What is My Child's Intelligence?

By Dr Zita Lobo

June 7, 2011 (Multiple Intelligences for Multisensory Learning) Maths teacher: "Your son has failed in mathematics" English teacher: "Why can’t your daughter sit still and listen?" Principal: "Your daughter keeps aloof, never mixes with other students". Biology teacher: "Your son can’t draw a simple diagram" Schools and colleges have reopened and the nightmarish parent-teacher meetings or ‘open days’ will make their comeback as well. Parents return home with feedback such as ‘dull’, ‘slow’, ‘poor concentration’ ‘poor memory’, ‘lazy’. To most parents, in addition to the fees and the works, performance of their wards becomes a major concern. They exchange notes, compare and contrast their children with other children who seem like prodigies. Despair takes over hope of their children’s bright futures. For the child what should be filled with work and play becomes a tortuous uphill task of coping with impositions and tuitions. For the parents a constant question "Why is my child not able to cope? Why is my child not intelligent"? Previously "Intelligence" was defined very narrowly. Children who could "Sit still, face the teacher and listen" had promising futures and were the teachers’ pets. Even while reminiscing about our childhood with fondness, most of us feel we could have done better at school than we did. That feeling still affects our attitude toward learning years later. Many very successful and fulfilled people in life were also judged to be failures at school based on their linguistic or mathematical inability - brilliant scientists, leaders, writers, entertainers, sports-people, soldiers, humanitarians, healers, religious and political leaders - all sorts of happy, fulfilled remarkable people - they too were judged according to a very narrow definition of what constitutes intelligence. Until recently people were generally categorised by the ‘G’ general factor. You were either a ‘genius, or above average or below average, an ‘idiot’, moron or an imbecile by the results of the IQ (Intelligent Quotient) tests. The ‘G’ factor sees Intelligence as a single entity that people have in varying degrees. More has been learned about the human brain in the last 25 to 30 years than in all previous history. It overturns a lot of old assumptions. The most important of them is the "IQ" the General Intelligence Quotient theory. Albert Einstein considered a genius for his contribution to physics was feared to be mentally challenged because he did not speak until he was four years old and could read only by seven. Beethoven was deaf and yet composed exquisite symphonies, but as a child had been chided by his music teacher as "hopeless as a composer. You will find hundred of examples in the famous and not so famous list of achievers. Victor says learning and work can be divided into four categories 1. Hard to learn and hard to do - for example mountaineering or some such difficult feats, 2. Hard to learn but easy to do - like driving a car, difficult to learn but in time becomes second nature. 3. Easy to learn but hard to do - like digging 4. Easy to learn and easy to do---This is your strength. This differs from person to person. What comes easy for one is unfathomable for others. Let’s take the example of Mathematics. For some, mathematics is like music. They gloat over numbers while for people like me numbers and algebra look like heliographies. With a swish of a brush one child can bring a pale canvas to life whereas feet and legs jut out of the ears of a figure when another child draws. What makes the same thing very easy for one to learn and very difficult for another? A major breakthrough in understanding intelligences and matching them with learning styles came when Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education in Harvard University and professor in neurology proposed the theory of multiple intelligences in his book ‘Frames of Mind’ published in 1983. Howard Gardner viewed intelligence as 'the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting' (Gardner & Hatch, 1989) Gardner has received honorary degrees from at least twenty foreign On the basis of neurological and cultural research he showed that learning is an outcome of modifications in the synaptic connections between cells in the brain. Research on brain suggests that learning is an outcome of the modifications in the synaptic connections between cells. There are particular areas of the brain where corresponding transformations occur. Such changes in the synaptic connections in areas of the brain such as the cerebral cortex and hippocampus are associated with the learning and remembering of new information. Unearthing these synaptic processes that gather, store and retrieve information throughout is the cutting edge of modern neuroscience. The major assumption of this theory is that every person is born with more than one intelligence. Intellectual capacity can be worked on. Although biology, environment, and culture plays an important role in the development of intelligences enhancing the dominant intelligences and working on the lesser developed intelligences is possible by constant effort. Students come with different sets of developed intelligences. An intelligence profile can be procured by Multiple Intelligences tests. All seven intelligences are needed to live life well. Teachers, therefore, need to attend to all intelligences, not just the first two that have been their tradition. Seven kinds of intelligences mean at least seven methods of teaching learning! The first step is to identify the Multiple Intelligences profile of the learner or group of learners. The educational implication is that learning will only be maximised when the learner’s preferred intelligences are aligned with the instructional approach. Teachers should structure the presentation of material in a style which engages most or all of the intelligences Extensive research is being conducted in schools and colleges to suit the learning styles of pupils to their abilities and learning styles. It has been embraced by a range of educational theorists and, significantly, applied by teachers and policymakers to the problems of schooling. Identification of dominant intelligences and development of other intelligences can make learning not painful but a pleasurable journey towards adulthood and fulfilling future careers.