Start With This Checklist

Start with this checklist.
Use it to refresh your memory on each of the intelligences and

pinpoint learning activities that will appeal to your students based on their particular
strengths. To involve students in identifying their multiple intelligences, invite them to
complete The Connell Multiple Intelligence Questionnaire for Children. They will find it
exciting to see the areas they are strongest in and to understand how these might be
affecting their schoolwork.
Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)

Description: Verbal-linguistic students love words and use them as a primary way of
thinking and solving problems. They are good writers, speakers, or both. They use
words to persuade, argue, entertain, and/or teach.
Learning Activities and Project Ideas
 Completing crossword puzzles with vocabulary words

 Playing games like Scrabble, Scrabble Junior, or Boggle
 Writing short stories for a classroom newsletter
 Writing feature articles for the school newspaper
 Writing a letter to the editor in response to articles
 Writing to state representatives about local issues
 Using digital resources such as electronic libraries, desktop publishing, word
games, and word processing
 Creating poems for a class poetry book
 Entering their original poems in a poetry contest
 Listening to a storyteller
 Studying the habits of good speakers
 Telling a story to the class
 Participating in debates
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Math Smart)

Description: Logical-mathematical students enjoy working with numbers. They can
easily interpret data and analyze abstract patterns. They have a well-developed ability
to reason and are good at chess and computer programming. They think in terms of
cause and effect.
 Playing math games like mancala, dominoes, chess, checkers, and Monopoly
 Searching for patterns in the classroom, school, outdoors, and home
 Conducting experiments to demonstrate science concepts
 Using math and science software such as Math Blaster, which reinforces math
skills, or King's Rule, a logic game
 Using science tool kits for science programs
 Designing alphabetic and numeric codes
 Making up analogies
Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

Description: Students strong in spatial intelligence think and process information in
pictures and images. They have excellent visual receptive skills and excellent fine motor
skills. Students with this intelligence use their eyes and hands to make artistic or
creatively designed projects. They can build with Legos, read maps, and put together
1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles.
 Taking photographs for assignments and classroom newsletters

 Taking photographs for the school yearbook, school newsletter, or science
assignments
 Using clay or play dough to make objects or represent concepts from content-
area lessons
 Using pictorial models such as flow charts, visual maps, Venn diagrams, and
timelines to connect new material to known information
 Taking notes using concept mapping, mind mapping, and clustering
 Using puppets to act out and reinforce concepts learned in class
 Using maps to study geographical locations discussed in class
 Illustrating poems for the class poetry book by drawing or using computer
software
 Using virtual-reality system software
Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)

Description: Musical students think, feel, and process information primarily through
sound. They have a superior ability to perceive, compose, and/or perform music.
Musically smart people constantly hear musical notes in their head.
 Writing their own songs and music about content-area topics

 Putting original poems to music, and then performing them for the class
 Setting a poem to music, and then performing it for the class
 Incorporating a poem they have written with a melody they already know
 Listening to music from different historical periods
 Tape recording a poem over "appropriate" background music (i.e. soft music if
describing a kitten, loud music if they are mad about pollution)
 Using rhythm and clapping to memorize math facts and other content-area
information
 Listening to CDs that teach concepts like the alphabet, parts of speech, and
states and capitals (i.e. Schoolhouse Rock!)
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)
Description: Bodily-kinesthetic students are highly aware of the world through touch
and movement. There is a special harmony between their bodies and their minds. They
can control their bodies with grace, expertise, and athleticism.
 Creating costumes for role-playing, skits, or simulations

 Performing skits or acting out scenes from books or key historical events
 Designing props for plays and skits
 Playing games like Twister and Simon Says
 Using charades to act out characters in a book, vocabulary words, animals, or
other content-area topics
 Participating in scavenger hunts, searching for items related to a theme or unit
 Acting out concepts. For example, "student planets" circle around a "student sun"
or students line up appropriately to demonstrate events in a history time line
 Participating in movement breaks during the day
 Building objects using blocks, cubes, or Legos to represent concepts from
content-area lessons
 Using electronic motion-simulation games and hands-on construction kits that
interface with computers
Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

Description: Students strong in interpersonal intelligence have a natural ability to
interact with, relate to, and get along with others effectively. They are good leaders.
They use their insights about others to negotiate, persuade, and obtain information.
They like to interact with others and usually have lots of friends.
 Working in cooperative groups to design and complete projects

 Working in pairs to learn math facts
 Interviewing people with knowledge about content-area topics (such as a veteran
to learn about World War II, a lab technician to learn about life science, or a
politician to understand the election process)
 Tutoring younger students or classmates
 Using puppets to put on a puppet show
Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)

Description: People with a strong intrapersonal intelligence have a deep awareness of
their feelings, ideas, and goals. Students with this intelligence usually need time alone
to process and create.
 Writing reflective papers on content-area topics
 Writing essays from the perspective of historical figures, such as Civil War
soldiers or suffragettes
 Writing a literary autobiography, reflecting on their reading life
 Writing goals for the future and planning ways to achieve them
 Using software that allows them to work alone, such as Decisions, Decisions, a
personal choice software; or the Perfect Career, a career choice software
 Keeping journals or logs throughout the year
 Making a scrapbook for their poems, papers, and reflections
Naturalistic Intelligence (Nature Smart)

Description: This intelligence refers to a person's natural interest in the environment.
These people enjoy being in nature and want to protect it from pollution. Students with
strong naturalistic intelligence easily recognize and categorize plants, animals, and
rocks.
 Caring for classroom plants

 Caring for classroom pets
 Sorting and classifying natural objects, such as leaves and rocks
 Researching animal habitats
 Observing natural surroundings
 Organizing or participating in park/playground clean-ups, recycling drives, and
beautification projects

This article was adapted from Brain-Based Strategies to Reach Every Learner by J.
Diane Connell (© 2005, Scholastic).
In his theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory), Gardner sought to broaden the scope of human
potential beyond the confines of the IQ score. He seriously questioned the validity of determining
intelligence through the practice of taking individuals out of their natural learning environment and
asking them to do isolated tasks they’d never done before—and probably would never choose to do
again. Instead, Gardner suggested that intelligence has more to do with the capacity for (1) solving
problems and (2) fashioning products in a contextrich and naturalistic setting. The Eight Intelligences
Described Once this broader and more pragmatic perspective was taken, the concept of intelligence
began to lose its mystique and became a functional concept that could be seen working in people’s lives
in a variety of ways. Gardner provided a means of mapping the broad range of abilities that humans
possess by grouping their capabilities into the following eight comprehensive categories or
“intelligences”: Linguistic: The capacity to use words effectively, whether orally (e.g., as a storyteller,
orator, or politician) or in writing (e.g., as a poet, playwright, editor, or journalist). This intelligence
includes the ability to manipulate the syntax or structure of language, the phonology or sounds of
language, the semantics or meanings of language, and the pragmatic dimensions or practical uses of
language. Some of these uses include rhetoric (using language to convince others to take a specific
course of action), mnemonics (using language to remember information), explanation (using language to
inform), and metalanguage (using language to talk about itself). Logical-mathematical: The capacity to
use numbers effectively (e.g., as a mathematician, tax accountant, or statistician) and to reason well
(e.g., as a scientist, computer programmer, or logician). This intelligence includes sensitivity to logical
patterns and relationships, statements and propositions (if-then, cause-effect), functions, and other
related abstractions. The kinds of processes used in the service of logical-mathematical intelligence
include categorization, classification, inference, generalization, calculation, and hypothesis testing. The
Foundations of MI Theory 7 Spatial: The ability to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately (e.g., as a
hunter, scout, or guide) and to perform transformations upon those perceptions (e.g., as an interior
decorator, architect, artist, or inventor). This intelligence involves sensitivity to color, line, shape, form,
space, and the relationships that exist between these elements. It includes the capacity to visualize, to
graphically represent visual or spatial ideas, and to orient oneself appropriately in a spatial matrix.
Bodily-kinesthetic: Expertise in using one’s whole body to express ideas and feelings (e.g., as an actor, a
mime, an athlete, or a dancer) and facility in using one’s hands to produce or transform things (e.g., as a
craftsperson, sculptor, mechanic, or surgeon). This intelligence includes specific physical skills such as
coordination, balance, dexterity, strength, flexibility, and speed, as well as proprioceptive, tactile, and
haptic capacities. Musical: The capacity to perceive (e.g., as a music aficionado), discriminate (e.g., as a
music critic), transform (e.g., as a composer), and express (e.g., as a performer) musical forms. This
intelligence includes sensitivity to the rhythm, pitch or melody, and timbre or tone color of a musical
piece. One can have a figural or “top-down” understanding of music (global, intuitive), a formal or
“bottom-up” understanding (analytic, technical), or both. Interpersonal: The ability to perceive and
make distinctions in the moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people. This can include
sensitivity to facial expressions, voice, and gestures; the capacity for discriminating among many
different kinds of interpersonal cues; and the ability to respond effectively to those cues in some
pragmatic way (e.g., to influence a group of people to follow a certain line of action). Intrapersonal: Self-
knowledge and the ability to act adaptively on the basis of that knowledge. This intelligence includes
having an accurate picture of oneself (one’s strengths and limitations); awareness of inner moods,
intentions, motivations, temperaments, and desires; and the capacity for self-discipline, self-
understanding, and self-esteem. Naturalist: Expertise in the recognition and classification of the
numerous species—the flora and fauna—of an individual’s environment. This also includes sensitivity to
other natural phenomena (e.g., cloud formations, mountains, etc.) and, in the case of those growing up
in an urban environment, the capacity to discriminate among inanimate objects such as cars, sneakers,
and CD covers.

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Start with this checklist.

Use it to refresh your memory on each of the intelligences and

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)

 Completing crossword puzzles with vocabulary words

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Math Smart)

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

 Taking photographs for assignments and classroom newsletters

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)

 Writing their own songs and music about content-area topics

 Creating costumes for role-playing, skits, or simulations

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

 Working in cooperative groups to design and complete projects

Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)

Naturalistic Intelligence (Nature Smart)

 Caring for classroom plants

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