A multiple intelligences test is a method of assessing a person’s abilities in various areas of intelligence, such as visual/spatial, mathematical/logical, and bodily/kinesthetic. Howard Gardner, a Harvard professor and psychologist, developed the theory of multiple intelligences to explain how humans interact with the world around them as part of the learning process. Learning styles, according to the theory, are inextricably linked to multiple intelligences. A multiple intelligences test can help identify a student’s learning style and suggest effective teaching methods.
Gardner proposed his multiple intelligences theory in 1983 and identified seven of them, later adding two more in 1999. Over half of the skills represented each intelligence are dual competencies. Every person has all nine intelligences, but some are more dominant than others; a multiple intelligences test can help a person figure out which ones are the most important to him. Gardner’s first three intelligences, visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic, and mathematical/logical, are the ones most commonly associated with learning styles. Body/kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist, and existentialist are the six remaining intelligences.
Howard Gardner has stated that he has not developed a multiple intelligences test and does not endorse any specific test. He believes that creating a test that accurately assesses each intelligence and the test taker’s strengths and weaknesses would be difficult. Gardner has praised Dr. Branton Shearer’s careful development of the Multiple Intelligences Development Assessment Scales (MIDAS) test in 1987, though he has not given his endorsement. Shearer’s company, Multiple Intelligences Research and Consulting, Inc., sells the test.
Gardner has pointed out some flaws in the MIDAS test. It cannot assess actual task performance and assumes that test takers can answer questions about their own personal strengths and weaknesses honestly, accurately, and impartially. Despite this caveat, Gardner’s praise lends MIDAS some credibility. The three-page test is described Shearer as a “research-based self-report measure of intellectual disposition for people of all ages” that profiles a person’s “full range of skills, abilities, and intellectual potential.”
The MIDAS test evaluates four different types of intelligence. Except for existentialism, the first category assesses all intelligences. The second category covers the 25 types of skills that are relevant to each intelligence. The third category is concerned with an individual’s intellectual styles and preferences in the areas of general logic, innovation, and leadership. In the fourth category, qualitative data is gathered from responses to questions about intellectual activities and factual outcomes.