Using Multiple Intelligences in Testing and Assessment
Although Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI) is over a decade old, teachers are still trying to find the best way to use this theory to assess students with different styles of learning and varied academic strengths. Multiple Intelligences shape the way students understand, process, and use information.
Gardner groups student capabilities into eight broad categories (each
student's unique learning style is a combination of these intelligences):
- Logical/mathematical (uses numbers effectively)
- Visual/spatial (is artistically or spatially perceptive)
- Bodily/kinesthetic (excels at tasks that require physical movement)
- Musical (perceives and/or expresses musical forms and patterns)
- Linguistic (uses words effectively)
- Interpersonal (responds well to others)
- Intrapersonal (is reflective and inner-directed)
- Naturalist (makes distinctions in the natural world)
Since no single approach to teaching and assessment can possibly work best
for every student, teachers face a challenge. What's the best way to match assessments
to students' learning styles?
Assessing Multiple Intelligences
Of course, assessment should reflect the diversity of intelligences and learning
styles in your classroom. For example, students who are good at spatial learning
might not display the full range of their knowledge on an essay test. In fact,
traditional testing methods are inherently biased in favor of students with
strong linguistic and mathematical skills. Advocates of MI theory suggest that
teachers supplement their traditional assessment methods with assessment strategies
that evaluate student progress in an inclusive, meaningful way.
So, how can you use the theory of multiple intelligences to assess student
achievement in your classroom? The MI approach to testing is closely related
to authentic assessment. This approach enables students to demonstrate the
depth of their understanding, connect their classwork to real-life experiences,
and apply their knowledge to new situations.
MI theorists offer the following tips:
- Emphasize ongoing assessment and progress. Continue to ask if and how
students have improved their skills.
- Introduce assessment to your students as a regular part of classroom
life. Make assessment a part of the learning process, not a stressful, intimidating
"event."
- Try to use instruments, tools, and procedures that embrace some, if
not all, of the multiple intelligences.
- Use a wide range of assessment tools to measure students' skills and
abilities.
- Give lots of feedback!
Build Your Own Assessment Repertoire
To create successful assessment strategies, familiarize yourself with your students'
individual learning styles. Knowing how your students learn best can help you
choose approaches that will reach them most effectively. Here are some specific
strategies that can make assessment productive and fun:
Linguistic
- Ask students to write in a journal regularly.
- Give oral exams and/or essay tests.
- Emphasize creative writing – have students write poems, plays, and stories.
- Assign science labs and experiments.
- Have students complete logic problems and games.
- Challenge students to write and perform plays.
- Have students build models or use other hands-on techniques to show what they learned.
- Invite students to create collages, murals, and posters.
- Encourage students to illustrate their ideas using maps, charts, and
graphs.
- Help students use school equipment to make a video or slide show.
- Stage a classroom debate.
- Have students work collaboratively to brainstorm and prepare a project.
- Ask students to identify their own academic strengths and weaknesses.
- Have students think of personal goals and give progress reports.
- Challenge students to identify and explain patterns in music or poetry.
- Ask students to write new lyrics to familiar melodies or to compose a new song.
- Ask students to keep environmental journals and to share their observations.
- Invite students to lead classmates on a nature walk to point out interesting plants and animals they found during independent study.
Note that many of these assessment strategies evaluate more than one kind of intelligence. You can use strategies like these and other combinations of projects, performances, and portfolios to assess students' progress.
There is no "right" way to use multiple intelligences in testing
and assessment. You don't have to overhaul your whole curriculum. But you can
make an effort to address each student's strengths and weaknesses by using creative
alternatives to traditional testing in your classroom.
Articles and practical applications for Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.
