Making Children Intelligent

One of the most important objectives of education is the development of intelligence. The modern definition of intelligence is the ability to be creative, which means: we are as intelligent as we are creative. That has redefined the role of schooling. Now, a school is a place where children go to become more creative.

Creativity is developing new ideas or solving problems. The world, as we know it today, has turned out to be that way because of some highly creative people. They are the highest paid employees of a company and they are always in demand by the biggest corporations of the world.

Creativity is a very broad term and one can express it in many different ways. The world will always be indebt to Dr. Howard Gardner for telling us the eight different ways in which we all can be creative. In his book, The Frames of Mind, Dr. Gardner explains the eight ways in which individual can express creativity and make a lasting contribution. He recommends an educational program that can expose children to all the eight creative avenues and suggests that people should take up the profession in which they can be more creative.

Here is a brief description of each of these eight ways of creative expression:

1. Verbal linguistic Intelligence

It’s the creativity of words and sentences. This type of brain activity makes us to speak or write in a unique style.

2. Mathematical Intelligence

This is the logical or scientific way of doing things. People who act creatively in this area are able to come up new scientific ideas, computer programs, and hardware.

3. Spatial Intelligence

That’s the type of mental work that makes us to produce artwork of all types. It can be a new dress, an animation, an interior or a graphic design.

4. Intrapersonal Intelligence

The intelligence of self understanding or actualization is named as Intrapersonal intelligence. Setting objectives to overcome personal shortcomings is done with the help of Intrapersonal Intelligence.

5. Interpersonal Intelligence

This type of acumen helps us, first in understanding, and then helping others. We use interpersonal intelligence in solving others problems, leading, managing or teaching.

6. Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence

Creative use of our body requires this type of intelligence. It is something we need while playing, driving or acting.

7. Musical Intelligence

Creation of new music comes through this intelligence. Great musical geniuses make an abundant use of their musical intelligence.

8. Naturalist Intelligence

Mastery of nature, may that be of plants, animals or resources, is achieved with the help of this intelligence. Naturalist Intelligence is what geologists, biologists, and zoologist use quiet frequently.

The most important purpose of early education is to introduce all eight kinds of brain activities to children. By doing this we give children opportunities to get a ‘feel’ of all eight types of intelligence. This helps the weaker intelligence to boost up. Moreover, by involving children in activities designed around various intelligences, we help children to discover their true potential. It also helps the caregivers to identify the weak and the strong intelligence of a child.

All teachers should know the strategies used to develop each of the eight intelligences. A certain amount of time should be given in the classroom everyday for activities that develop these Multiple Intelligences.

Unfortunately, many times teachers are unable to conduct activities that can make children to express their creativity in various ways. A study was done to find out why teachers fail to incorporate activities around Multiple Intelligence into their daily teaching practice. This study identifies syllabus as the number one hindrance in doing that, since most syllabuses are not designed with Multiple Intelligence in mind.

Most books used in the classroom are focused towards building an understanding of a concept or practice of a certain skill. Development of intelligence is seen as an additional feature which is often missing in the books.

Children are unable to make a proper use of the skills and concepts acquired through formal education, because we fail to make children creative. In the classroom, children only ‘get a hang’ of a certain skill or a concept; there learning doesn’t enable them to think outside the box, therefore they are unable to make better use of newly acquired knowledge. Most children can’t create something new with the help of skills and concepts acquired since the intelligence required to do creative thinking is not developed at an early age.

Teacher’s performance is usually evaluated on the basis of the syllabus covered in the classroom. They are expected to test the learning of children in reference to the books subscribed. That narrows the task of a teacher towards making the best use of books and workbooks only. It is difficult to gauge a teacher’s performance around Multiple Intelligence if activities related to it are not part of the syllabus.

In order to solve this problem, we should adopt a syllabus that has activities around Multiple Intelligence, along with the exercises that develop age appropriate skills and concepts.

But if such syllabus is not available then all the efforts should be made to make these activities a part of the lesson plan. Annual assessments should also evaluate the amount of creativity developed in children in each of the eight areas of Multiple Intelligence.

Here are some of the activities around different intelligences that should be looked for when selecting a syllabus. These activities are in addition to the skills and concepts that children are expected to acquire through the syllabus. Teachers should make sure that these activities are done in the classroom beside the book related work, incase the syllabus used by the school does not include these activities.

Verbal Intelligence

There should be stories that can be read and narrated. Books should include creative use of common and environment related vocabulary. Opportunities should be provided to develop free creative expressions.

Mathematical Intelligence

Children should get a chance to compare things e.g. big and small, tall and short, hard and soft etc. They should be encouraged to find a logical conclusion to a story and asked to make prediction keeping in mind a given situation. They should be asked to think about the various color combination created by mixing basic colors.

Spatial Intelligence

There should be plenty of activities for children to draw and color creatively. Children should not be restricted to a certain space or choice of colors; rather they should have the opportunity to come with new color combinations and art forms.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

Children should be able to put themselves in place of a character and then think if they would have done things differently. They should be asked to make a plan for an activity given in the book. They should get a chance to speak, and make presentations as much as possible around the materials provided in the workbook.

Interpersonal Intelligence

The books should include positive interaction between different people. Children should be introduced to various professions and service providers around them. They should be taught how to ask questions and interact with people that they see in their books.

Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence

There should be activities in the books that can encourage children to move their bodies creatively. This is done with the help of rhymes. It is also done when children are asked to act like a specific character.

Musical Intelligence

Children should be asked to make tunes of the rhymes provided in the books.

Naturalist Intelligence

The books should include the natural elements as much as possible. Books should be based on animal characters found in the environment. There should be some exposure of plants, trees, and water bodies in the books. Children should be asked: a. about the behavior of different animals introduced in their books, b. children action in a specific environment shown in their books.

Conclusion

Teaching skills and concepts is a basic requirement of educational activity. Development of intelligence, however, does not come only through teaching of skills and concepts. It requires the development of Multiple Intelligence. The syllabus should include activities around Multiple Intelligence in order to make children creative.