Page 94 - Keys To Community College Success

WHAT TOOLS CAN HELP YOU ASSESS HOW YOU
learn and interact with others?

A variety of tools exist to help you become more aware of different aspects of
yourself. Some tools focus on learning preferences; some on areas of potential; and oth-
INTELLIGENCE
ers on personality type. This chapter examines two assessments in depth. The first,
As defined by H. Gardner,
an ability to solve problems Multiple Pathways to Learning, is a learning preferences assessment focusing on eight
or create products that
areas of potential, referred to as intelligences. It is based on Howard Gardner’s Mul-
are of value in a culture.
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tiple Intelligences (MI) theory. The second, the Personality Spectrum, is a personality-
type assessment based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It helps you evaluate
how you react to people and situations.
Following each assessment is information about the typical traits of each type of
intelligence and each Personality Spectrum dimension. As you will see from your scores,
you have abilities in all areas, though some are more developed than others.

Assess Your Multiple Intelligences
with Pathways to Learning

In 1983, Howard Gardner changed the way people perceived intelligence and learning
with his theory of Multiple Intelligences. Like Robert Sternberg, Gardner believed that
the traditional view of intelligence, based on mathematical, logical, and verbal mea-
surements that made up an intelligence quotient (IQ), did not reflect the true spectrum
of human ability. Sternberg focused on the spectrum of actions that help people achieve
important goals, but Gardner chose to examine the idea that humans possess a number
of different areas of natural ability and potential that he called multiple intelligences.

The theory of Multiple Intelligences
Gardner’s research identified eight unique types of intelligence or areas of ability. These
included two areas traditionally associated with the term intelligence—verbal and logic
skills—but expanded beyond them, to encompass a wide range of potentials of the
human brain. These intelligences almost never function in isolation. You will almost
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always use several at the same time for any significant role or task. 4
As you look at Key 3.1, study the descrip-
tion of each intelligence and then examine
the examples of people who have unusually
high levels of ability in that area. Although
few people have the verbal-linguistic intelli-
gence of William Shakespeare or the interper-
sonal intelligence of Oprah Winfrey, everyone
has some level of ability in every intelligence.
Your goal is to identify what your levels are
and to work your strongest intelligences to
your advantage.
The way Gardner defines intelligence
heightens the value of different abilities in differ-
ent arenas. In Tibet, for example, mountain
dwellers prize the bodily-kinesthetic ability of a
Himalayan mountain guide. In Detroit, auto-
makers appreciate the visual-spatial talents of a
master car designer. Send the car designer up
Mount Everest, or have the Sherpa design a car
for Chrysler, and suddenly a person who is
Students drawn to the sciences may find that they have strengths in exceptionally intelligent in one area may fal-
logical-mathematical or naturalistic thinking.
ter in another.

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