{"id":20685,"date":"2018-01-15T08:22:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T13:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/?p=20685"},"modified":"2021-08-13T10:09:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T14:09:15","slug":"blog-retire-term-multiple-intelligences-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2018\/blog-retire-term-multiple-intelligences-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: Should we retire the term \u201cMultiple Intelligences\u201d, as well?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Maristela Petrovic-Dzerdz,\u00a0Supervisor, Instructional Design<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In 2015, I wrote the blog\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/2015\/blog-should-we-retire-the-term-learning-styles\/\">\u201cShould we retire the term \u2018Learning Styles?\u2019\u201d<\/a>. Many eminent academics and educators have written about this learning myth, and I have only tried to do my small part in generating some discussion around the topic. In that blog post, I quoted Howard Gardner, who in 1983 published about the theory of multiple intelligences, which seems to have been a foundation for the theory of learning styles. In 2013, in an op-ed in <em>The Washington Post<\/em>, Gardner urged educators to drop the term \u201cstyles\u201d because it is confusing both to educators and to students. Unfortunately, I still hear within the academic community, a frequent mention of \u201clearning styles\u201d, a catch phrase that seems hard to eradicate.<\/p>\n<p>Those accepting Gardner\u2019s suggestion might find a \u201cworkaround\u201d in talking only about multiple intelligences (which, one could presume, shape the most efficient ways we learn, resulting in multiple \u201clearning styles\u201d), without explicitly mentioning the word \u201cstyles\u201d. Problem solved!<\/p>\n<p>However, in the 2016 book\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/us\/academic\/subjects\/psychology\/psychology-general-interest\/scientists-making-difference-one-hundred-eminent-behavioral-and-brain-scientists-talk-about-their-most-important-contributions?format=HB&amp;isbn=9781107127135#HWRdvfSEIiRTPF5J.97\">\u201cScientists Making a Difference\u201d<\/a>, Gardner wrote an essay answering the question posed to 100 scientists about their greatest accomplishments. He wrote about his theory of multiple intelligences and admitted that it has made him famous, largely thanks to his choice of words (\u201cintelligence\u201d instead of \u201ctalent\u201d).\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/howardgardner01.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/scientists-making-a-difference_gardner.pdf\">Gardner wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cMany writers \u2013 both scholarly and lay \u2013 had written about the diversity of human talents. (\u2026) I termed the resulting categories \u201cintelligences\u201d rather than talents. In so doing, I challenged those psychologists who believed that they owned the words \u201cintelligence\u201d and had a monopoly on its definition and measurement. If I had written about human talents, rather than intelligences, I probably would not have been asked to contribute to this volume.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you are still inclined to use the term \u201cmultiple intelligences\u201d in your work or everyday life, you might find it interesting that even Gardner would probably not advise you to do so. Here are a few more statements from this essay:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cI had expected the work to be discussed chiefly by psychologists. But, in truth, most psychologists, and particularly most psychometricians, have never warmed to the theory.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cNor (\u2026) have I carried out experiments designed to test the theory.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cI readily admit that the theory is no longer current.\u201c<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think this short blog needs a summary (I suggest reading Gardner\u2019s essay in full), but if I were to write one, it would read as follows: Howard Gardner hasn\u2019t tested his theory of multiple intelligences. He was referring to what is usually deemed as \u201ctalents\u201d but the term \u201cintelligence\u201d attracted attention, and he thinks the theory is no longer current.\u00a0Therefore, maybe it is time to consider retiring another phrase from our vocabulary and looking for some new ones\u00a0that better\u00a0describe our current understanding of the diversity of learners and individual differences?<\/p>\n<p>I hope this gives you some material for an interesting conversation the next time someone in your vicinity evokes the topic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maristela Petrovic-Dzerdz,\u00a0Supervisor, Instructional Design In 2015, I wrote the blog\u00a0\u201cShould we retire the term \u2018Learning Styles?\u2019\u201d. Many eminent academics and educators have written about this learning myth, and I have only tried to do my small part in generating some discussion around the topic. In that blog post, I quoted Howard Gardner, who in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blog: Should we retire the term \u201cMultiple Intelligences\u201d, as well? - Teaching and Learning Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Maristela Petrovic-Dzerdz,\u00a0Supervisor, Instructional Design In 2015, I wrote the blog\u00a0\u201cShould we retire the term \u2018Learning Styles?\u2019\u201d. Many eminent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2018\/blog-retire-term-multiple-intelligences-well\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CCMS Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2018\/blog-retire-term-multiple-intelligences-well\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2018\/blog-retire-term-multiple-intelligences-well\/\",\"name\":\"Blog: Should we retire the term \u201cMultiple Intelligences\u201d, as well? - Teaching and Learning Services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-15T13:22:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-13T14:09:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/b84c96792cb38e12a65f6fd1220449ad\"},\"description\":\"By Maristela Petrovic-Dzerdz,\u00a0Supervisor, Instructional Design In 2015, I wrote the blog\u00a0\u201cShould we retire the term \u2018Learning Styles?\u2019\u201d. 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