Multiple Intelligences
Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice by Howard Gardner. New York: Basic Books, 1993.
More than one important book in U.S. education appeared in 1983. Everyone knows that 1983 was the year of A Nation at Risk, but that same year Howard Gardner published Frames of Mind. In the end, Gardner's book may prove to have the greater lasting impact.
Now, 10 years later, Gardner has published what he calls a “distillation of work on the education of frames of mind.” Indeed, Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice works well as both a survey of the effect of the theory on educational practice and as an introduction to the theory and its implications. Because most of the essays in this collection have been published before, little is new in this book.
If you have not encountered the theory of multiple intelligences (which Gardner refers to as MI), this book will give you a clear, concise introduction, along with a useful chapter of answers to commonly asked questions, such as “Are intelligences the same thing as 'learning styles' or 'working styles'?” It also describes three projects based on MI–Project Spectrum, the Key School in Indianapolis, and Arts PROPEL.
But the book is not well focused. Although it assembles for easy reference basic information about MI and its uses in education, Gardner and his associates seem less aware of practical issues or educational politics than they should be.
Available from Basic Books, 10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY 10022-5299, for $30 hardbound, $15 paperbound.
—Reviewed by Ruth Mitchell, Council for Basic Education, Washington, D.C.
