Multiple Intelligences
What is intelligence? How do we measure it?
The public school classroom in Western educational systems is dominated by lesson plans aimed at developing verbal and linguistic intelligences. Likewise, student intelligence is usually determined by paper/pencil classroom unit or state standardized tests. Although these tests provide an insight into some measures of intelligence, they miss other important aspects of a student's intelligence profile. At the Canyon School for the Arts, students learn to develop all of their multiple intelligences** through lessons aimed at enhancing:- verbal/linguistic intelligences (related to words and language - written and spoken)
- logical/mathematical intelligences (related to inductive and deductive thinking/reasoning, numbers and abstract patterns)
- visual/spatial intelligences (related to the ability to create internal mental images and pictures)
- bodily/kinesthetic intelligences (related to physical movement and the brain's motor cortex)
- musical/rhythmic intelligences (based on the recognition of tonal patterns and on a sensitivity to rhythm and beats)
- interpersonal intelligences (based on person-to-person relationships and communication)
- intrapersonal intelligences (related to self-reflection and metacognition - thinking about thinking)
- naturalistic intelligences (related to the appreciation and understanding of the flora and fauna of the natural world)
Furthermore, students are assessed by means of portfolios which more accurately reflect the range of development of the multiple intelligences.
** Multiple Intelligences was first identified by Howard Gardner