Howard gives lesson in teaching

CHENNAI: The mind is a set of relatively independent computers, said Howard Gardner, professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA. The world renowned professor was in IIT-Madras here to talk on ‘Multiple Intelligences and Child-Centered Education’.At the three-hour-long session, Prof Gardner spoke about the multiple intelligence theory, its implications in education and how he postulated this theory. Summarising his theory, he said, “Mind is not one computer. It is a set of relatively independent computers.” Recalling the work of Alfred Benet, who invented the test of intelligence that is now called the IQ test, he said what started as a psychological research (his research on multiple intelligence) later influenced the method of teaching children.  The theory now dwelt upon the various intelligences present in the human mind and that each individual had a different intelligence quotient that was more prevalent. Howard countered the traditional western view on intelligence that a single intelligence existed and also the common belief that intelligence was a product of how hard you work by stating that there were different intelligences. All these played an important part in an individual’s success. He said that intelligences have a heritable component and their development strongly depended on adequate resources.Howard brought out the differentiation between the scientific and educational sides of the theory. He claimed that every human being had their own unique intelligence and no two persons could have the same profile of intelligence, not even identical twins. Individualising teaching and assessing students should be done and pluralisation of the teaching method could make a child really grow. He said teaching the most important points in different ways and then using this theory in teaching could give a child the real understanding on the subject.