Tips to handle Multiple Intelligence -I

Multiple intelligences - “Challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone

can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices
to test student learning.”
According to MI theory, the more time an individual spends using an intelligence and the
better the instruction and resources, the smarter the individual becomes in that area.
Translated into practice, this key feature reads: “All children can learn.” It also works against
pigeonholing or excluding individuals according to certain intelligences. Intelligences Work in
Combination, Not Isolation

Gardner argues that schools and teachers should teach in a way that supports all types of
intelligences, not just the traditional ones such as linguistic and logical intelligences.
Let us understand some practical ways to implement MI in Classroom through
- Pathways model
- Learning and Teaching Practices for MI Subtypes
- Classroom Layout

Pathways Model
The Pathways Model is an approach that links MI to a set of five educational purposes to
which MI-informed activities can apply.
The five pathways represent the main goals claimed by dozens of educators for their
application of MI theory.
The five pathways are named to align with the purposes they serve:

• Exploration
• Bridging
• Understanding
• Authentic Problems
• Talent Development

The Exploration pathway focuses on enriching the classroom environment to give students
experiences across diverse domains, and to provide a context for teachers to observe
students in action and informally assess their strengths and interests. That is, the enriched
learning environment of the Exploration pathway invites teachers to learn about their
students with a fuller perspective. Familiarity with students’ abilities and interests is the first
step in planning personalized educational experiences, ones that tap students’ own ways of
learning
The Bridging pathway emphasizes a purposeful application of students’ areas of strength to
support literacy development and skill mastery. The strategies suggested in this pathway use
the collection of multiple intelligences as a tool to engage students in learning by tapping into
areas they enjoy and in which they are successful. This pathway is also based on the
assumption that using a variety of “entry points” into literacy learning motivates different
kinds of learners to become engaged in the content.

Teachers who work with children experiencing difficulties in the basic literacies have found
the Bridging pathway particularly relevant to their goals. It suggests “remediation” that
focuses on students’ strengths at least as intently as such programs typically focus on their
deficits. The Bridging pathway is used both with individual students, using strategies specific
to a child’s identified strengths and interests, and with groups of children, using diverse
strategies targeting different types of learners.
In the Understanding pathway, MI theory is used to enhance and diversify how topics and
concepts are approached. Students are given opportunities to access and understand
material, as well as to demonstrate their understanding, in ways that align with their areas of
strength and interest. The pressure of coverage has been blamed for students’ lack of deep
understanding of concepts. That limited understanding is exacerbated by a view of education
that assumes all students learn the same way. Both these factors have led to an overreliance
on the written and spoken word as the modus operandi in the classroom. From a multiple
intelligences perspective, linguistic approaches alone cannot possibly provide all students
with meaningful ways into the curriculum. The Understanding pathway supports the design
of entry points into learning and exit points for assessment that draw on the
range of intelligences.
The Authentic Problems pathway uses MI theory as a framework for implementing authentic,
problem-based learning experiences. In essence, this pathway tries to simulate the real-world
experience of intelligences in action by providing real or realistic problems to solve. In these
learning situations, students assume the role of the practicing professional and use authentic
means to solve problems and develop products. In the classroom, they become budding
engineers, sculptors, actors, or poets, and their products are used to communicate their
creative solutions to problems they encounter. Learning becomes relevant through real-world
contexts. Basic skills are developed in authentic situations.

The Talent Development pathway focuses on developing programs that identify and nurture
students’ talents. Seeing many children every day, teachers regularly notice those who exhibit
special abilities, but they usually have no resources to help the students follow through. This
pathway creates the context to assist promising students on their journey from novice to
expert in a particular domain. Staff can organize clubs or special classes; teachers can arrange
purposefully designed experiences, such as internships, to nurture these abilities. Students
are afforded an opportunity—sometimes their only opportunity—to enjoy, succeed, and
excel in school.
This pathway disregards grade-level expectations by seeking increasingly more advanced
challenges as the learner demonstrates interest and readiness. It promotes self-actualization
in ways that help students define and celebrate their talents and may even help students
make decisions about careers and advanced schooling.
Getting started with the Pathways Model involves the following steps:

• Identify the educational goals appropriate for the school or classroom

• Select the pathways that align most closely with the goals
• Work as a team
******************