Glossary / Lexicon

Intelligences based on Howard Garner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences refer to biopsychological potentials for processing information, solving problems, and developing products valued by the culture in which the person resides.

These 8 intellingences are:

1. Linguistic intelligence is the ability to use language to excite, please, convince, stimulate or convey information. Linguistic Intelligence involves not only ease in producing language, but also sensitivity to the nuances, order and rhythm of words. Poets exemplify this intelligence in its mature form. Students who enjoy playing with rhymes, who pun, who always have a funny story to tell, who quickly acquire other languages -including sign language - and who write copious notes to their friends in class all exhibit linguistic intelligence.

2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence - Logical-Mathematical intelligence is the ability to explore patterns, categories and relationships by manipulating objects or symbols, and to experiment in a controlled, orderly way. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence entails the ability to reason either deductively or inductively and to recognize and manipulate abstract patterns and relationships. Scientists, mathematicians and philosophers all rely on this intelligence. So do the students who love sport statistics or who carefully analyze the components of problems - either personal or school-related - before systematically testing solutions.

3. Musical Intelligence - Musical intelligence is the ability to enjoy, perform or compose a musical piece. Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence includes sensitivity to pitch, timbre rhythm of sounds, as well as responsiveness to the emotional implications of these elements. While composers and instrumentalists clearly exhibit this intelligence, so do the students who seem particularly caught by the birds singing outside the classroom window, or who constantly tap out intricate - or irritating - rhythms on the desk with their pencils.

4. Spatial Intelligence - Spatial intelligence is the ability to perceive and mentally manipulate a form or object, and to perceive and create tension, balance and composition in a visual or spatial display. Spatial Intelligence is the ability to create visual-spatial representations of the world and to transfer those representations either mentally or concretely. Well developed spatial capacities are needed for the work of architects, sculptors and engineers. The students who turn first to the graphs, charts and pictures in their textbooks, who like to "web" their ideas before writing a paper, and who fill the blank space around their notes with intricate patterns are also using their spatial intelligence.

5. Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence - Bodily-Kinaesthetic intelligence is the ability to use fine and gross motor skills in sports, the performing arts, or arts and crafts production. Bodily Intelligence involves using the body to solve problems, to create products, and to convey ideas and emotions. Athletes, surgeons, dancers, choreographers and craft people all use bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence. The capacity is also evident in students who relish gym class and school dances, who prefer to carry out class projects by making models rather than writing reports and who pitch their crumpled papers with annoying accuracy and frequency into waste baskets across the room.

6. Interpersonal Intelligence - Interpersonal Intelligence is the ability to understand other people, to notice their goals, motivations, intentions, and to work effectively with them.
Teachers, parents, politicians, psychologists and sales people rely on interpersonal intelligence to carry out their work. Students exhibit this intelligence when they thrive on small-group work, when they notice and react to the moods of their friends and classmates and when they tactfully convince the teacher of their need for extra time to complete the homework assignment

7. Intrapersonal Intelligence - Intrapersonal intelligence is the ability to gain access to understand one's inner feelings, dreams and ideas. Intrapersonal Intelligence is personal knowledge turned inward to the self. This form of intellect entails the ability to understand one's own emotions, goals and intentions. Although it is difficult to assess who has this capacity and to what degree, evidence can be sought in students' uses of their other intelligences - how well they seem to be capitalizing on their strengths, how cognisant they are oftheir weaknesses and how thoughtful they are about the decisions and choices they make. The two personal intelligences are, perhaps, the hardest to observe and at the same time, are the most important to success in any societal domain.

8. Naturalist Intelligence is the biopsychological potential which involves the ability to recognize and classify many species that constitute the flora and fauna of a person's environment.