Multiple Intelligences as a Tool for Teaching and Learning

Since 1988, the theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI), conceived by Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner, has been used as a tool for teaching and learning at New City School. This unique academic learning approach capitalizes on students’ strengths and creates a deep level of understanding that allows children to use what they’ve learned in new and different situations.

New City School teachers create opportunities for children to learn and express what is learned through eight different intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, naturalist, and spatial.

In combination with New City School’s strong commitment to teaching students to read, write, and calculate at the highest levels of proficiency, the Multiple Intelligences approach to teaching and learning produces graduates who are well prepared for their future academic endeavors. 

WHY MI?

We began implementing the theory of Multiple Intelligences because it supported our beliefs that all children have talent, that the arts are important, and that who you are is as important as what you know. MI is a tool to help our students learn, and to express what they have learned. For us, using MI has been a profound experience. It has affected how we design our curriculum, how we teach and assess, how we work as colleagues, and how we communicate with our students’ parents. MI allows us to teach skills and subjects to a high level of proficiency, while also actively engaging children in the learning process.

In a study of the use of Multiple Intelligences to educate children, it was found that schools using Multiple Intelligences, "commonly had a culture of hard work, respect, and caring; a faculty that collaborated and learned from each other; classrooms that engaged students through constrained but meaningful choices, and a sharp focus on enabling students to produce high quality work." - Mindy L. Kornhaber, University of Pennsylvania, "Psychometric Superiority? Check the Facts - Again"