Frames of mind

This early work from Harvard professor, Howard Gardner, identifies eight different types of intelligences that each individual has the capacity to possess. Gardner argues that an understanding these multiple intelligences is important as it allows educators to identify pupils’ different strengths and weaknesses, and also contradicts the idea that intelligence can be measured through testing, which he believes caters for too narrow a conception of intelligence.

Gardner lists the eight intelligences as:

1. Visual/Spatial - the ability to create and manipulate mental images, and the orientation of the body in space.
2. Verbal/Linguistic - reading, writing, speaking, and conversing in one's own or foreign languages.
3. Logical/Mathematical - number and computing skills, recognising patterns and relationships, timeliness and order, and the ability to solve different kinds of problems through logic.
4. Bodily/Kinesthetic - physical coordination and dexterity, using fine and gross motor skills, and expressing oneself or learning through physical activities.
5. Musical - understanding and expressing oneself through music and rhythmic movements or dance, or composing, playing, or conducting music.
6. Interpersonal - understanding how to communicate with and understand other people and how to work collaboratively.
7. Intrapersonal - understanding one's inner world of emotions and thoughts, and growing in the ability to control them and work with them consciously.
8. Naturalist - understanding the natural world of plants and animals, noticing their characteristics, and categorizing them; it generally involves keen observation and the ability to classify other things as well.

A learning environment that values these intelligences equally provides pupils with a more supportive and inclusive experience of education.