Howard Gardner
Howard Earl Gardner
(July 11, 1943, Scranton, Pennsylvania – Present) (Aged 80)
Nationality: United States of America
Category: Scientists
Occupation: Psychologist, Author, Educator
Specification: Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Science, Psychology of Creativity
Unique distinction: Renowned for his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which. has significantly influenced educational practices and revolutionized the understanding of human cognitive abilities.
Influenced by: Erik Erikson, Roger Brown, David Riesman, Jerome Bruner, and Nelson Goodman, Stephen Jay Gould, Jean Piaget, Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Gender: Male
Family: Spouse Ellen Winner, Four Children
Website: howardgardner
Achievements and contributions:
Social and professional position: Howard Gardner is an American developmental psychologist and educator, John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education (2019–present).
Main contribution to (Best Known for): Howard Gardner is renowned for his groundbreaking Theory of Multiple Intelligences, proposed in his seminal work “Frames of Mind”. His contributions to psychology and pedagogy include his tireless support for educational reform, the development and activation of creativity, and ethical leadership.
Contribution to Theory of Intelligence and Psychology of Creativity – Notable Ideas:
Theory of Multiple Intelligences:
In his theory, Gardner posits that traditional notions of intelligence, which are typically focused on linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities, are limited in capturing the full spectrum of human cognitive capacities.
Gardner’s theory proposes that intelligence is not a single, fixed trait but rather a combination of distinct intelligence, each based in a different area of the brain. According to this theory, humans have several different ways of processing information, and these ways are relatively independent of one another.
This theory challenged traditional views of intelligence as a single, measurable IQ score by proposing that humans possess multiple types of intelligence, including:
1. Visual-spatial: An ability to recognize and manipulate large-scale and fine-grained spatial images (e.g. airplane pilot, sailor), or more local forms of space (e.g. architect, chess player).
Visualization and “bigpicture” thinking, the ability to see relationships between forms in space, the ability to imagine changes in forms and shapes, and seeing how the part relates to the whole.
2. Musical: An ability to produce, remember, and make meaning of different patterns of sound.
Sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter, tone, melody and timbre, tonality, volume, pitch, emotional colouring, rhythm, harmony and disharmony. May entail the ability to sing, play musical instruments, and/or compose music (e.g. musical conductor)
3. Bodily- Kinesthetic: An ability to use one’s own body to create products or solve problems. Physical/proprioception is a sense of where the different parts of the body are in space. The ability to use one’s whole body, or parts of the body (like the hands or the mouth), to solve problems or create products (e.g. dancer).
4. Logical-mathematical: An ability to develop equations and proofs, make calculations, and solve abstract problems. It includes sequential, analytical, deductive and inductive reasoning, puzzle-solving and the use of abstract principles for specific problems.
The capacity to conceptualize the logical relations among actions or symbols (e.g. mathematicians, scientists).
5. Linguistic: An ability to analyze information and create products involving oral and written language such as speeches, books, and memos. The use of words, metaphor, and analogy to express one’s thoughts and feelings. Sensitivity to the meaning of words, the order among words, and the sound, rhythms, inflections, and meter of words (e.g. poet). (Sometimes called language intelligence.)
6. Interpersonal: An ability to recognize and understand other people’s moods, desires, motivations, and intentions.
Sensitivity to social situations, empathy, reading other people, and perspective-taking. Sensitivity to others’ moods, feelings, temperaments and motivations (e.g. negotiator). The ability to interact effectively with others. (Sometimes called social intelligence.)
7. Intrapersonal: An ability to recognize and understand one’s own moods, desires, motivations, and intentions, self-awareness, learning from one’s own experience, emotional self-regulation (e.g. self- soothing, self-monitoring, selfcriticism).
Sensitivity to one’s own feelings, goals, and anxieties, and the capacity to plan and act in light of one’s own traits. Intrapersonal intelligence is not particular to specific careers; rather, it is a goal for every individual in a complex modern society, where one has to make consequential decisions for oneself.
Howard Gardner defined the first seven intelligences in Frames of Mind (1983).
In Intelligence Reframed (1999) he introduces 2 new intelligences, naturalistic and existential. He also writes about the possible 10th intelligence, moral intelligence, which is going to be one of the most valued intelligences of the century.
8. Naturalistic. An ability to identify and distinguish among different types of plants, animals, and weather formations that are found in the natural world. (Sometimes called nature intelligence).
9. Existential Intelligence: The cognitive capacity to raise and ponder “big questions”—queries about the meaning of life, love, about evil, about life and death— indeed, about the nature and quality of existence. In 2020, he wrote an article on his blog in which he reported that he was uncertain about some kind of brain or neurological basis for this capacity (one of the criteria I had proposed for independent intelligence); But after a period of reflection, he became convinced of the existence of a 9th or “existential intelligence.” He notes “As I reflect on my own preoccupations, I find evidence for this trend”.
Also later Gardner wrote, that there is one other candidate intelligence: it is “pedagogical,” which consists of the ability to teach and educate.
Besides that, H. Gardner and colleagues reviewed and evaluated other candidate intelligences, —such as spiritual intelligence, attention intelligence, absorption Intelligence, artistic intelligence, humour intelligence, and moral intelligence—but do not believe these meet his original inclusion criteria. Thus, it has been noted that some of the proposed intelligences are really general capacities that do not operate on specific content (H. Gardner et al, 2011).
Theoretical grounds:
H. Gardner noted: “an intelligence is a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture” (H. Gardner, 1999)
1. MI theory, asserts that individuals who demonstrate a particular aptitude in one intelligence will not necessarily demonstrate a comparable aptitude in another intelligence. Each person has a different intellectual composition. These intelligences may define the human species.
2. These intelligences are located in different areas of the brain and can either work independently or together.
3. MI theory conceives intelligence as a combination of heritable potentials and skills that can be developed in diverse ways through relevant experience. We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students.
4. It is likely that musical intelligence comprises several subintelligences relating to various dimensions of music, such as rhythm, harmony, melody, and timbre. An analogous comment can be stated for each of the other intelligences.
Theory of multiple intelligences was embraced primarily by educators but not by psychologists. “ I was kind of a bull in a china shop when I came out with my theory”, -wrote Gardner. Cognitive psychologists such as L. Waterhouse (2006) claimed that there is no empirical evidence to the validity of the theory of multiple intelligences. D. T. Willingham (2004) argued that a theory of intelligence that does not include g is inconsistent with existing psychometric data.
Gardner responding to criticisms of his concept, noted that his theory is based entirely on empirical evidence as opposed to experimental evidence, as he does not believe experimental evidence in itself can yield a theoretical synthesis. He argued that each individual possesses a unique blend of these intelligences, which can vary in strength and development.
C.B. Shearer (2020) reviewed evidence from functional neuroimaging studies that associate patterns of brain activation with the cognitive components of each intelligence. These results demonstrate that each person possesses unique and coherent latent neural potentials to process information aligned with multiple intelligences.
The Visual network was associated with the visual-spatial intelligence, Somato -motor Cerebellar with kinesthetic intelligence, Auditory networks with musical intelligence, Language network with Linguistic intelligence, Fronto-Parietal Executive Control with logical–mathematical intelligence, and Default mode networks (Executive Control and Ventral Attention) with intra- and interpersonal intelligences.
Theory of Creativity
1. Definition of creativity. Gardner indicated that creativity occurs when someone produces something new that first seems odd but becomes accepted by people who have knowledge about it. The decisive test involves whether the domain the invention is associated with becomes changed as a result of the invention.
Сreativity differs from intelligence. Thus creative people think divergently. Intelligent people think in a narrower way and can figure out the right one. (Gardner, 2011).
2. Relational, Contextual and Cultural Perspectives on Creativity. Gardner emphasizes that creativity is deeply influenced by social, cultural, and environmental factors, rather than being solely an individual trait. He argues that creative expression arises from interactions between individuals and their socio-cultural contexts. This view stresses the importance of supportive environments that foster experimentation, collaboration, and diverse perspectives to enhance creativity.
He specifically emphasizes the significance of cultural context in shaping creative expression and innovation. He acknowledges that definitions of creativity and standards of creative excellence vary across cultures, reflecting unique values, beliefs, and socio-historical contexts.
3. Ethical and Moral Dimensions of Creativity. Unlike many other theories of creativity, Gardner emphasizes the ethical and moral dimensions of creativity, emphasizing the responsibility of creative individuals and communities to consider the ethical consequences of their work. This holistic approach integrates ethical reflection with artistic, scientific, and technological innovation.
He emphasizes the moral and social implications of emerging technologies and their impact on human development and well-being. Additionally, he explores the relationship between personal values and the production of exemplary work.
4. Creative Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Inquiry. Howard Gardner’s theories on creativity highlight the significance of interdisciplinary inquiry, productive dialogue and collaboration among scholars, practitioners, and creative professionals.. He posits that creative breakthroughs often emerge at the intersection of different disciplines, where diverse perspectives and insights converge. In his view, a holistic theory of creativity should include various fields, and extend artistic pursuits, science, business, and everyday problem-solving.
5. Integrative Approach to Creative Assessment: His work challenges traditional IQ tests and standardized testing, as they fail to capture the full range of human cognitive abilities. He advocates for a holistic and integrative framework to assess creativity, moving beyond quantitative measures to multifaceted methods. This includes qualitative evaluations like portfolio assessments, narrative evaluations, and performance-based tasks, which capture creativity’s diverse manifestations across domains and contexts. Gardner’s approach emphasizes process dynamics, personal insights, and socio-cultural influences, fostering learning and problem-solving styles by assessing multiple intelligences
6. Developmental Perspective on Creativity: Gardner’s theory of creativity proposes that it undergoes distinct developmental stages: initial idea generation, refinement, and ultimate recognition. Creativity evolves across the lifespan, with dynamic transformations occurring at different stages.
Gardner emphasizes the role of education and experience in shaping creative potential, advocating for educational practices that foster creativity at various stages. He highlights the importance of providing opportunities for exploration, play, and discovery from early childhood to adulthood to cultivate and sustain creativity.
7. Theory of MI, Creativity and Education: The theory of multiple intelligences has significantly impacted education by highlighting the diverse cognitive abilities of students. This has led to more personalized educational approaches and performance-based assessments. His theory advocates for using varied teaching methods, encouraging the recognition and nurturing of students’ diverse talents. Gardner asserts that understanding multiple intelligences promotes inclusive and personalized education, recognizing and valuing the unique strengths and abilities of all students.
Teachers should introduce a topic with different entry points, each of which taps primarily one intelligence. Gardner noted “It may well be easier to remember a list if one sings it (or dances to it). However, these uses of the ‘materials’ of intelligence are essentially trivial. What is not trivial is the capacity to think musically.” Besides, he warned of the danger of providing an environment that promotes too much creativity without enough skill-building. Also dangerous is an environment that promotes too much skill-building without allowing enough opportunities to develop creativity (Gardner, 1989).
7. 1. Emphasis on Creativity and the Arts. Gardner’s appreciation for music and the arts has influenced his views on intelligence and creativity. He has argued that traditional education often undervalues creative and artistic abilities, and has advocated for their greater inclusion in the curriculum. His work at Project Zero concentrated on the development of chidren’s artistic thinking.
7.2. Emphasis on Individual Strengths. His theory provides a framework for recognizing and understanding individual strengths and preferences. This approach helps educators and psychologists to better support and nurture the unique abilities of each person One of Gardner’s key contributions is his emphasis on recognizing and nurturing individual strengths.
By acknowledging that people have different kinds of intelligences, he has promoted a more inclusive and supportive approach to education and personal development, allowing individuals to thrive in areas where they are naturally gifted.
10. Theory of the Creative Individual and Biographical Studies of Eminent Creators.
In his work Creating Minds (1993) Howard Gardner Focused on exemplary creative individuals and his rejected of the “lone genius” model. Gardner wrote, that this work he likes the best “That is the book I had the most fun doing”. Rather than studying creativity in the abstract, Gardner examined the lives and work of specific individuals he considered to be exemplars of creativity across different domains. By analyzing the interaction between these individuals, their areas of expertise, and the judgments of their respective fields, Gardner developed a more contextualized understanding of creativity
These people included T. S. Eliot (linguistic intelligence), Sigmund Freud (intrapersonal), Pablo Picasso (spatial), Albert Einstein (logical-mathematical), Igor Stravinsky (musical), Mahatma Gandhi (interpersonal), and Martha Graham (bodily-kinesthetic).
Howard’s study, reported in that book, focused squarely on the creative individual as the primary unit of analysis, with “creative individual” defined as “a person who regularly solves problems, fashions products, or defines new questions in a domain in a way that is initially considered novel but that ultimately becomes accepted practice in a particular cultural setting”
Gardner noticed some similarities in their personalities and in the way they lived their lives.
They tended to reject standard practices and desired to try new things, they knew their domain well. Creative people are also risk-takers who are not easily subdued. A creative environment usually contributes to many benefits. These studies have provided insights into the cognitive, emotional, and social dynamics that underlie creative achievement.
Gardner also conducted research on symbol-using capacities in children and adults with brain damage.
He focused on the nature and development of abilities in the arts and their relation to intelligence.
Honours and Awards: Howard Gardner has received numerous awards and honours for his contributions to psychology and education, including the
1. MacArthur Fellowship (1981),
2. University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education (1990).
3. Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1999).
4. Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences (2011),
5. Brock International Prize in Education (2015).
Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award from the American Education Research Association (2020).
He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Education, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
He has received honorary degrees from 31 colleges and universities around the world, including institutions in Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, and Spain.
Main works:
Throughout his career, Gardner has authored numerous books and articles, exploring topics ranging from intelligence and creativity to education and leadership.
He has authored or co-authored more than 30 books and close to 500 research articles. Gardner has written hundreds of research articles and over thirty books that have been translated into over thirty languages
Books and Monographs:
1. Gardner, H. (1973). The quest for mind: Jean Piaget, Claude Levi-Strauss, and the structuralist movement. New York, NY: Knopf
2. Gardner, H. (1973). The arts and human development. New York, NY: Wiley.
3. Gardner, H. (1975). The shattered mind. New York, NY: Knopf. Main Selection, Psychology Today Book Club,
4. Gardner, H. (1979). Developmental Psychology: An introduction. Boston, MA: Little Brown, International Edition. Second Edition, 1982.
5. Gardner, H. (1980). Artful scribbles: The significance of children’s drawings. New York, NY: Basic Books. Behavioral Sciences book service selection. English Edition: Jill Norman
6. Gardner, H. (1982). Art, mind, and brain: A cognitive approach to creativity. New York, NY: Basic Books.
7. 7. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: Basic Books.
8. 8. Gardner, H. (1985). The mind’s new science A history of the cognitive revolution. New York, NY: Basic Books.
9. 9. Gardner, H. (1988). Creativity: An interdisciplinary perspective. Creativity Research Journal, 1, 8-26.
10. Gardner, H. (1988). Creative lives and creative works: A synthetic
scientific approach. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
11. Gardner, H. (1989). To open minds: Chinese clues to the dilemma of contemporary education. New York, NY: Basic Books.
12. Gardner, H. (1990). Art education and human development. Los Angeles, CA: The Getty Center for Education in the Arts. Translated into Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.
13. Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach. New York, NY: Basic Books.
14. Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York, NY: Basic Books.
15. Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds: An anatomy of creativity seen through the lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. New York, NY: Basic Books.
16. Gardner, H., with the collaboration of Laskin, E. (1995). Leading minds: An anatomy of leadership. New York, NY: Basic Books. British Edition: HarperCollins, 1996.
17. Gardner, H. (1997). Extraordinary minds: Portraits of exceptional individuals and an examination of our extraordinariness. New York, NY: Basic Books.
18. Gardner, H. (1999). The disciplined mind: What all students should understand. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. Excerpted in The Futurist, 34, (2), 30–32
19. Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st Century. New York, NY: Basic Books.
20. Gardner, H. (2004) Changing minds: The art and science of changing our own and other people’s minds. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
21. Gardner, H. (2006). The development and education of the mind: The collected works of Howard Gardner. London, UK: Routledge. Translated into Italian, Spanish.
22. Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple intelligences: New horizons. New York, NY: Basic Books.
23. Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
24. Gardner, H. (2011). Truth, beauty, and goodness reframed: Educating for the virtues in the 21st century. New York, NY: Basic Books.
25. Gardner, H. (2011). Truth, beauty, and goodness reframed: Educating for the virtues in the era of truthiness and twitter. (Paperback edition, with new preface). New York, NY: Basic Books.
26. Davis, K., Christodoulou, J., Seider, S., & Gardner, H. (2011). The theory of multiple intelligences. In R.J. Sternberg & S.B. Kaufman (Eds.)
27. Gardner, H. (2019). Creativity and Creativities: The Challenges Ahead: In tribute to Teresa Amabile. Unpublished festschrift in honor of Teresa Amabile.
28. Gardner, H. and Fischman, W. (2019). Towards Quality Higher Education: Barriers and Enablers. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, (Ed.).
29. Gardner, H. (2019). “Neuromyths”: A Critical Consideration. Mind, Brain, and Education, 14(1), 2-4.
30. Gardner, H. (2020). A synthesizing mind: An intellectual memoir. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
31. Gardner, H. (2020). Of Human Potential: A Forty Year Saga. Journal for the Education of the Gifted.
Career and personal life:
Family background: Howard Gardner was born on July 11, 1943, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to parents Ralph Gardner and Hilde (née Weilheimer) Gardner, German Jewish immigrants who fled Nazi Germany just prior to World War II. The family arrived in New York City with literally $5 in their pockets on Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when many of their relatives were injured or killed.
He grew up in an intellectually stimulating environment, with his parents fostering his early curiosity and love for learning. “I am fortunate to have the example of my parents, who were deeply ethical people”, wrote Gardner. He had a desire to learn and greatly excelled in school. As an early reader and writer, he produced a newspaper when he was in second grade.
He was a studious child who enjoyed playing the piano.
Education background:
Gardner pursued his academic studies with vigour and passion. He noted: “In my very first week at Harvard, I stood on the steps of Widener Library and I felt the whole world was open to me.”
He thought he would become a history major. He took history courses during his freshman year.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Relations from Harvard College in 1965.
He spent one year at the London School of Economics (1965–1966); Reading in Philosophy and Sociology. He wrote “by chance I met Jerome Bruner, a renowned and charismatic psychologist. I became interested in cognitive psychology. Bruner also introduced me to my future wife, Judy Krieger, who was coming to graduate school as a psychologist. On our honeymoon, in June 1966, we went to Geneva to meet Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist.”
He then went on to obtain his PhD in Developmental Psychology from Harvard University in 1971, under the mentorship of renowned psychologist Erik Erikson.
Harvard Medical School and Boston University Aphasia Research Center, 1971–1972; Postdoctoral Fellow
Career highlights:
From 1958 to 1969 he worked as a piano teacher and in 1969 as an Elementary school teacher in Newton, Massachusetts, teaching in an “open classroom” of fifty 5–7 year-olds.
Following his doctoral studies, Gardner embarked on a distinguished academic career.
In 1967, Professor Nelson Goodman started an educational program called Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which began with a focus on arts education and now spans a a broad range of humanistic and scientific disciplines
Howard Gardner and David Perkins were founding Research Assistants in 1967 and later Co-Directed Harvard Project Zero from 1972 to 2000.
After completing his doctoral studies at Harvard University in 1971, Gardner embarked on an academic journey characterized by groundbreaking research, and innovative theories.
After receiving a doctorate in developmental psychology, he got a post-doctoral fellowship to work at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital. “…almost by chance, I’d be working at the VA with brain-damaged patients in the morning, and in the afternoon I’d be doing studies with kids at Project Zero. This was a really transformative experience”. That was the material for “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,” which came out in 1983.
He worked as a Research Associate in Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine (1972–1975) as a Lecturer in Education (1974–1986) and Senior Research Associate (1977–1986) at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Howard Gardner developed his Theory of Multiple Intelligences and published the theory for the first time in 1983.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Gardner’s research garnered widespread acclaim for its transformative insights into human cognition and learning.
In 1986, Gardner joined the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he assumed the position of Professor of Education.
In 1998 he accepted a prestigious position as a John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor and in 2019 a Research Professor of Cognition and Education, at Harvard Graduate School of Education
Since 1996 in collaboration with William Damon, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and several other colleagues, Gardner has been directing research at The Good Project – an initiative aimed at promoting excellence, ethics, and engagement in education, professional practice, and citizenship. Through this Project, Gardner and his colleagues explored ethical dimensions of creativity, emphasizing the importance of ethical reflection and social responsibility in creative endeavors.
In 2000, Gardner, Kurt Fischer, and their colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education established the master’s degree program in Mind, Brain, and Education at Harvard. This program was thought to be the first of its kind around the world.
In 2009, Gardner co-founded the Institute for Educational Leadership and Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The institute’s mission is centred on cultivating ethical and effective leadership in educational settings, with a focus on fostering creativity, collaboration, and social change.
Since 2012, Gardner has been co-directing a major study of higher education in the United States with Wendy Fischman and several other colleagues.
In March 2022, MIT Press published Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner’s book The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be.
He was also an Adjunct Research Professor of Neurology, at Boston University School of Medicine (1987–2005) and
worked at Boston Veterans Administration Hospital for over 20 years.
Gardner retired from teaching in 2019. He also retired as a committee member of Project Zero in June 2023 and is now Senior Director.
He continues his research and writing, including several blogs. In 2020, Gardner published his intellectual memoir, “A Synthesizing Mind,” which provides a personal account of his intellectual journey and the development of his ideas.
Personal life:
Howard Gardner is married to Ellen Winner, Professor Emerita of Psychology at Boston College, a prominent psychologist known for her work in the field of aesthetics and creativity. She collaborated on Project Zero and from 1995 to 96, served as president of the American Psychological Association Division of Creativity and the Arts.
I should mention that my teacher is in the realm of giftedness and prodigiousness — and much else! — is my second wife, Ellen Winner, whom I met at Project Zero. We fell in love, were married in 1982, and our son Benjamin was born in 1985.”
Gardner also has three children from an earlier marriage: Kerith (1969), Jay (1971), and Andrew (1976); and five grandchildren: Oscar (2005), Agnes (2011), Olivia (2015), Faye Marguerite (2016), and August Pierre (2019)
Personality: Gardner shows himself in his work as a gifted researcher and writer; a teacher a leader, an organization builder and a strong collaborator.
On the testimony of his office assistant Kirsten Adam, Howard at any given time, is working on a new book—or two—and probably a dozen or so articles. he’s managing his many research initiatives has a lot of meetings and always gives his best effort to help those
who reach out. On average, Howard sends and receives about 2,500–3,000 emails each month from students, researchers, and parents, always makes it a point to attend community events actively serves on a number of boards and research networks.
Even with all of the demands on his time, Howard always gives his best effort to help those who reach out.
His colleague and prominent creativity researcher Teresa Amabile, wrote:
“His energy and commitment to excellence, engagement, and ethics is contagious. He is a true professional and the embodiment of GoodWork”. He has convinced me of the responsibility that we have, as scholars, to bring our insights and guidance to other scholars and to practitioners who might use it.
Zest:
Gardner described himself as “a studious child who gained much pleasure from playing the piano”. He has retained a lifelong passion for music, which has influenced his conception of human cognitive capacity.
At the start of 2024, Gardner was the most cited Educational Scholar in the United States.
Gardner was the first American to receive the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education.
Gardner has pointed out on several occasions that the success of his book turned, in part, on this new label: “I am quite confident that if I had written a book called ‘Seven Talents’ it would not have received the attention that Frames of Mind received.” By this Gardner means that the mind has many processing capabilities.
Links:
Multiple Intelligences Theory, Faculty Profile, multipleintelligence, aquila.usm.edu, academic.sun.ac.za
