**4. Evaluation of multiple intelligences**

Evaluation means gathering information about the abilities and potential of the subjects that is useful both to the individual being evaluated and to the community around them [2]. Gardner [34] thought that finding reliable, valid measures of intelligence was of great interest to educationalists. However, his theory criticises the view that there is only a single intelligence that may be measured by the Intelligence Quotient and standardised tests [2]. Therefore, in this approach, it is suggested that we cannot continue measuring intelligence as we have up to now, and that it is necessary to develop a different, better way of thinking about human intellect [34], along with more appropriate ways of unbiasedly evaluating people with differing intellectual profiles [2, 3, 38, 41, 42].

It should be noted that it is essential to evaluate intelligences using methods which are neutral with respect to the intelligences, that is, using methods that directly examine the intelligences rather than through instruments which depend on linguistic or logical intelligence, such as traditional pen and paper instruments [34]. In this sense, evaluation instruments and materials that are usually applied cannot be considered neutral, and the use of materials that are familiar, motivating and relevant to the child's context will allow better evaluations of an individual's level of competence [36–38, 43]. This raises the need for an evaluation system that can unbiasedly detect students' capabilities, abilities and interests in order to provide educational experiences which encourage students to capitalise on strong areas, while addressing and aiming to improve detected weaknesses [36, 38, 39, 43].

The first and most significant experience of this kind of evaluation was 'Project Spectrum' [43–45]. The aim was to evaluate intelligences and encourage development of processes and skills implicit in them, as well as seek ways in which teachers could use this information to better adapt their methodologies to individual needs. The types of activities used in this project allowed for the evaluation of children while they were playing, rather than needing to use the written word. Therefore, the evaluation was of intelligence functioning in natural settings and in situations involving the resolution of everyday problems [36, 38, 39, 45]. These activities have been shown to be valid, reliable instruments for the evaluation of multiple intelligences [36, 37, 46].

The fundamental aspect of this approach is the need to discover the intellectual capabilities and outstanding aptitudes of each individual in order to develop them from the very earliest stages of education by designing learning tasks which foster development of the basic skills and abilities of each intelligence [2]. The theory focused not only on the need to evaluate the skills that stand out the most but also on seeking ways in which this information could be used to modify methodologies for individual needs and thus foster academic achievement

Once evaluation has identified stronger areas (areas in which a student exhibits better motivation and more confidence), it is necessary to move to the key step, which is intervention.

This intervention utilises the concept that these skills or strong points can be used to 'bridge the gap' in areas where the student has difficulties [2]. Thus, there are two necessary phases of a procedure incorporating this theory: it must begin with an evaluation of the individual's abilities and strong points, and then an intervention must be prepared which uses those

Evaluation means gathering information about the abilities and potential of the subjects that is useful both to the individual being evaluated and to the community around them [2]. Gardner [34] thought that finding reliable, valid measures of intelligence was of great interest to educationalists. However, his theory criticises the view that there is only a single intelligence that may be measured by the Intelligence Quotient and standardised tests [2]. Therefore, in this approach, it is suggested that we cannot continue measuring intelligence as we have up to now, and that it is necessary to develop a different, better way of thinking about human intellect [34], along with more appropriate ways of unbiasedly evaluating people with differing

It should be noted that it is essential to evaluate intelligences using methods which are neutral with respect to the intelligences, that is, using methods that directly examine the intelligences rather than through instruments which depend on linguistic or logical intelligence, such as traditional pen and paper instruments [34]. In this sense, evaluation instruments and materials that are usually applied cannot be considered neutral, and the use of materials that are familiar, motivating and relevant to the child's context will allow better evaluations of an individual's level of competence [36–38, 43]. This raises the need for an evaluation system that can unbiasedly detect students' capabilities, abilities and interests in order to provide educational experiences which encourage students to capitalise on strong areas, while addressing

The first and most significant experience of this kind of evaluation was 'Project Spectrum' [43–45]. The aim was to evaluate intelligences and encourage development of processes and skills implicit in them, as well as seek ways in which teachers could use this information to better adapt their methodologies to individual needs. The types of activities used in this

and adaptation to school [2, 36, 38–40].

88 Learning Disabilities - An International Perspective

strong points as a way to improve weak or problematic areas.

and aiming to improve detected weaknesses [36, 38, 39, 43].

**4. Evaluation of multiple intelligences**

intellectual profiles [2, 3, 38, 41, 42].

Although this model of evaluation, a long way from traditional tests and pen and paper assessments, is the ideal proposed by Gardner for the very young, it has the disadvantage of being rather laborious to implement, so it is not used very widely in either the educational field or in research into multiple intelligences. One way to overcome this limitation may be to use interactive digital evaluation instruments that can be applied easily to evaluate all the intelligences described by Gardner. This requires the use of instruments that, in addition to being evaluation tools, are also learning experiences [2]; conform to the characteristics for evaluation proposed by Multiple Intelligences Theory (continuous, systematic, varied, dynamic, contextualised, meaningful and motivating) [36–38, 45]; and are sufficiently practical to be used in both education and research.

In this sense, digital tools offer numerous possibilities both in research and in intervention, using the Theory of Multiple Intelligences as a point of reference.
