In the 1900s French psychologist Alfred Binet tried to come up with a measure that would predict the success or failure of children in the primary grades of schools. The result was the forerunner of the standard IQ test we use to traditionally measure, how intelligent a person is based on Math and English. In the 1980s Harvard University psychologist, Howard Gardner had a pluralistic view of the mind and recognized the many discrete facets of cognition. Gardner defines intelligence as the ability to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings. Gardner acknowledged that people have different cognitive strengths as well as different cognitive styles. Gardner, in his theory of multiple intelligences, identified eight intelligences, which are like talents and gifts and many combinations of the eight are possible.
Gardners' eight intelligences are:
- Linguistic intelligence (""word smart"")
- Logical-mathematical intelligence (""number/reasoning smart"")
- Spatial intelligence (""picture smart"")
- Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (""body smart"")
- Musical intelligence (""music smart"")
- Interpersonal intelligence (""people smart"")
- Intrapersonal intelligence (""self smart"")
- Naturalist intelligence (""nature smart"")
At Suncity School, we endeavor to place equal stress on individuals and their different gifts of intelligence and we have incorporated all the eight intelligences in different laboratories to provide eight different potential pathways to learning. The Logical Lab, the Innovative/Art & Craft Lab, the Linguistic Lab, the Lyrical/Gayan, and Nritya Lab, and the Spa Block address mathematical and logical intelligence, spatial intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, respectively. Naturalist, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Spatial Intelligences are nurtured in the first of its kind – a world-class, copyrighted – ‘Multiple Intelligence Learning Centre.’ The center has been lauded by Cambridge University’s “Guide to Excellence” as one of the world’s 100 best pedagogical practices to be implemented in education.
Some of the essential features and objectives of the lab are enumerated below:
Showcasing Pre Historic Existence
Extinction of dinosaurs
Stone Age – Emergence of Prehistoric man
Dwellings & Fossils
Discovery of Fire and Wheel
Emergence of social behavior – impact of discoveries
Interdependence between man & nature
NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE
Medieval Art & Culture
Agriculture & growth of civilization
Ajanta &Ellora Caves, Buddhist Monastaries – art forms, frescoes
NATURALIST AND SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE
Village Life
Settlements as opposed to nomadic life
Facets of rural life & culture
Emergence of the Panchayat system
Complex political structures – The King & the state
INTRAPERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Urban Existence
Contrast with village life
Interdependence between both
Miniature road system
INTRAPERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
(developing civic sense)
Space Exploration
Contrast with village life
Interdependence between both
Miniature road system
SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE
(nurturing imagination)
Projects, storytelling, vocabulary building, dramatization & educational trips are some of the techniques that are used by the faculty to expose the children to the various intelligences and enable them to explore their pathways to their kinds of learning. At Suncity School we believe that the right infrastructure and learning can reveal the right aspects of the child’s personality and make him a true “MI child” or ‘ Multiple intelligences child.’