Life does not operate in binary so we can not say some is intelligent or not. Based on our need and situation we understand and experience from different angle. These different angles are various intelligences.
Sometimes I use visual intelligence.
Sometimes I use body intelligence.
Sometimes I give rest to my intelligence and just be.
Sometimes I enjoy a situation or activity or task or learning by using one intelligence.
Sometimes I enjoy the same by using another intelligence.
Sometimes I mix intelligences.
I need not be confined to a certain kind of intelligence – cause I live out of all of my intelligences.
I am not defined by intelligence.
I am not intelligent. I only use intelligence.
This framework of different intelligences is called Multiple Intelligence (Proposed by Dr. Howard Gardner). In our experience of all these years we found it is extremely useful to any body who works with children – which includes all parents, but also importantly includes teachers, facilitators and other people who work with children.
One child was working on festivals of Karnataka. As a part of logic genie, she decided to find out the ratio people celebrating this festival in Bangalore total number of people celebrating the same festival in Karnataka state. Then she also wanted to find the fraction with respect to the number of people in the whole country(who celebrate the same festival). She was further planning to plot the graph. It was an interesting journey. She asked me population of Bangalore and India. I guided her towards world map and atlas. She started counting total number of states of India and population in each state to get the total population of India. She realized she could not read the number when the number was more than six digits. She interacted with me, peers and books to find out the same. I could see her confusion, conviction, desperation and satisfaction at the end. I do not know what she concluded but she was on her journey of place values. An interesting case of a child working on people genie leading towards understanding a math concept. Also, it was another example of child discovering multiple, even unplanned things when child feels a need.
EXPEREINCE – See this video clip from the movie Barfi(Pl note this clip plays only for 47 seconds though the Youtube video is longer. For our activity we need the first 47 sec only).
Now from the below list choose any one FOCUS. With this focus in mind watch the video-clip again. Now change the FOCUS to another and see the video-clip with this new focus. Repeat till you have covered each FOCUS individually (and enjoyed the clip 8 more times).
Focus List
- Focus on the feelings of Barfi and other characters (Self)
- Focus on the colour comparison of Barfi’s clothes with the background (Visual)
- Focus on observing different scientific phenomenon in action (Nature)
- Focuses on different hand movements of Barfi and act them (Body)
- Focus on who all is friendly to Barfi and who is not (People)
- Focus on the rhythm of the song, try playing it (Music)
- Focus on all cause-effect happening and what is completely illogical. (Math-Logic)
- Focus on different adjectives that can be put to Barfi (Word)
What you did by doing this activity is that each time you used one of the intelligence to have an experience or you change the lenses each time.
Enjoy the beauty of learning in many ways through different intelligences.