Differentiated Instruction and Multiple Intelligences

Students learn in different ways.

Classrooms have never been more diverse than they are today. Student differences extend beyond interests, intelligence and school preparedness. Educators today have to factor in cultural expectations and the fact that girls and boys have differently wired brains. In this environment teachers are expected to ensure that all students make adequate progress. Clearly a "one-size-fits-all" approach of lectures, primers, and tests will not address students' varying needs. Differentiated instruction and the specific strategy of using multiple intelligences are designed to solve this problem.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation uses a variety of activities to teach a subject.

According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, differentiated instruction occurs anytime a teacher changes her approach to help a student. Teachers can use nontraditional techniques such as inquiry and flexible grouping to provide all students with "respectful" activities. In differentiated instruction, assessment is used to inform instruction and allows students different ways to demonstrate learning.

Items for Differentiation

Some students work better in groups.

Teachers can practice differentiation in several areas. They can vary the content itself (e.g., main points as opposed to in-depth study), as well as how students receive it (in oral or written form). They can also change the process by which students learn it--with increased support or enhanced complexity--and the products that show their learning, such as group work or options within parameters. Even adjusting the classroom environment helps many students, as with multicultural materials and places to work alone or together. In particular, teachers can rethink tests, reading items to students or using a project for assessment.

Learning Styles and Intelligence

Gardner's theory broadens the definition of intelligence.

One important piece of differentiation is learning style. Since the 1950s, a number of theories have been put forth about how individuals process information differently. Howard Gardner's work in this area is a model that starts by redefining intelligence. Historically, educators assumed people had fixed intellectual ability that could be assessed with an I.Q. test. As research began to point to the brain's modular nature, with different functions in different areas, Gardner noted education's specific focus on logical and linguistic thinking. The skills taught in school were out of sync with abilities needed in the outside world. Test scores tracked students into disabled or gifted programs effectively on the basis of learning style.

Multiple Intelligences

Musical intelligence involves rhythms and patterns.

Gardner's definition expanded the concept of intelligence to include creating products and services, gathering information and solving real-world problems. He proposed a growing list of "intelligences":

- Visual/spatial (wanting to see how it works, forming mental images)

- Verbal/linguistic (language-based, oral or written)

- Mathematical/logical (problem-solving, reasoning)

- Bodily/kinesthetic (environment-based, concrete)

- Musical/rhythmic (finding patterns)

- Intrapersonal (values-based, self-directed)

- Interpersonal (group learning)

- Naturalist (classifying/categorizing)

- Existential (meaning-based)

Each intelligence is associated with a different area of the brain and thus is found in everyone, but in differing strengths. Adapting teaching to meet all intelligences is a popular method for differentiating instruction.

References

• Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades
• Differentiated Instruction
• How to Differentiate Instruction
• Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
• Multiple Intelligences Go To School: Educational Implications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences
• How does this theory differ from the traditional definition of intelligence?

Resources

• The Nuts and Bolts in Understanding Differentiated Instruction
• Differentiation Model
• How to Adapt Your Teaching Strategies to Student Needs
• It's Not How Smart You Are -- It's How You Are Smart!
• Multiple Intelligences Test