Eight Potential Pathways for Learning

Did you know?

Research shows that every student possesses some degree of all eight intelligences (Armstrong, 2000).

Research shows that talented youth, who successfully develop their gifts, are those who immensely enjoy applying their competencies, particularly in challenging situations (Clark, 2002).

Research shows that an intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings (Gardner, 2003).

"There are as many ways to succeed as there are people. Each of us finds his or her own unique path to success. Indeed, we are intelligent in our lives to the extent that we are able to find such a path." –Unknown

Most educators are familiar with Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence. We have classrooms full of students who are smart in many ways, and it is our responsibility to design learning experiences that teach to all eight intelligences. In other words, we have an opportunity and an obligation to open or stimulate eight potential pathways for learning. While, according to Gardner, it is not necessary to teach every lesson to all eight intelligences, it is important to stimulate all eight intelligences in some way.

Below are the eight intelligences and some information about an individual who possesses each intelligence:

• Visual-Spatial: Depends on visual and proximity thinking; thinks in images
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Involves physical movement and knowledge of the body
• Interpersonal:Oriented toward social or group relationships; affectively communicative
• Verbal-Linguistic: Focuses thinking on language, both aural and symbolic
• Naturalist: Recognizes and classifies plants, animals, and minerals
• Musical-Rhythmic: Responds to acoustic patterns, sounds, rhythms, and tempo
• Logical-Mathematical: Oriented toward thinking: inductive and deductive logic, numeration, abstract patterns; contemplative problem solver
• Intrapersonal: Identifies with intuition and introspection; self-knowledge

According to Gardner, schools have traditionally focused largely on Verbal-Linguistic and Logical-Mathematical intelligences. Students who were differently-smart, or whose dominant intelligence was not Verbal-Linguistic or Logical-Mathematical, were often left behind or lost during lessons.

Incorporating Eight Potential Pathways for Learning in Your Classroom

It makes sense to create units of study that stimulate all intelligences. While most lessons and units lend themselves fairly easily to Verbal-Linguistic or Logical-Mathematical intelligences, it is important to consciously create opportunities to stimulate all eight potential pathways for learning.

To start designing a unit of study, write the topic in the middle of a sheet of paper and circle it. Then draw eight lines (spokes) that radiate from the circled topic. Near each line, write the name of one of the intelligences. Finally, jot down ideas that come to mind for how you could employ each intelligence to teach your students about the topic.

Another idea is to ask your students how they would prefer to learn the information in an upcoming unit, and let them provide the answers in a way that feels most comfortable for them. For example, you may ask, “What are some ways for us to learn about the history of slavery?” Give students 10 or 15 minutes to answer the question. If they want to talk about it in groups (Interpersonal, Verbal-Linguistic), jot down some ideas on a piece of paper (Intrapersonal, possibly Visual-Spatial), or come up with questions to answer (Logical-Mathematical), let them.

Collect the ideas and you might have parts of your lesson plan spelled out for you. Visual-Spatial students may request a movie. Verbal-Linguistic students might appreciate a CD showcasing different dialects or learning about how the slaves were taught to read. Naturalist students may express an interest in the work the slaves did in the fields and what crops they tended. Musical-Rhythmic students may enjoy hearing taped slavery songs. Bodily-Kinesthetic as well as Naturalist students might want to try hoeing the earth. Intrapersonal student would enjoy journaling about their feelings about slavery experiences. Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical students might enjoy going back in time for a debate over whether slaves should be freed.

The pathways for learning aren’t necessarily exclusive to one intelligence. They sometimes flow together and overlap, providing a unique kaleidoscope of experiences for your diverse learners. Below are some specific suggestions for bringing the pathways to learning into your classroom.

Elementary (Math)

• Visual-Spatial: Give each student or pair of students a jar and several groups of objects (marbles, pens, small blocks, etc.). Have them guess how many objects from each group would fit into the jar, then have them try it and find out whether their guesses were accurate.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Each person’s body represents the number one. Students can hold large addition, subtraction, and equals signs. Have students stand up and place the signs among them. The bodies to the right of the equals sign must represent the correct answer. For instance, if one body is on either side of the plus sign (and to the left of the equals sign), then two bodies need to come up and stand to the right of the equals sign, since 1 + 1 = 2.
• Interpersonal: Put students in small groups and assign each one a number. Ask them to role-play, having a conversation as that number. (A one might feel lonely but important, since it’s first. A two might like having one best friend.)
• Verbal-Linguistic: Have students read (or read to them) about how and why numbers are important.
• Naturalist: Students can go outside and collect 5 acorns, 5 leaves, and 5 rocks. Ask questions like: "If you have all of the acorns in one pile, and add 4 rocks to the pile, how many items are now in the pile?"
• Musical-Rhythmic: Students can write a song or rhythmical patterns demonstrating their knowledge of numbers. For example, if you want them to count by 10s, they might create a pattern like "forty shorty, fifty nifty, sixty picky," and so on.
• Logical-Mathematical: Inherent nature of subject appeals to this intelligence.
• Intrapersonal: Students can finish the unit by journaling about what they liked best about the math unit.

Middle School (Math)

• Visual-Spatial: Fill a jar with bubble gum and have students guess how many pieces are in the jar. They can also separate the gum into piles (blue, green, red, etc.) and count how many pieces are in each pile.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Call out math problems (such as 2 x 2, or 18 - 7) and have students step forward the number of steps equaling the answer. To ensure that everyone is listening, have students close their eyes.
• Interpersonal: Ask small groups to create math problems that can be used as warm ups.
• Verbal-Linguistic: Post information about the math unit on the overhead projector for students to read.
• Naturalist: Have each student walk around the school yard (or a section of it) and find out how many steps it takes. By the time they are ready to come in, they have to come up with three math problems where the result is that number. For example, if it takes 393 steps, then one problem might be: "3 goes into the number of steps 131 times," or "3 x 131 = the number of steps."
• Musical-Rhythmic: Say various numbers (25, 14, 111, etc.) or equations (9 x 9) When the number you say or the answer you want is divisible by 5, students snap their fingers. When it is an even number, students clap. When it is a prime number, students stomp, and so on.
• Logical-Mathematical: Inherent nature of subject appeals to this intelligence.
• Intrapersonal: Ask questions and let students reflect and respond individually.

Junior High (Math)

• Visual-Spatial: Given a prescribed area, sketch the dimensions for the layout of a new school building on the grounds.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Have students measure how many of their body lengths will stretch across the floor of the cafeteria or gym.
• Interpersonal: Assign groups to measure the area of the gym, parking lot, their classroom, the hallway, etc. and come up with how many square feet the school buildings cover.
• Verbal-Linguistic: Have students take math problems from the book or a worksheet and then turn them into word problems that students can do as warm ups or extra credit.
• Naturalist: Have students count how many acorns, pine cones, and trees there are in four different five foot squares of the playground, and how many they think cover the entire playground area.
• Musical-Rhythmic: Have students come up with a patterned, rhythmical way of walking so their footsteps are alternately 12 inches then 18 inches apart. Use an activity like this to determine the area of a place like the cafeteria.
• Logical-Mathematical: Inherent nature of subject appeals to this intelligence.
• Intrapersonal: After the day’s lesson, have students jot down any questions that remain in their minds and hand these in. You can answer them at the start of the next class.

High School (Geometry)

• Visual-Spatial: Ask students to look around the room to determine where geometry has been used.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Have students create a walk-through maze or obstacle course where they have to stop and solve geometry problems at various points before moving on.
• Interpersonal: Have small groups measure the angles found in the classroom (walls, desks, chairs, etc.) and discuss why some items were constructed using right angles and some weren’t.
• Verbal-Linguistic: Have students read about uses of geometry, then create a persuasive advertisement selling the appeal of learning geometry.
• Naturalist: Send students outside to find objects with angles, and use their protractors to measure and record their findings.
• Musical-Rhythmic: Assign groups to come up with a song or rhyme to remind them of important information about geometric shapes they are studying. For example, "Around and around and around we go…Pi-dee, pi-dee, pi-dee po" where the three "arounds" represent the value of pi as 3+. "Pi-dee" is used to suggest the formula for circumference: C = || ● d .
• Logical-Mathematical: Inherent nature of subject appeals to this intelligence.
• Intrapersonal: Have students complete a KWL chart during the unit.

Elementary (Language Arts)

• Visual-Spatial: Have students draw pictures to accompany a short story they are reading.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Have students create letters of the alphabet or words using their bodies.
• Interpersonal: Have each student come up with a sentence or paragraph that uses every letter in the alphabet, such as "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
• Verbal-Linguistic: Have students come up with a story to tell the class, using five of this week’s vocabulary words.
• Naturalist: Send students outside to find things in nature that begin with as many letters of the alphabet as possible.
• Musical-Rhythmic: Ask students to create a poem or song using the letters in their first names.
• Logical-Mathematical: Have students create or solve fill-in-the-blanks puzzles with missing letter or vocabulary words.
• Intrapersonal: Have students act out a short piece of a story they have heard or read.

Middle School (Language Arts)

• Visual-Spatial: Show a movie or film of the work students are studying.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Challenge students to use active verbs when writing short stories, then give them a chance to demonstrate what these action verbs look like in motion.
• Interpersonal: Give discussion questions to small groups and provide time to answer them together.
• Verbal-Linguistic: Provide fill-in-the-blank worksheets or crossword puzzles, where students fill in vocabulary words.
• Naturalist: Take students outside and let them take turns reading a story aloud to the class or small groups.
• Musical-Rhythmic: When students write their own short stories, have them write a song that one of the characters will sing.
• Logical-Mathematical: Cut up 10 sections of a story and have students organize the story in a way that makes sense.
• Intrapersonal: Let students write their own short stories.

Junior High (Language Arts/Poetry)

• Visual-Spatial: Have students examine the unique form of e. e. cummings’ poetry.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Have students act out a particularly vivid poem or weather-related poem.
• Interpersonal: Have students share original poetry in small groups.
• Verbal-Linguistic: Discuss the vividly-descriptive language in poems such as William Carlos Williams’ "The Red Wheelbarrow."
• Naturalist: Read Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass" outside and have students take their shoes off to enjoy the full effect.
• Musical-Rhythmic: Review the first four lines of a poem like William Blake’s "The Tyger" and its impact on the ear of the imperfect rhyme in the fourth line.
• Logical-Mathematical: Give students a seven- or an eight-line poem and have them choose the eighth line from some options you provide. Have them explain the rationale behind their choice.
• Intrapersonal: Have students write a poem fashioned after one of the types studied during the unit.

High School (Language Arts/Drama)

• Visual-Spatial: Watch a DVD or stage production of the play.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: Let students act out part of the play.
• Interpersonal: Have students discuss with classmates the actions of various characters and why they behave the way they do.
• Verbal-Linguistic: Give students a chance to read the play aloud.
• Naturalist: Assign a play with vivid descriptions of nature on the set.
• Musical-Rhythmic: Have students take a speech such as Julius Caesar’s funeral oration and rewrite it in modern language to the tune of a modern song.
• Logical-Mathematical: After studying drama, have students determine what aspects acts of plays have in common and what an audience can anticipate will happen to and with certain types of dramatic characters.
• Intrapersonal: Give students a chance to put themselves in the place of certain characters, and decide how they would respond in similar circumstances.

Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Clark, B. (2002). Growing up gifted: Developing the potential of children at home and at school. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Merrill.

Gardner, H. (2003). Frames of mind. The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: BasicBooks.

Source: The above tips are based on PLS's graduate course Purposeful Learning Through Multiple Intelligences®. For more information see "Related Graduate Course" to the right.

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