Parenting in a Digital Era (Multiple Intelligences)

Following on our discussion of parenting in a digital era, today we discuss multiple intelligences as key competencies for the next generation.

To recap

The rapid growth of technology has greatly impacted the way we interact with each other and has forged a whole new landscape of unprecedented experiences that bring with them new wonders as well as new challenges. Navigating this new terrain requires a different set of skills than that which has guided us in the past, in large part because  it is virtually impossible for us to predict where technological advances will take us in the next decade and beyond. It is likewise impossible for us to predict the precise nature of the challenges our children will face, making our job as parents a bit more complex.

What we can  know is that our children will need to be able to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, with unforseen circumstances and novel problems; they will need to be able to connect and collaborate with others on a grand scale so as to maximize the breadth and reach of technological advancements; and they will need to leverage multiple intelligences in order to better understand themselves and the new world they are helping create.

What this means for us as parents is that we need to re-evaluate our parenting strategies and identify those skills that will empower our children and enable them to succeed in this brave new world.

Key Competencies for the Next Generation

While we may be unable to identify specific technical skills that will be most valuable in the years to come, I believe that there are certain competencies will enable our child to better understand the complexities they face and envision productive strategies for their advancement. These skills are fundamental ones in that they help children learn to learn, which means that they will be able to face new circumstances and learn what they need to know so as to succeed.

• flexibility and open-mindedness
• creativity and innovation
• empathy and collaboration
• multi-lingual and inter-cultural abilities
• courage
• use of multiple intelligences

Today I want to discuss multiple intelligences.

Understanding Multiple Intelligences

I spend a lot of time discussing multiple intelligences as I think they play a fundamental role in raising an empowered child.

Briefly, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences originated with Howard Gardner who proposed a model of intelligence that differed from the standard notion of general intelligence in that, intelligence was seen not as a single capability that we all have to varying degrees, but rather eight biological computational capabilities that we all embody: linguistic, spatial, musical, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, and naturalistic.

These eight intelligences shape how we perceive the world and process the information around us. As a result, they greatly impact how we learn and interact with each other. We might favor one or some intelligences over others based on our particular personality, needs, and cultural upbringing but we each have the ability to use all eight and indeed (and this is the key point here) we are greatly empowered to the extent that we learn how to engage the full spectrum of our multiple intelligences.

What makes multiple intelligences so powerful is that they enable us to connect with the world in multi-faceted ways, exposing us to a greater diversity and complexity than we would otherwise encounter if we were operating on a singular intelligence. In addition, engaging our multiple intelligences allows us to learn in a much more comprehensive manner, enhancing the knowledge and experience we already have while pushing us to develop new skills.

For instance, a non “musical” child can learn to play music by engaging her spatial intelligence, a child who has difficulty with mathematical concepts can easily learn about time and money or practice subtraction using spatial intelligence, a struggling reader can learn to read using his bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, a troubled youth can develop effective coping strategies using intrapersonal intelligence, etc.

Learning how to engage their multiple intelligences is easily one of the most important skills our children can have in a digital era as they face a world that is rapidly changing, where information is conveyed in an array of formats and their success depends on their ability to process that information and create meaning with it. So, how do we promote the development of this skill?

Teaching Children to Engage Multiple Intelligences

Our children learn to engage their multiple intelligences by using their mind and body to connect with the world around them in different ways.

Children will favor some intelligences over others so they will naturally be inclined to interact with their surroundings using the intelligences they favor (e.g. a child who favors linguistic intelligence, will easily get and convey information through words; a child who favors spatial intelligence, will do so through images).

Encouraging children to use other intelligences is a matter of first, exposing them to a variety of experiences and helping them understand how to draw on their other intelligences to make the experience meaningful. What this means for the child who favors linguistic intelligence in the example above is that he learn to use his ears not just for words but for other sounds (music – engaging musical intelligence, nature – engaging naturalist intelligence, emotions – engaging ineterpersonal intelligence, etc). He is similarly encouraged to use his voice to make sounds other than words (engaging bodily intelligence in addition to the ones listed above) and to use images instead of words to represents concepts (engaging spatial intelligence).  Other examples of how to engage multiple intelligences can be found under the Multiple Intelligences menu above.

Second, we need to show our children how to use the intelligences they favor to learn new skills. The child who favors spatial intelligence above can use that intelligence to learn complex mathematical problems, or how to understand musical patterns when learning to play an instrument, or how to calm their anger.

A child who can draw on all of his multiple intelligences is able to make better sense of the world around him and the information at his disposal. This will, in turn, position him to better understand the problems he faces and envision novel ways of addressing them. Ultimately, he will be able to engage his mind and body in a far more profound way, adding value to his life and the lives of those with whom he shares it.

I turn to you now: how do you help your children develop their multiple intelligences?

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• Last week: Parenting in a Digital Era (Courage)
• 2 weeks ago: Parenting in a Digital Era (Language and Culture)
• 3 weeks ago: Parenting in a Digital Era (Empathy and Collaboration)
• 4 weeks ago: favorite posts from a Year in Review
• Last year: The Place Where Mean People Go