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In the third and final part of An Idiots’ Guide to Multiple Intelligences, we look at how the theory can be put into practice quickly, easily, and effectively…

Before teaching and learning activities can be tailored to individual preferences regarding the eight ‘intelligences’, some kind of diagnostic testing needs to take place. I’ve used the 40-question online test provided by the BGfL (Birmingham Grid for Learning), which is available here.

Once the 40 questions have been completed, a chart similar to the one above will be produced, together with a code which, if entered, will reproduce the chart. Students should write down or email this code to the teacher, who can then view individual results, whole-class averages, or gender-specific outcomes. The ‘questions’ are really statements with which students have to agree or disagree to a greater or lesser extent. They are non-school-oriented, which should lessen the ‘teacher effect’! An example:

I remember things like telephone numbers by repeating them to a rhythm.

The website also does a good job of explaining the basic tenets of Multiple Intelligences in student-friendly language, talking of being ‘body smart’ rather than kinaesthetic, ‘myself smart’ rather than intrapersonal, and so on. Although in the past I have been at pains to remind students that these are tendencies and ways of learning rather than ‘being good at’ things, the resulting (positive) effects on self-esteem is sometimes nice to observe.

Once you have the results (whole class, individual, etc.) of this test, you can start putting the results into action. Something I would say at this point, however, is that this is not an objective, scientifically-rigorous test. It shows tendencies, and therefore should be used in conjunction with other information you have on each student (CAT data, emotional/behavioural issues, etc.) The PDF (287KB) to which I referred in the first of section of this guide has a good overview of the types of activities one can use to hit the different ‘intelligences’ - i.e. find the ‘L’ spot, so to speak…

As with most things, the recommendations and good practice that come out of MI theory are what in the past was generally known as ‘good teaching’. Varying your teaching style and building in a variety of activities have always been recognised as leading to greater student motivation. Now it can be justified through theories such as MI and learning styles - ‘objective’ theories which can be brought into play at teacher training events and in teacher self-improvement books.

I haven’t space to go through a lot of examples here, and there are many books dedicated to the subject, but here are some I’ve come across:

• Linguistic: use lectures, debates, storytelling, memorization, publishing, word-play.
• Logical: translate ideas into ‘mathematical’ formulas, problem-solving, pattern-spotting, analogies.
• Interpersonal: peer learning/teaching, group brainstorms, community involvement, simulations.
• Intrapersonal: goal-setting, self-paced activities, reflection periods, self-esteem activities, self-assessment.
• Musical: convert information into song, mood music, rhythmic activities, musical analogies.
• Visual: picture metaphors, idea sketching, optical illusions, colour cues, charts, graphs, diagrams.
• Naturalistic: observation, analogies with environmental factors, drawing or photographing of natural objects.
• Kinaesthetic: physical education activities, communication through body language/signals, tactile experiences

The above examples were taken from a 15-page overview of Multiple Intelligences created by Keiser College, available in PDF (474KB) form. If you want to purcahse a book to help you with implementing Multiple Intelligences in the classroom, look no further than Paul Ginnis’ excellent The Teacher’s Toolkit.

That concludes our look at Multiple Intelligences, please feel free to comment on how you’ve put the ideas into practice below!

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