Introduction by Howard Gardner
Because the idea of multiple intelligences has spread widely over the decades, it's always especially exciting when I receive correspondence from a region with which I had not previously been in touch.
Recently I have been in correspondence with Sina Aminnia and Milad Sarabi, who are co-founders of NIKA, an institute in Iran which seeks to assess the talents of young persons. Currently, their team contains about 20 expert members in different fields of psychology, art, music, sport, engineering, biology, and other areas that presumably span multiple intelligences. In the blog that posted here, they describe games, puzzles, and other challenges which they use to gain an impression of which areas are of interest to students and in which ones they are able to demonstrate skill or promise.
We are all aware that in today's world, it's all too easy for political leaders to demonize other nations, often for their own political gain. It's reassurring and encouraging that those of us who are involved in education and in psychology can continue to communicate and to have interchanges of ideas and instrument—below the radar screen of public announcements. The Iranian and Persian people have a long and distinguished history, dating back many centuries—I look forward to the time when our countries, and other nations, can cooperate as well on issues that are important for the entire planet.
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Guest Post by NIKA
NIKA Institute of Talent Selection and Training Multiple Intelligences
The general goal of NIKA is to find out each students’ special or most well-documented abilities and train their intellectual capabilities according to their differences individually.
Our institute is divided into two departments: 1. talent selection and 2. training intellectual capabilities.
In the first department, each student will be assessed by how she/he acts in challenges in a game format, which has been found to be unfamiliar to the student. Expert teachers in each one of the specific fields of MI and expert psychologists who know all the facets of every intelligence, assess students through 8 different workshops relevant to 8 different intelligences by the standard of Gardner’s Theory which recommends monitoring students individually.
It should be mentioned, according to the cultural and religious limitations caused by the government (Islamic Republic of Iran), existential intelligence is not allowed to be assessed; therefore, this one is not in the category of assessment.
At the end of the process that lasts about 14 months, an intelligence profile will be presented to each student. Definitely, at NIKA, we’re not in search of dividing students due to their superior intelligences and avoid labeling them. However, the whole process helps the families to decide knowledgeably, manage their and their children’s time and expenses, and to guide them through a future path according to their documented abilities.
In the second department, the students are educated/nurtured according to their intelligence profile. We focus on the fields of intelligences which are the top-rated ones for each student. For example, if a student is more talented in musical, mathematical and spatial intelligences, we teach him/her all the different fields of these three. The workshops are still in a practical mode but take an educational approach. Also, NIKA tries to inform the students with respect to different jobs that might be appropriate.
It should be noticed that in the educational system of Iran, there isn't any core course or even a significant workshop about job positions, and most people even after entering universities, have only a vague vision about their future career. According to the reliability and the importance of monitoring the activities instead of Self-Tests, some challenges–in no particular order– among 240 challenges, are briefly explained below.
Challenge Name: The Magic Box
Relevant Intelligences: Visual-Spatial
Items for assessment: Imagination, attention to detail, generalization, ideation, identifying tactile sensation, ability in 3D designing, identifying parts of an object
Explanation: Various objects in terms of material and size are placed into a big box. The student should touch the objects with closed eyes. Then she/he should paint a picture of what has been touched in the best style.
Challenge Name: The Painting of Sounds
Relevant Intelligences: Musical, Visual-Spatial and Bodily-Kinesthetic
Items for assessment: Imagination, ability to design based on hearing, the interaction between hearing and faculty, ideation, interest in music, motion
Explanation: The students listen to different theme sounds like rain, crowds of people in a street, etc. with closed eyes. Then they should paint according to those sounds.
Challenge Name: Office Simulation
Relevant Intelligences: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Linguistic-Verbal
Items for assessment: Identifying motivation and tendency, the capability of verbal and nonverbal communication, effective communication with others, considering other perspectives of a situation, the ability to settle an argument in a group, respecting different opinions, being a good listener
Explanation: Students select their favorite job at a session before this challenge so that the class would be designed and decorated according to the jobs in separate sections. During this challenge, the students position themselves in the relevant parts and play the role of someone who has that specific job. Therefore, everyone should answer their clients’ or customers’ requirements. For instance, the teacher and psychologist start a fake quarrel and the student who acts as a police officer, should settle the argument in the best way, and according to the above items.
Challenge Name: Dominoes
Relevant Intelligences: Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal and Visual-Spatial
Items for assessment: Hand-eye coordination, precision, tendency and ability to do delicate tasks
Explanation: This game can be played individually or as a group activity. The goals of this challenge are to determine how the dominoes are arranged, the size of the final configuration and implementing creativity to form various settings.