that are problem-based” (Instructional Design, 2019). Learning experiences should have students solving real-world problems. The new knowledge they learn is “integrated into the learner’s world” (Instructional Design, 2019). The center of the Merrill model is a problem or task-centered activity. There are four steps in the Merrill model. The first phase is activating prior knowledge or experience. The second step is demonstrating the new skills. Third, learners apply the skills. Lastly, learners integrate the skills into real world experiences or activities. Some educators only focus on demonstrating the new concept and leave out the other important phases of learning, like activate, apply, and integrate. The Merrill model emphasizes the importance of all four phases when solving a real-life problem or task. It is a student-centered model and emphasizes the importance of student engagement in all four phases.
The Theory & Model in 21st Century Learning
The theory of multiple intelligences and Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction are compatible, because they support student engagement and are student-centered. Different activities that support multiple intelligences can be incorporated throughout the Merrill model to reach all students. 21st century learning involves using real-life tools and experiences to learn. Each student’s area of intelligence can be applied to the real-world problem in the Merrill model. By integrating the multiple intelligences and Merrill model, students may also make the connection between their intelligence strengths to a future career.
The Merrill model provides an appropriate framework for designing activities supported by the theory of multiple intelligences. The focus on real-life problem or task-centered activities provide a foundation for allowing students to use their intelligence to solve a real-life problem. By using their intelligence to solve the real-life problem, they are not only forming an understanding of the new content but also get to experience how their strengths can be used in the real world. The teacher can include a variety of resources that support multiple intelligences in the demonstrate phase, such as videos, songs, PowerPoints, or articles. Real-life tools can be incorporated in the apply and integrate phases as students choose activities that best match their intelligence to solve the problem or task.
Impact on Instruction & Learning
One theoretical concept of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence is that learning experiences should incorporate different forms of intelligence. Students should also be “encouraged to use their preferred intelligence” (Instructional Design, 2019). Educators can use multiple intelligence surveys with students to learn more about their preferred intelligences. Then, educators can use this information as they design lessons. If an educator has students that are musically intelligent, they can add songs or song creating opportunities to the lesson. Bodily-kinesthetic learners can create a game or act out a concept.
Elementary Phonics Lesson:
Linguistic – Interactive whiteboard word building with the pen and highlighting tool
Musical – Long vowel letter video clip and song
Spatial – Video clip and color coding vowel teams
Bodily-kinesthetic – Vowel teams acting
Logical-mathematical – Vowel team word sort
Interpersonal - Time for indepdent work
Intrapersonal - Partner work
A second theoretical concept of the multiple intelligence theory is that “assessment of learning should measure multiple forms of intelligence” (Instructional Design, 2019). Instructors can design assessments that provide students with a choice on how they show their understanding. For a project-based assessment, students could be given a choice-mat with a variety of options on how to complete the task. Linguistic learners may write a story to show their understanding. Spatial learners might create a graphic on Canva for the assessment. Providing students with choice during assessments is a powerful tool to measure their understanding of new content.
Elementary Phonics Lesson Choice Mat: Students will choose a way to create a presentation for the vowel teams oa and oe. They can choose a presentation that best fits their intelligence.
Linguistic – Write a short story about oa and oe
Musical – Create a song about oa and oe
Spatial – Design a poster about oa and oe
Bodily-kinesthetic – Create a gameboard about oa and oe
Logical-mathematical – Create a word machine out of construction paper with the vowel teams oa and oe
Philosopy of Instructional Design
As an instructional designer, my goal is to create student-centered learning opportunities. I believe in the importance of looking at the whole-student, such as their background, attitude toward learning, learning styles, and goals. Creating a nurturing and safe environment for learning will help students ask questions, collaborate, and explore. Technology integration grabs students’ attention with many instructional approaches, such as video clips or graphics. Integrating technology into my instructional design will also support learning 21st century skills during projects.
As an instructional designer, it is important to keep learning! Joining professional organizations, like the Association of Educational Communications and Technology, will provide me with the latest information on instructional design. Professional organizations will provide me with opportunities to attend conferences and learn from colleagues. Daily interactions with my colleagues at work are also learning opportunities. I also believe in remembering to learn from my students! Taking courses and workshops will help me stay updated on new technology resources I can implement in my instruction. My goals are to learn more about e-learning systems and graphic design resources. I could take workshops on those topics to enhance my instruction. Always reflecting on my instructional design and making improvements is a major step in continuing to grow professionally.