Multiple Intelligences Newsletter, Vol 34, No 5
May 29, 2025
Dear MI Friends,
This issue of Intelligence Connections features two articles that are very informative and illustrate the power of MI.
The first piece describes how MI is used in an Turkish medical school. The authors present a new term – joyful testing – which speaks volumes! Beyond learning about the applicability of MI in higher education (not a surprise; learning is learning), I was struck by the similarities which exist across cultures. That’s always an important realization, and especially the case in these balkanized times. (As an aside, this article was written by a father-daughter team, quite cool.)
The second article highlights how a teacher’s perspectives and insights can change as a result of seeing the power of MI. It illustrates how using MI increases students’ possibilities of success.
To my northern hemisphere friends, I hope that your summer is a good one with much uneventful weather. To my southern hemisphere friends, dress warmly and thanks for the weather hand-off.
Regardless of your latitude, I would be pleased to hear from you!
TOM
Thomas R. Hoerr, PhD
Multiple Intelligences in Medical School:
Alternative Assessment
By Yasmin Ghaseminejad, Izmir University of Economics Medical Point Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey and Bahram Ghaseminejad, Head of Kourosh Elementary School, Karaj, Iran. (This photo shows some of Yasmin’s classmates in the Medical Point Hospital School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.)
“We have this myth that the only way to learn something is to read it in a textbook or hear a lecture on it. And the only way to show that we’ve understood something is to take a short-answer test or maybe occasionally with an essay question thrown in. But that’s nonsense. Everything can be taught in more than one way. And anything that’s understood can be shown in more than one way.” (Howard Gardner)
Assessment, evaluation, test – whatever you may call it – sounds scary, at any age or stage in life, especially for students who are less competent linguistically. For decades, teaching and testing have been mostly synonymous with reading, writing, and reasoning, and traditionally students with stronger linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences performed best in school regardless of the real difference in the depth of their understanding compared to their peers – even though their test scores testified as such.
It should be noted that the amygdala does not distinguish between a lion and a test – it just reacts. If the amygdala thinks something is threatening – even if it’s not – it triggers a stress response: faster heartbeat, tense muscles, and a flood of anxiety. Therefore, the test result could be highly affected by the threat which is detected by the brain. Alternative assessment – if conducted thoughtfully – can help calm the nervous system and relieve the brain to think straight and use the prefrontal cortex in the best possible manner.
We have heard of “joyful learning”; accordingly, can we also have alternative, “joyful testing”? The question is how we could alter the method of assessment in ways that are rather fun or different, and learners could tap into a variety of their intelligences. Wouldn’t it be less scary – and more comprehensive and authentic – if assessment were carried out in a more relaxed environment, using alternative ways in which one could use a variety of intelligences, in addition to the linguistic intelligence?
In this regard, the theory of multiple intelligences has opened new horizons in education with multimodal learning and assessment opportunities to provide equity and safety in the learning environment. In addition to traditional linguistic methods of assessment, the implementation of multiple intelligences can help generate alternative ways for diverse MI-rich assessment ideas about any given subject.
A case in point is the School of Medicine of Izmir University of Economics (IEU) in Turkey – Department of Psychiatry – where evaluation of medical students is done by implementing the personal intelligences through role-playing. As an example, Dr. Aslihan Eslek, a psychiatrist with special interest in psychodrama, uses role-playing as a form of alternative assessment which draws on a broad range of intelligences – that is, the interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences.
To evaluate her students’ understanding of psychological disorders, Dr. Eslek conducts a “morning community meeting” where students adopt the roles of different disorders. One student, for example, depicts borderline personality disorder through a deep fear of abandonment; another takes on the role of a narcissist, craving constant admiration; and some embody traits of schizophrenic, avoidant, or obsessive-compulsive personality disorders – each showcasing the hallmark characteristics of their respective conditions.
Alternative Assessment at IEU Medical School
This allows students to experience what a typical group therapy session would look like, while also gaining insight into the perspective of a psychiatric patient. It is essential for a psychiatrist to have strong empathy – to be able to shift into the role of the patient and then return to their professional perspective to better understand and help the client. Here we see MI being used in the right context for the desired effect. In this context, this method of assessment can help assess medical students much more accurately than paper-and-pencil tests.
Medical students need to develop their personal intelligences to demonstrate their knowledge of different psychological disorders by taking on the role of such patients. This approach to assessment not only adds variety and departs from traditional paper-and-pencil tests, but – as a form of alternative assessment – also fosters self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and adaptability, all of which are strongly required for future physicians.
Multiple intelligences can be a powerful tool in all fields of education and in the process of evaluation. By integrating the interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, and linguistic intelligences into the evaluation process, psychodrama offers a multifaceted and immersive educational experience. As medical education continues to evolve, incorporating interactive and MI-driven assessment methods like psychodrama seems to be essential in training future psychiatrists and healthcare professionals who are not only clinically competent but also emotionally attuned to the complexities of psychiatric care.
Despite its many advantages, however, this form of evaluation also presents certain challenges. Some students may feel self-conscious or hesitant to assume psychiatric roles, while in some cases variations in acting abilities can impact the effectiveness of role-playing sessions. Also, without structured guidance – on the instructor’s side – role-playing may become unfocused and go awry, reducing its educational value. Nevertheless, proper faculty training, clear learning objectives, and well-designed scenarios can partially alleviate these concerns, ensuring that psychodrama serves as a valuable assessment tool.
Assessment can be taken to another level by using alternative MI-enriched methods. Thinking outside the box, we can make assessment absorbing, exciting, and multidimensional, where with the help of multiple intelligences, the depth of understanding can be strongly demonstrated by students and closely observed by instructors. Alternative forms of assessment can be carried out in the medical school or at any other level of education in order to reach more students and add more spice and diversity to any educational program.
Yasmin Ghaseminejad is a medical school student in Medical Point Hospital in Izmir, Turkey. Bahram Ghaseminejad is the head of Kourosh School in Karaj, Iran.
Reflections On Using MI In High School
by Tom Cody
Multiple intelligences were never on my radar as a student or as a teacher until my professional transformation halfway through my career. I was one of those high school students with a brain that excelled in logistic and linguistic intelligences, which was all you needed to become the valedictorian with straight As in the late sixties. Math came easy to me: I could quickly multiply two-digit numbers in my head. English was the same: I was doing the New York Times crossword puzzles just for fun!
I took the same mentality into my teaching career. I was under the false illusion that my students learned math like I did. My top students in the highest-level classes excelled…I had little or no time or patience for those who struggled. Get this: I actually thought that the students in my Advanced Placement Calculus class were succeeding because of my outstanding teaching! These were students who would have mastered the material with or without me.
About 25 years ago, I was fortunate enough to experience a mid-career paradigm shift. I began to explore the impact of multiple intelligences and social-emotional learning and developed new curriculum for my students. I read everything I could find on MI and Character Education.
We then began to teach a ninth-grade course called “Thinking, Learning & Communicating” that helped students become more effective at school and in their real lives. Its impact was immediate and profound. We saw students’ achievement improve, not because of more content, but because they were learning how to learn.
Our high school implemented a formal “MI Boot Camp” day for incoming ninth graders. Students were led through exercises to help them determine their learning styles based on Howard Gardner’s research. Many of our teachers began to provide alternative assessment tools for their classes. During my Algebra 2 unit on parabolas, I had the students do a final assessment in any of the MI areas they wanted. They did poetry, they did rap songs, they did art work… They did way more than I was expecting!
My math career took me from AP Calc all the way “backwards” to specializing in Pre-Algebra during my final ten years in the classroom. These were ninth graders doing basic seventh grade content. We worked to hard to provide an innovative MI approach to this course. While many of these students saw little or no improvement in their standardized math scores, several saw their GPAs rise in other subjects. We were convincing this group that they all had INTELLIGENCE. Contrary to what they had been told in the past, these young people developed the belief that they could learn, just not in conventional ways.
I consider myself fortunate to be sitting here in my office at 73 years old, knowing that I did some good things for many of my students. I wish I had had this transformation earlier in my career but alas, I do not own a time machine!
Tom Cody is a former educator who taught mathematics for forty years in middle school and high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. His journey took him to become a author & speaker on social-emotional learning. His group’s work can be found at www.top20training.com. If you’re interested in connecting with him, email him at tom@top20training.com.