Using Stories To Understand Many Intelligences

Howard Gardner is a brilliant Harvard professor. His theory of many intelligences claims that there are eight different forms of intelligence. Stories are a good way to approach and develop these, both for children and adults.

Gardner states that intelligence can not only be reduced to the most stimulated type or the type that academia considers most important. In fact, he argues that while logical and verbal intelligences are important, they are no more important than emotional, social, or musical intelligence.

Howard Gardner’s theory

Before we get into the world of stories, let’s take a look at Gardner’s theory of many intelligences.

Gardner states that both adults and children have the opportunity to develop different types of intelligence. In fact, he suggests that instead of talking about intelligence, we should talk about an intelligence profile, much like we talk about a personality profile.

Gardner’s theory of many intelligences suggests that there are eight types of intelligence. These are:

• Linguistic intelligence. The ability to understand reading, writing and speaking.
• Musical intelligence. The ability to sing, perform, listen, play an instrument or make and analyze music.
• Logical / mathematical intelligence. This is similar to the traditional concept of intelligence. In fact, it concerns the ability to identify, calculate and verify hypotheses using the scientific method.
• Visual – spatial intelligence. The ability to visualize objects from different angles, recognize faces or scenes and notice fine details.

• Physical / kinesthetic intelligence. The ability to solve problems and perform activities with the body.
• Social intelligence. The ability to understand others and work with them to help them identify and overcome their problems.
• Self-insight – intuitive intelligence. The ability to reflect on yourself, your emotional states, weaknesses and strengths, etc.
• Naturalistic intelligence. Used to observe and study nature, classify objects and establish patterns.

Stories to stimulate many intelligences

You can find stories to stimulate children’s diverse intelligences in both the contemporary and the classical literary world. For example, any written story is perfect for working with their linguistic intelligence. Because they have to read it, understand it and speak if they read aloud.

As for the other intelligences, there are many options. Take, for example, musical intelligence. A classic story to use can be The Rat Catcher from Hamelin. This gives the child an excuse to sing, play the flute and finally start relating to the music.

Classic stories usually have a moral. For this reason, they are useful for stimulating logical-mathematical intelligence. This is because the child will learn that certain behaviors and actions are similar to certain consequences. Therefore, they learn a logical relationship between cause and effect.

Working with the other intelligences

To interpret the other intelligences, you can use stories just the way you want. Take, for example, bodily kinesthetic intelligence. This is a fairly simple intelligence to work with. This is because the child, as the story unfolds, uses his body and performs his own interpretations. On the other hand, they strengthen their intrapersonal intelligence when they read a story themselves. Or when they read with parents or teachers, they develop their interpersonal intelligence.

Naturalistic intelligence can be strengthened by reading any related story. For example, The Jungle Book or The Secrets of the Sea. In fact, once you find the best stories to discover each of Gardner’s intelligences and figure out how to use them, the rest is very simple. Then you can start putting the process into practice. Consequently, the little ones will begin to develop their full potential.