Howard Gardner






 * “I align myself with almost all researchers in assuming that anything we do is a composite of whatever genetic limitations were given to us by our parents and whatever kinds of environmental opportunities are available.” (Howard Gardner; American psychologist; 1943–.)

Introduction
Howard Gardner is an American psychologist born July 11, 1943. His world-class accomplishments were honored in 1981, when he was awarded a MacArthur Prize Fellowship.

He has a very long history of making major contributions to education. Here are two short videos that will give you some insight into Gardner's current interests.


 * Howard Gardner video on Digital Media's Effect on Ethics.


 * Three Minds.

Some Background Information
Howard Gardner, David Perkins, and Robert Sternberg are researchers who have written widely sold books about intelligence. Of these three, Howard Gardner is probably best known by K-12 educators. His theory of Multiple Intelligences has proven quite popular with such educators.

However, there are many researchers who have contributed to the extensive and continually growing collection of research papers on intelligence. See, for example, "Current issues in research on intelligence."

The following definition of intelligence is a composite from various authors, especially Gardner, Perkins, and Sternberg. Intelligence is a combination of the abilities to:


 * 1) Learn. This includes all kinds of informal and formal learning via any combination of experience, education, and training.
 * 2)  Pose problems. This includes recognizing problem situations and transforming them into more clearly defined problems.
 * 3)  Solve problems. This includes solving problems, accomplishing tasks, and fashioning products.

There are a number of different theories of intelligence. For example, Charles Spearman argued in a 1904 research paper that there is a general intelligence factor (named "g"), and his theory still is strongly supported. Quoting Spearman:


 * When asked what G is, one has to distinguish between the meanings of terms and the facts about things. G means a particular quantity derived from statistical operations. Under certain conditions the score of a person at a mental test can be divided into two factors, one of which is always the same in all tests, whereas the other varies from one test to another; the former is called the general factor or G, while the other is called the speciﬁc factor. This then is what the G term means, a score-factor and nothing more.
 * G is in the normal course of events determined innately; a person can no more be trained to have it in higher degree than he can be trained to be taller.
 * G is in the normal course of events determined innately; a person can no more be trained to have it in higher degree than he can be trained to be taller.

The Multiple Intelligence theories of Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg are alternatives to Spearman's theory. Perhaps one reason for their popularity is that they divide intelligence into categories and this makes it possible for an education system to provide more or less instruction in topics related to specific area or type of intelligence.

There is a near universal agreement among researchers that some aspects of our intellectual abilities depend heavily on our experiential histories, and some aspects depend on our genetic makeup. Thus, a person’s cognitive abilities are a combination of nature and nurture. People who study this area talk about fluid intelligence—gf, which is biologically based—and gC, crystallized intelligence (based on acquired knowledge).

From a teacher’s point of view, it is important to understand that a person’s life experiences—which include formal and informal education—contribute to the person’s crystallized intelligence. Moreover, there is the issue of learning to make effective use of one's intelligence. Informal and formal education are very important!

In His Own Words
Quoting from http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG.htm:


 * I was born in Scranton, PA in 1943, the son of refugees from Nazi Germany. I was a studious child who gained much pleasure from playing the piano; music has remained very important throughout my life. All of my post-secondary education has been at Harvard University. I was trained as a developmental psychologist and later as a neuropsychologist. For many years, I conducted two streams of research on cognitive and symbol-using capacities--one with normal and gifted children, the second with adults who suffered from brain damage. My effort to synthesize these two lines of work led me to develop and introduce the theory of multiple intelligences in my 1983 book Frames of Mind. Since the middle 1980s, I have been heavily involved in school reform efforts in the United States. In 1986, I began to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Education while continuing my long-term involvement with Project Zero, a research group in human cognition that maintains a special focus on the arts. During the last fourteen years, my research has focused on the GoodWork Project, as described above. For more detailed information about this work, visit the GoodWork Project site. With colleagues, I am also studying the nature of interdisciplinary work as it is carried out in pre-collegiate and collegiate settings and also in research institutions. Colleagues and I are studying the role of trust and trustees in contemporary American Society. Finally, with support from the MacArthur Foundation, colleagues and I are studying how the ethical compass of young people is affected by the new digital media.


 * I am married to Ellen Winner, a developmental psychologist who teaches at Boston College. I have four children: Kerith (b. 1969), Jay (b. 1971), Andrew (b. 1976) and Benjamin (b. 1985); and one grandchild (Oscar, b. 2005). My passions are my family and my work; I also enjoy travel and a range of art forms.

Additional insights into some of Howard Gardner is available in a 2002 interview. For example, in this interview he responds to a question about why people need education. His reply:


 * Well, I think a lot depends on the word “need.” Evolutionarily speaking, the only goal is to survive until you have offspring. But as culture exists, it develops, at a minimum, for people to survive to reproduction. And to be kept in a community, people at least have to be raised in the norms or values of that community. Otherwise, they won’t survive, they will be killed or expelled.


 * Every culture that we know transmits knowledge, skills, values to offspring. So when I’m talking about education I should indicate whether I mean formal or informal education. Once you begin to talk about Symbol systems, including notational ones that are part of curricula, then most people will not learn such systems by themselves. Formal Schooling probably began most fundamentally so people could make sense of formal symbol systems. And now, of course, we have lots of different kinds of symbol systems.

Project Zero
Project Zero is a research group in the Harvard School of Education that was founded in 1967. Project Zero's mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels.

Quoting from http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/PIpages.htm:


 * Howard Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. From 1972-2000, he was Co-director of Project Zero. At present, he is chair of the Steering Committee of Project Zero. He also directs the GoodWork Project and the Trust Project with Carrie James. For ten years he co-directed the Interdisciplinary Studies Project with Veronica Boix Mansilla.

Quoting from a description of the GoodWork Project:


 * The GoodWork® Project is a large scale, multi-site effort to identify individuals and institutions that exemplify good work--work that is excellent in quality, socially responsible, and meaningful to its practitioners--and to determine how best to increase the incidence of good work in our society. Led by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and William Damon, the project began as a social scientific investigation of how members of different professions approach their work at a time when circumstances change rapidly and few if any forces exist to counter overwhelming market forces. From 1996 to 2006, members of the research team conducted over 1200 interviews with leading professionals and our findings have been reported in numerous books, articles, and papers.

The Developing Mind and Digital Media (DM2) Project is one of the current activities in the GoodWork Project. Continuing the quote given above:


 * The Developing Mind and Digital Media (DM2) Project is currently investigating the intersection of human development and new digital media (NDM) in both cognitive and social domains. The project's [November 2007] position paper "Developing Minds and Digital Media: Habits of Mind in the YouTube Era" synthesized the leading theories of cognitive development (Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, Erikson), education and media studies (Turkle, Papert, Jenkins), and empirical findings about young people's digital media. In the tradition of the GoodWork and GoodPlay projects, DM2 is interviewing excellent and reflective educators across a variety of domains who can speak to cognitive changes they have observed in youth over time. These results will be further refined to focus on changes specifically associated with NDM engagement.

Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner has long been known for his work on Multiple Intelligences. His 1983 book on this topic has been followed by a large number of articles and by the creation of a number of schools based on the idea of Multiple Intelligences.

Gardner's theory described in his 1983 book had seven Multiple Intelligences. His current version of the theory has nine intelligences.
 * 1) Bodily-Kinesthetic
 * 2) Interpersonal
 * 3) Verbal-linguistic
 * 4) Logical-Mathematical
 * 5) Naturalistic
 * 6) Intrapersonal
 * 7) Visual-Spatial
 * 8) Musical
 * 9) Existential


 * Comment by David Moursund. I read Gardner's 1983 book on MI shortly after it was first published. It resonated with a number of my views of the human mind. I was so taken by the book that I bought a second copy to loan to my professional colleagues and students. Since then, I have read a number of Gardner's books and articles. His work has added greatly to my education.

The Multiple Intelligences work of Howard Gardner is part of a steadily growing collection of research on physical and mental diversity. Even identical twins have genetic differences; through their life experiences, they develop significant differences. No two students are identical.

Physical and mental differences among people present a challenge to a mass production type of educational system. The typical first grade teacher is faced by a collection of students who vary considerably both physically and mentally. The cognitive development of some of the students is a year or more behind the class average, while some others are a year or move ahead of the class average.

Moreover, due various combinations of nature and nurture, there are major differences in areas of interest and levels of physical and cognitive development in different areas.

All of this is relatively well understood by teachers and our educational system. However, effectively dealing with these huge differences requires much more resources than are currently available in most schools. An example of an alternative is to provide individual tutors and/or very very small classes.

Computer technology is beginning to make some differences. For example, via some combination of distance learning and/or computer-assisted learning, a student at a particular grad level can be studying topics at a substantially different grade level. Moreover,the Web makes it possible for students of varying interests and cognitive developmental levels to find extensive information on topics that they find of personal interest.

Howard Gardner and The Mind That Matters
Howard Gardner's “disciplined mind” is a valuable tool in the world of a student's learning. The mind is constantly observing, growing, learning and wanting to expand its knowledge base enriching man's thinking ability creating the “disciplined mind”. Students should be exposed and taught in this genre. This paper addresses three aspects of the "disciplined mind: multiple perspectives, technology, and methodology.

In steps the educator. The educator works delivering facts and figures of subjects from textbooks to the young minds of students eager to learn. When information is retrieved and presented the student is not going outside the box. Where is the challenge? Students now have a difficult time applying knowledge to new situations. Learning multiple perspectives that go further in depth with the subject matter is teaching the “disciplined” thinking process. If students learn this technique, they can be distinctive in thinking skills comparing themselves to historians, scientists, and artist. Is this thinking limited to the ways the student obtains or conveys information? In our modern world, technology is the key to helping students expand and develop more skills to become more knowledgeable.

Now technology walks in the classroom; thus, the computer. It has opened a whole new area where the wealth of knowledge is unlimited. But not to get rid of the classroom human teacher; the computer is an asset. It can offer learning techniques on different levels. Instruction can be given to that student in one to one situation. Also the computer can be modified to address each student’s individual need continuing to develop the “disciplined thinking” process.

The “disciplined mind” needs to be nurtured. Teachers need to have students identify the methods, forms of communication, purposes and knowledge base of particular topics. Have them think of different ways the subject can be learned. Then give them the opportunity to study in depth. Before long the students will have developed the characteristics of a “disciplined mind”.

What the future requires is being part of our computerized world and being on the cutting edge of  having a “disciplined mind” thinking like an expert. If we have restrained students learning to just facts and figures from the old reliable textbooks, then we have got to take a new approach. Students that are already in the standard learning style are hard to change. With the guidance from teachers, the students have got to start disciplining the mind to take advantage of how to solve problems in multiple ways and the use of computers enhances that ability. We need not to hold back the curious, eager disciplined thinking minds wanting to stretch beyond the set boundaries.

Multiple Intelligence Schools
A number of schools have restructured themselfes or been started to encompass Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences. The basic idea is that they attempt to teach each general topic in in eight different ways:


 * words (linguistic intelligence)
 * numbers or logic (logical-mathematical intelligence)
 * pictures (spatial intelligence)
 * music (musical intelligence)
 * self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence)
 * a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)
 * a social experience (interpersonal intelligence), and/or
 * an experience in the natural world. (naturalist intelligence)

An April 2009 article describing a Multiple Intelligences school states:


 * This schoolwide application of multiple-intelligences (MI) theory to curriculum is not an ivory-tower exercise, say Enota educators. It is good teaching. "Changing the definition of smart needed to happen for a long time," says fourth-grade teacher Audrey Thornton. "Gardner's principle was written to build in flexibility. The beauty in it is that you can take the philosophy and figure out how it's going to work with your kids." In other words, adds fifth-grade language arts and social studies teacher Denise McConnell, "we don't teach content. We teach children."


 * The Enota Multiple Intelligences Academy grew out of the reorganization, in 2003, of the Gainesville City School District. Overcrowding in the district's three elementary schools led then superintendent Steven Ballowe to grant principals the rare and refreshing opportunity to design their own themed academies. The result: five "choice" schools where Gainesville families can opt to send their children, regardless of neighborhood boundaries. In July 2008, the entire district was granted charter status.

Wilson, Leslie Owens (1998). What's the big attraction? Why teachers are drawn to using Multiple Intelligences Theory in their classrooms. New Horizons for Learning. Retrieved 4/29/09: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/mi/wilson1.htm.

Audios and Videos
Gardner, Howard (March 29, 2007). "What Does College Have to Do With Meaningful Work in a Meaningful Life? http://www3.amherst.edu/media/events/2007_03_29_gardner/HowardGardnerspeech.mp3

Gardner, Howard (2008). Gardner video on Digital Media's Effect on Ethics.

teachers.tv (September 2006). RSA Lectures - Howard Gardner - Future Minds (60 minute video). Retrieved 12/28/08: http://www.teachers.tv/search/node/Gardner. Free registration required. Lecture is about his book, Five Minds for the Future.

Three Minds.

Author
The original version of this page was created by Lisa Minnehan. The original document was later substantially expanded by David Moursund.