Although intelligences have clear connections with specific academic subjects at school (Gardner, 2006), teachers should not to merely teach these intelligences through specific subjects. According to Armstrong (2009), the best way to integrate the MI theory into the curriculum is to decipher ways to translate activities from one intelligence domain to another. In other words, the teacher should construct the lesson through providing multiple representations of a single concept and various pathways to effective learning. Multimodal activities should be selected and implemented during a lesson, as multiple intelligences enhance the lesson and do not detract pupils from acquiring new knowledge.
In addition to this, teachers should prepare and design meaningful, active learning experiences to help students develop multiple intelligences and achieve content mastery. Bonwell and Eison (1991) stated that active participation is a significant educational technique where students are actively involved in thinking, learning and applying knowledge. By designing active strategies that engage each student’s strongest learning skills and intelligences, a teacher evens out the learning field. Gardner (2006) supports the concept of providing multiple representations of key concepts in a single lesson, where teachers provide various entry points to teach about a topic, for three reasons: to reach all studentsu2019 characteristics; students get the sense of a disciplinary expert and to u201cactivate different clusters of neural networksu201d (p.60).
It is of great significance to give opportunities to students to develop various skills simultaneously, as u201cevery cultural role of any degree of sophistication requires a combination of intelligencesu201d (Gardner, 2006, p.22). Obviously, this does not mean that educators need to address all of the intelligences in every subject they teach, but students need exposure to different intelligence domains and multi-leveled opportunities to develop their physical, cognitive, social and emotional skills. Therefore, schools need to move away from labeling students according to their potential in language and numerical skills and mobilize their intelligences and knowledge through an active, experiential approach to learning. Gardner (2006) asserts the reciprocal relationship between active participation and development of learnersu2019 intelligence. By applying a multiple-intelligences approach to teaching, instruction is based on involving students in various learning experiences where they can make choices according to the most appropriate way for them to acquire knowledge.