Intelligence

This is a subject I mostly contemplate as a spectator, looking to learn from the better ones, respect the variety and share my knowledge were I am confident I have something to say. Artificially entertained like a competition (get better grades than the colleagues in school or university, build better chances to get a job, etc.) nurturing intelligence was for me first of all a competition with myself. With age I became more aware and thankful of my privileged position and the tests are rarely telling me things I do not know about me. Please see below my results from edutopia.org test on multiple intelligences (according to Gardner eight intelligences):

It comes as no surprise that the top two intelligences are in my case: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal.

Reading the Intelligence chapter from Jordon’s “Approaches to Learning: A guide for teachers” book, I was surprised to realize how difficult is to give a definition to intelligence. In my view – as I have the tendency to simplify the concepts in order to understand them – the best definition of intelligence was told to me by my professor of A.I. class in university about 25 years ago; it was a quote, probably from Stephen Hawkins but I do not remember exactly and was as simple as this:

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

It is hard to me to accept other definitions of intelligence after I assimilated this one. Learning is a change process – people who have the ability to learn are intelligent. What about Gardner’s multiple intelligences? I would simply call them talents. What about fluid and crystallized intelligences? As much as I like this concept, I would relate it to the memory.

The most important learnings for me after reading the articles on intelligence are:

-   the source of intelligence is both by nature (incl. genetic heritage) and by nurture (parenting, nutrition and education)

- the classroom strategies related to intelligence theories (from Jordan’s “Approaches to Learning”):

- and probably the main learning, that will also influence my approach in teaching, is that people are different and real talents (ok, intelligences) may be hidden – teacher’s role is to reveal and encourage development of those latent gifts; empathy and good communication are mandatory skills for a teacher.

Sources:

1.       1. Jordon, et al. (2008) ”Approaches to Learning: A guide for teachers.” NY: Open University Press.