Multiple Intelligence

Theoretically, it sounds exciting to apply MI theory in the classroom. However, in reality, it is usually unrealistic to design different activities in one short class based on each student’s talents and likes. I have found that, in practice, there are fewer differences among students’ intelligences than stated in MI theory. Research says that about ninety-five percent of people are visual learners, and I have found that nearly all of my students have responded to auditory, musical, and kinesthetic teaching approaches, in addition to visual methods.

Human natures are more or less similar. This belief underlies my opinion on MI theory in the classroom. The majority of people has five senses, with which they interact with one another and the outside world. People who seem to be more talented with one type of intelligences generally invest more time and effort on that particular intelligence.

In our actual teaching, it is impractical to design different activities for different students in a short lesson lasting only for forty-five minutes or one hour based on the students’ learning styles. I have yet to see any teacher effectively accomplish this in an educational setting other than kindergartens and elementary schools, where the teachers are able to set up different stations for different types of learning activities due to the spatial and time advantages the teachers have. Unless a teacher has his or her own permanent classroom, and teaches the same group of students consecutively everyday, it is difficult for a teacher to have different MI activities in one short class session.