How Are YOU Smart?

Dr. Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor of neuroscience from Harvard University, developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences, which challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science. Unlike the established understanding of intelligence -- people are born with a uniform cognitive capacity that can be easily measured by short-answer tests -- MI reconsiders our educational practice of the last century and provides an alternative. This approach resonates highly with Heart House and has been adopted as one of our core beliefs about how we will work with children.

“Intelligence is the capacity to do something useful in the society in which we live. Intelligence is the ability to respond successfully to new situations and the capacity to learn from one’s past experiences.”—Dr. Howard Gardner

According to Howard Gardner, human beings have nine different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile. Although we each have all nine intelligences, no two individuals have them in the same exact configuration -- similar to our fingerprints. (For an overview of these nine intelligences, see our previous blog posting, The Many Kinds of Smart.)

For Gardner, intelligence is:

• the ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture;
• a set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life;
• the potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge.

Your turn: How are YOU smart?

There's a great online assessment we found which can help you determine your strongest intelligences. We found that it took an average of five minutes to complete, and was very fun to see the results. Find this assessment at http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html