Ch. 1: The Foundations of MI Theory

In 1904 Alfred Binet had the task of deciding who the “at risk” schools were in the sense of remedial attention and possible failure, so he created an intelligence test. Almost 80 years later, Gardener challenged Binet’s beliefs with 7 (now 8) basic intelligences. Through the intelligence test, I discovered that I am highly verbal, but also reserved (intrapersonal). These both made sense to me because I am going to be an English teacher and enjoy have time to think to myself before blurting out an answer. Armstrong made it clear that we will have students of all MI’s and we must learn how to meet their needs. Although we do obtain all eight, we have strong points and low points and if we have a more logical thinker, we will be forced to put the lesson into numbers and reasoning for them to understand. I want to take the key points of MI and store them in my memory bank when I become a teacher, so I can flip back and remember what I should do so that all my students will grasp the concept I am trying to demonstrate. Gardener is still adapting intelligences and is working with ideas such as: spiritual intelligence, creativity intelligence, culinary intelligences and more.