Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century (Paperback)
by Howard Gardner "EVERY SOCIETY FEATURES its ideal human being..." (more)
# Paperback: 304 pages
# Publisher: Basic Books (September 20, 2000)
# Language: English
# ISBN: 0465026117
# Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
# Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces. (View shipping rates and policies)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
How would a musical genius like Mozart have performed on the SAT or GRE? Well enough to go to an Ivy League? Difficult to say, of course, but thank goodness Howard Gardner thought to ask the question: Can every sort of intelligence be measured with the tools we've been using for the past century and more? In his 1983 book, Frames of Mind, Gardner laid out the foundation for the theory of multiple intelligences (MI). In Intelligence Reframed, a revisitation and elaboration of MI theory, he details the modern history of intelligence and the development of MI, responds to the myths about multiple intelligences, and handles FAQs about the theory and its application. He also restates his ideal educational plan, which would emphasize deep understanding of iconic subjects following from a variety of instructional approaches. (His book The Disciplined Mind discusses this plan in more detail.) Most excitingly, Gardner discusses the possibility for three more intelligences. Of these, he endorses only one, the naturalist intelligence--a person's ability to identify plants and animals in the surrounding environment. He writes, "My recognition that such individuals could not readily be classified in terms of the seven antecedent intelligences led me to consider this additional form of intelligence and to construe the scope of the naturalist's abilities more broadly."
An absorbing read from cover to cover, Intelligence Reframed should be studied and discussed by teachers, administrators, policy makers, and all those eager to serve children and prepare them to lead fulfilling lives. --Brian J. Williamson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
In Frames of Mind (1983), Gardner first set forth his influential theory of Multiple Intelligences, contending that each of us is equipped with eight or more separate types of intelligence (including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal varieties). In this combative update, geared mainly to educators, psychologists and other professionals, Harvard education professor Gardner adds to the list a new naturalist intelligence, which involves attunement to the environment, its flora and fauna. He further proposes that there may be a spiritual or existential intelligence (knowledge of transcendental and cosmic matters), but adds that this awaits scientific verification. Critics will undoubtedly pounce on his ideas, but Gardner has his ammunition ready: he argues that accumulating neurological evidence supports MI theory, and cites a study by Harvard Project Zero (of which he is codirector) reporting that schools across the U.S. applying MI theory boast improved student performance and parent participation. Gardner also outlines two of his new educational approaches: "individually configured education," tailored to individual differences, and "Teaching for Understanding," designed to assess students' comprehension at each step. He also throws down a gauntlet: "If we ignore the differences [in how people acquire and represent knowledge], we are destined to perpetuate a system that caters to an eliteAtypically those who learn best in a... linguistic or logical-mathematical manner." His book is certain to fuel debate. (Nov..--, we are destined to perpetuate a system that caters to an eliteAtypically those who learn best in a... linguistic or logical-mathematical manner." His book is certain to fuel debate. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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141 of 144 people found the following review helpful:
An excellent update on Howard Gardner's thinkings., November 7, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
Intelligent Pictures in our Minds
Almost two decades ago, a Harvard University developmental psychologist, Howard Gardner, wrote Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, a book he believed he was writing predominantly to enlighten mainstream psychologists, not educators. In that book, he proposed a novel notion: the psychological construct 'intelligence' should be formally measured in more ways than simply through the dry statistical analytical lenses of the widely accepted logical and linguistic IQ-type formalized tests, tests so standardized for most schooling systems. Gardner questioned the classical belief that human beings could have only one 'mode of representation' about the world; instead, he suggested that a more pluralistic viewpoint for measuring mental functioning ought to be addressed - a variety of intelligent ways of thinking.
In Frames, Gardner theorized a master list of seven basic intelligences to represent these other modes, including the widely accepted linguistic-verbal and logical-mathematical, and visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, and the two most criticized, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Frames was well received by those in the educational arena and the wider community at large. It was translated into Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. It was selected by five book clubs. Frames became Gardner's claim-to-fame.
In his second 1999 book, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, the 'father' of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) once again acquaints his followers with another first-rate book that continues the argument he made in earlier books, that there are multiple forms of intelligences. Although he 'canonizes' two additional intelligences, naturalistic and existential, he feels that what is more important is how people make use of MI to carry out daily tasks prized in the culture. This latter statement was well summarized during a recent interview when Gardner said "The fact that we have the same intelligences means that we can communicate with one another. But the fact that we represent things mentally in numerous symbolic systems to one another means that we are not necessarily going to construe things in the same way or see the same options."
The strength of the book lies in its core, the next three chapter describing and justifying "the ways in which MI theory can be applied to scholastic and "wider world" settings. Gardner's line of reasoning is persuasive, not because of the extensiveness of the information he includes, and his realization that certain mainstream institutions may encounter difficulty implementing his "multiple approaches to understanding", but because his script, as always, is vibrant and lucid enough to hold our interests more than a monotonous statistical analyses of a psychometric theory of intelligence would, yet firm and advanced enough that he can be taken as a serious thinker rather than as some pop cognitivist.
These three chapters outline how others have successfully implemented MI; they detail how the MI model can be easily applied to classroom learning and also infused into the "the wider society." In fact, all of Chapter 11 comments on MI in the wider world of institutions and business communities. Here, Gardner outlines ways that he has observed MI "at work in children's museums", including possibilities within art museums, and finally, within the workplace. The book concluded with Chapter 12 where he addresses (somewhat) the question first introduced in Chapter 1: Who Owns Intelligence? While the jury will be out most likely well in the 21st century on this deep and philosophical problem, may it be said, for now, that the "proprietary rights" to intelligences belong to all? Intelligence Reframed is especially important for the way in which it lays out a challenge to the 'psychometric consensus.' More specifically, the book is important for the following four reasons.
If there is a weakness in the book, it lies within the opening and closing chapters. Here the book stumbles somewhat in its attempt to address the authentic ownership of intelligence. It is suggested that "intelligence is too important to be left to the intelligence testers", that the book lay "out a position that challenges the psychometric consensus", that the book adopt the stance that humans ought to develop a better method of viewing cognitive potential and that what matters more than developing tests to measure intelligences is the practical applications of intelligences. There are some interesting calls for greater human individualization provided in these two chapters. But the details given to intellectual renovators is inconsequential and save for intellectual generalities, is slightly outdated; long-standing MI supporters will find little in these two chapters that they did not already know.
Nevertheless, Intelligence Reframed is Howard E. Gardner: it is a delightful and entertaining read and beautifully written by one of the best writers in the field of developmental cognitive science. Dr. Gardner has, once again, provided readers with a significant and well-articulated text that should be widely read and discussed. As with his previous books, detailed reference notes have been conveniently located in a section at the end of the book, so that the flow of the text is continuous. The four appendices (Books and Articles by Howard Gardner, Other Works About The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Videos, Newsletters, and Miscellany, and Contacts on Multiple Intelligences Theory and its Application) represent a welcomed background for the more interested reader. The 292 pages of the book clearly delineate and reframe the original (1983) picture of his many 'kinds of minds' image. Every chapter title, save one, contains either the word 'intelligence' or 'intelligences' - an indication of the central theme throughout the book - to "challenge the psychometric consensus" by updating the reader with numerous fresh viewpoints from a cognitive developmental standpoint.
Like so many of the author's earlier books, Intelligence Reframed ought to have a powerful impact on all who read it because Gardner puts into words a common sense type of message that so many people in psychology, education, and the greater world already know: human beings are very special from each another. They learn in dissimilar kinds of ways, and to treat all of them as if they were the same and call everybody stupid who fails to resemble a certain prototype is simply a misguided assessment.
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Many Intelligences Enabe Us to Work Smarter not Harder, September 13, 2004
Reviewer: Clifford Morris (USA) - See all my reviews
Twenty-one (21) years ago, a Harvard University developmental psychologist, Howard Gardner, wrote quite an interesting book called "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences". He thought that he was writing the book to enlighten, in the main, conventional psychologists, not state-funded public school educators such as classroom teachers and school administrators. In that book, he suggested a novel notion: that the psychological construct 'intelligence' should be formally measured in many more cognitive avenues than simply through dry statistical analytical lenses of widely accepted logical/linguistic IQ-type formalized tests, tests standardized for most schooling systems. More precisely, he questioned the mainstream belief that human beings throughout the world could have only a single 'mode of representation' about life; instead, he suggested that a more pluralistic viewpoint for measuring cerebral capacities ought be addressed -- a variety of intelligent ways of thinking.
Or to put it another way, Mr. Gardener, suggested that our human intelligences ought to be arranged in a 'vertical' way, as a number of almost different faculties, rather than 'horizontally', as a set of 'g'eneral skills. This viewpoint was in direct contrast to many of the traditional language and logic theorists of that (1983) time who believed (and many continue to do so, today, in 2004) that there was only one kind of general intelligence, or 'g': that we either has a much of it or not that much, and that there was virtually very little that we could be do about that.
In Frames, Gardner theorized a master list of seven basic human intelligences to represent these other types of modes, including the widely accepted linguistic - verbal and logical - mathematical, and visual - spatial, bodily - kinesthetic, musical - rhythmic, and the two most criticized but equally important of all of his intelligences, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Frames was well received by those within the educational arena. The book was reprinted numerous times and translated into many languages, including Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. His work was selected by five (5) major USA book clubs. To this day, it "is still his best-known and most influential book" (Eberstadt, 1999, p. 7). In other words, Frames has become Gardner's claim-to-fame work.
In his second 1999 book, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, Gardner once again acquaints his followers with another first rate book that continues the argument he made in earlier books, that there are multiple forms of intelligences. Although "he introduces the possibility of three new intelligences (but canonizes only existential intelligence and naturalist intelligence)" (book jacket, inside front cover), Gardner, feels that what is MORE important is how people make use of MI to carry out daily tasks prized in the culture. This latter statement was well summarized during a recent interview when Gardner said "The fact that we have the same intelligences means that we can communicate with one another. But the fact that we represent things mentally in numerous symbolic systems to one another means that we are not necessarily going to construe things in the same way or see the same options."
Intelligence Reframed, which "draws heavily on [four] essays written in the 1990s" (p. ix) contains 12 Chapters. In the opening three chapters, comments on the mainstream scientific view of intelligence are reintroducing, including MI theory. These chapters provide important background documentation on the 'psychometric dominance' before MI. In Chapter 3, Gardner redefines intelligence, reviews the eight criteria for intelligence, and clarifies the original seven intelligences. In the next three chapters, he introduces the possibility of four additional candidate intelligences: moral, spiritual, existential, and naturalist, however settling only on the latter two. In Chapters six and seven, questions related to recent myths and issues are discussed. In particular, he "responds in lively dialogue to the critiques leveled against" MI. The reader is offered a series of well thought out observations on how MI theory has been deciphered and misconstrued. Any relationships between leadership, creativity, and intelligence are discussed in Chapter 8.
The strength of Intelligence Reframed lies in its core, the three (3) subsequent chapter describing and justifying "the ways in which MI theory can be applied to scholastic and "wider world" settings. Gardner's line of reasoning is persuasive, not because of the extensiveness of the information he includes, and his realization that certain mainstream institutions may encounter difficulty implementing his "multiple approaches to understanding", but because his script, as always, is vibrant and lucid enough to hold our interests more than a monotonous statistical analyses of a psychometric theory of intelligence would, yet firm and advanced enough that he can be taken as a serious thinker rather than as some pop cognitivist.
These three chapters outline how others have successfully implemented MI; they detail how the MI model can be easily applied to classroom learning and also infused into the "the wider society." In fact, all of Chapter 11 comments on MI in the wider world of institutions and business communities. Here, Gardner outlines ways that he has observed MI "at work in children's museums", including possibilities within art museums, and finally, within the workplace. The book concluded with Chapter 12 where he addresses (somewhat) the question he first introduced in Chapter 1: Who Owns Intelligence? While the jury will be out most likely well in the 21st century on this deep and philosophical problem, may it be said, for now, that the "proprietary rights" to intelligences belong to all? The book is especially important for the way in which it lays out a challenge to the 'psychometric consensus.' More specifically, I feel that the book is important for the following four (4) reasons.
First of all, I continue to believe that this book is important because it refines Gardner's original definition of intelligence: the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings, to a more cultivated version, intelligence is "a bio-psychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture" (pp. 33-34). Gardner perceives intelligences as "potentials - presumably, neural ones - that will or will not be activated, depending upon the values of a particular culture, the opportunities available in that culture, and the personal decisions made by individuals and/or their families, schoolteachers, and others" (p. 34). This is a revision of great consequence. By now referring to intelligences as a 'potential', Gardner, at last, brings to everyone's attention a most important distinction, "intelligence not as a content", but "geared to specific contents in the world." To reinforce this point, Gardner elsewhere likens his intelligences to "elastics bands" that can be stretched beyond those "psychometrically intelligent."
Second, I think that this book is important because it outlines procedures for assessing MI. This is a most important point because, in previous writings, Gardner has been appropriately attacked for failing to produce assessment instruments for his MI theory. Gardner feels that "the classical short-answer examinations" are of little use. Instead, he is interested in asking "people to do things" and to observe their skill level in the task under construction. In this way, he feels that an examiner would be better "able to look directly at the skills and capacities" so valued in the dominant culture. Now, intelligences could be used "to carry out tasks valued by society."
In other words, by placing intelligence within the role of "human information-processing and product-making capacities", Gardner sees ongoing observation as a pragmatic assessment tool. He prefers to assess in 'intelligent-fair' ways, that is, "assessing people's successes in carrying out valued tasks that presumably involve certain intelligences." Of prime importance here is a "realistic context" for observing the skill. To better explain all of this, Gardner sites several examples throughout the book, including the following two. First, one way to assess interpersonal intelligences would be to monitor individuals as they interact in "real-life situations where they have to be sensitive to the aspirations and motives of others." Second, the visual-spatial intelligence "would be assessed through performances in such activities as navigating an unfamiliar terrain, playing chess, interpreting blueprints, and remembering the arrangements of objects in a recently vacated room."
Of greater interest are general pointers that Gardner cautions test developers to consider: making the distinction between one's personal preferences and their capabilities to succeed at the task at hand, the risk of relying solely on linguistic-verbal methods to assess abilities, and the significance of drawing on observations of actual skills, including verification by others who best know that individual. The fact that he has cautioned test developers about such conventional pitfalls is, at last, a step in the right direction for those wishing to develop assessment tools for his intelligences. To demonstrate further that Gardner is in favor of assessment tools to measure his intelligences, he throws out the following suggestions. Ongoing improvement in technology will open up various avenues for computer simulations. For example, to measure one's musical intelligence, a subject could be presented with an unfamiliar tune. The subject could be asked to learn the tune, to implement the tune into a musical performance, or perhaps even to involve a computer simulation package to rearrange its composition. Gardner feels that such an assessment exercise would reveal more about a person's musical skills than would a traditional timed paper-pencil test dealing with the factual knowledge of music.
Third, the book is important because Gardner suggests six critical steps that ought to be followed before anyone establishes an MI environment. First, one should learn as much as possible about MI practice, especially MI theory. Some sources for doing this include books, videos, the Internet, including CD-ROMS. Second, interested parties might wish to form study groups and thus learn from others more knowledgeable about MI. Third, one could visit MI schools where the MI model has been in operation for some time, two examples being the Key Learning Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the New City School in St. Louis, Missouri. Fourth, much can be learned from attending MI workshops, seminars, and conferences. Fifth, one could join a network of schools that have been active in the MI teaching approach. Finally, Gardner suggests to "plan and launch activities, practices, or programs that grow out of immersion in the world of MI theory and approaches."
And finally, I believe that this book is important because Gardner comments on a series of 'entry points' that can be used by anyone wishing to introduce MI into a learning center, be it a classroom site, a children's or art museum, or within the greater business community. The entry points range from the narrative, the quantitative/numerical, the logical, to the foundational/existential, aesthetic, hands on, and social. For the narrative learner, Gardner suggests the linguistic-verbal intelligence as an entrance vehicle. Here, subjects could narrate a story around what s/he sees or hears. Those "intrigued by numbers and the patterns they make, the various operations that can be performed, and insight into size, ratio, and change" may wish to investigate a quantitative/numerical entry point.
More to that final reason, Gardner suggests "[figuring] out the cost of the materials and how that relates to the selling price. Deductive thinkers might enjoy the logical point of entry as they could "share [their] theory about why [an] object is important." And for those "attracted to fundamental kinds of questions", Gardner suggests the foundational/existential entry point. Content "that features balance, harmony, and composition" may inspire the aesthetic entry point. For example, Gardner suggests that one could "describe the colors and shapes and how they fit together." A hands on entry point may motivate those to activities "in which they become fully engaged - where they can build something, manipulate materials, or carry out experiments." Here, Gardner suggests one might design a dance centered on what the viewer saw. And finally, for those 'interpersonal' learners who "learn more effectively" from group interaction, Gardner suggests the social entry point.
I believe that Mr. Gardner has greatly contributed to the body of knowledge on the nature of human intelligence. He is to be commended for how he makes a most difficult psychological construct so simple to comprehend. He has presented his followers with a revised and updated picture of their various minds and its accompanying intelligences. He has reframed the image of intelligences for the forthcoming century, and perhaps, more importantly, has successfully 'stretched' the mainstream 'borders' of intelligence to include disciplines beyond education and psychology, a most welcomed line of attack. With this book, he has accomplished a major step in elevating the discussion of our cerebral smarts to possibly new frontiers. For all of this, we should be truly thankful.
If there is a weakness in the book, perhaps it lies within the opening and closing chapters. Here, one could that Gardner perchance stumbles somewhat in his attempt to address the authentic ownership of intelligence. He suggests that "intelligence is too important to be left to the intelligence testers", that the book lay "out a position that challenges the psychometric consensus", that the book adopt the stance that humans ought to develop a better method of viewing cognitive potential and that what matters more than developing tests to measure intelligences is the practical applications of intelligences. There are some interesting calls for greater human individualization provided in these two chapters. But the details given to intellectual renovators is inconsequential and save for intellectual generalities, is slightly outdated. Long standing followers of Gardner's writings, this retired classroom teacher and school principal included, will find little in these two chapters that they did not already know.
Nevertheless, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, is truly Dr. Howard Earl Gardner, the developmental cognitive scientist, at his very best. It is a delightful and entertaining read and beautifully written by one of the best writers in the field of psychology today. Gardner has, once again, provided us with a significant and well articulated text that should be widely read and discussed. As with most of his previous books, detailed reference notes have been conveniently located in a section at the end of the book, so that the flow of the text remains continuous. The four appendices (Books and Articles by Howard Gardner, Other Works About The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Videos, Newsletters, and Miscellany, and Contacts on Multiple Intelligences Theory and its Application) represent a welcomed background for the more interested reader.
The 292 pages of the book clearly delineate and reframe many of the original (1983) pictures stemming from his many 'kinds of minds' image. Every chapter title, save one, contains either the word 'intelligence' or 'intelligences' - an indication of the central theme of the book - to "challenge the psychometric consensus" by updating the reader with numerous fresh viewpoints from a cognitive developmental standpoint. And, like so many of his earlier books, Intelligence Reframed ought to have a powerful impact on all who read it because Gardner once again introduces the reader to a common sense message, a message initially generated from Frames: I think [Frames'] attraction had to do with the fact that I was putting into words and giving some scholarly background -- a Harvard imprimatur -- to something so many people in education know: Kids are very different from one another. They learn in very different kinds of ways, and to treat them all as if they're the same and call everybody a dummy who doesn't resemble a certain prototype is wrong. (Current Biography Yearbook, 1998)
Selected references
Current Biography Yearbook. (1998). Howard Gardner, pp. 216-219. New York: H. W. Wilson Company.
Ebserstadt, Mary (1999, October & November). The schools they deserve: Howard Gardner and the remaking of elite education. Policy Review, 97, 3-17. |
