Podcast: Discussing MI Theory with Alanis Morissette

In November 2017, Howard Gardner joined Alanis Morissette on her podcast, "Conversation with Alanis Morissette," to discuss MI Theory. In addition to being a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actress, Morissette is fan of MI and an advocate for integrative learning.

To listen to their discussion, click the following link: https://alanis.com/news/podcast-episode-11-conversation-with-howard-gardner?rq=mul

To read more about Morissette's take on MI Theory, check out her blog posts on MI Theory and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons:

https://alanis.com/news/multiple-intelligences-by-howard-gardner?rq=multiple%20intelligences

https://alanis.com/news/9-types-of-smart-nurturing-our-multiple-intelligences?rq=

 

Study Finds Game-Based Learning Can Increase Intelligences in Students

In January 2018, M. Esther del Moral Pérez, Alba P. Guzmán Duque, and L. Carlota Fernández García published an article titled, “Game-Based Learning Increasing the Logical-Mathematical, Naturalistic, and Linguistic Learning Levels of Primary School Students” in the Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research. 

Notes by Howard Gardner

In the educational literature, there is continuing discussion of whether games can contribute to learning and, if so, in what ways.  As the title indicates this study of game-based learning provides suggestive evidence that three discrete intelligences can be enhanced by weekly hour-long sessions.

Abstract:

Game-based learning is an innovative methodology that takes advantage of the educational potential offered by videogames in general and serious games in particular to boost training processes, thus making it easier for users to achieve motivated learning. The present paper focuses on the description of the Game to Learn Project, which has as its aim not only to promote the use of serious games and digital mini-games for the development of Multiple Intelligences, but also to analyse whether this methodology results in increased learning. Teachers assessed the level achieved by primary education students (N=119) in each learning category, before and after participating in the project, by means of a qualitative instrument. Finally, after corresponding analysis through descriptive statistical techniques, bivariate correlations, and ANOVA, the results showed significant differences between children’s learning levels in logical-mathematical, naturalistic and linguistic abilities before and after their participation in this innovative project, thus revealing a widespread increase in every indicator.

To read the full article, click here: Game-Based Learning Increasing the Logical-Mathematical, Naturalistic, and Linguistic Learning Levels of Primary School Students.

Naturalist Intelligence in the Age of the iPhone

In January 2018, Laura Jeliazkov published an article titled "An iPhone in Hand...Worth Two in the Bush?" in The Darthmouth newspaper. In the article, Jeliazkov considers the modern attachment--or perhaps addiction--to our mobile devices and the seemingly endless digital media they offer. As a way of understanding our cognitive relationship to our devices, Jeliazkov cites Naturalist Intelligence.

Notes by Howard Gardner

Since the original publication of Frames of Mind, I have added only one intelligence to the original seven—that of the naturalist. (Though, I have speculated about other possible intelligences.) As described in recent publications, the naturalist intelligence initially evolved so that we humans could make consequential distinctions in our natural environment—what to eat, what to spurn, what to hunt, what to avoid, how the weather might change in the next day or the next month.

In the modern era, however, most of us do not have to use the naturalist intelligence to survive in our built-up urban environments. But I’ve argued that the mind and brain capacities that evolved initially for life in the tundra are now readily called upon as we decide what to buy at the supermarket, what clothing to wear, how to decorate our homes, etc.

And now, there is a new powerful force in the environment: our smart devices, with their numerous (soon, innumerable) apps. In dealing with these devices, we not only make available all items for which one could conceivably shop. But also, as is pointed out in the accompanying article by Laura Jeliazkov, we have the opportunity to present and re-present ourselves as often as we want—as well as the chance to get the reactions of others—in words, in still pictures, or in live video. That’s a lot for the naturalist intelligence to do—as Jeliazkov suggests, perhaps too much! While I don’t remember it, she quotes me as saying, “If we went back into the woods to be with our naturalist intelligences, people would have time to think again. But today this may not be possible.”

To read the full article, click here: http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2018/01/an-iphone-in-hand-worth-two-in-the-bush

A New Possibility for Musical Intelligence

Notes by Howard Gardner

According to the criteria that I devised almost 40 years ago, an intelligence is not equivalent to a sensory system (there are no visual or gustatory or tactile intelligences).  Rather, intelligences are best construed as mental computers that operate on information, irrespective of the sensory system (or, technically, transducer), through which the information initially passes. Thus, for example, linguistic intelligence operates on language messages, whether they are heard, read, or (in the case of the blind) perceived through touch.

This criterion has always posed a difficulty for musical intelligence. While there are certainly aspects of music (rhythm, meter, perhaps timbre) that can be accessed through various sensory systems, the key elements (pitch, harmony) are best accessed through the ear.  We can create visual or tactile versions of pitch or harmony but these are, at best, metaphoric.

With respect to music, the situation is changing. Visual patterns that change over time (as in the screen patterns on your computer) capture some of the musical experience (the composer Alexander Scriabin believed that music was by its nature synesthesic—with the various sensory systems being linked to tones, chords, harmonies). Cochlear implants improve hearing to the extent that musical signals become accessible to many who could not previously listen to or enjoy music. And now, as indicated in this essay from the New York Times, through the technology of virtual reality, yet more aspects of the musical experience can be experienced by someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.  As the caption indicates, it’s now possible to explore “what music feels like to a deaf person.”  I believe that in the coming years, the dependence of music on the ability to hear will continue to diminish--even if it does not totally disappear—hence helping many who were once considered disabled and, as a dividend, bolstering one of the tenets of “MI theory.”

Read the full article, originally published online on November 5, 2017, here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/insider/how-we-used-vr-to-explore-what-music-feels-like-to-a-deaf-person.html

Audi Piloted Driving Showcar Uses "8 Intelligences"

In September 2017, Audi unveiled the Aicon, a four-door, electric, self-driving car. In a recent advertisement for the Aicon, Audi used MI Theory to illustrate the car's various features.

Howard Gardner comments below:

My friend, Tom Hoerr, a leading authority on the theory of multiple intelligences, brought this advertisement to my attention. When I developed this concept thirty five years ago, I never anticipated how much mileage (!) others might get out of the idea of multiple intelligences. As I quipped to my children, they may get a kick out of this, but not a kickback—the idea of multiple intelligences has always been in the public domain.

Follow this link to see the full advertisement: http://www.audi.com/en/innovation/piloteddriving/ai_aicon.html