Teaching and learning through multiple intelligences in the outcomes-based education classroom

Abstract

As outcomes-based education forms the foundation of the new school curriculum in South Africa, educators are confronted with the challenge of not only meeting the different needs of individual learners, but also of helping learners (many of them previously disadvantaged) to achieve their maximum potential. One way of realising this ideal is by applying Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences in the classroom. The article provides a discussion on both Gardner's multiple intelligences theory and outcomes-based education in South Africa, as it is believed that together they can contribute to solving some of the present problems in South African education. The article defines the use of MI theory in an OBE classroom and suggests specific ways in which educators worldwide could incorporate the different intelligences in their teaching and learning activities.

Keywords:

• multiple intelligences
• outcomes-based education
• teaching
• learning
• assessment