Logical/Mathematical Intelligence is associated with scientific thinking.
People talented in this area are good at finding patterns, seeing connections between different pieces of information, and solving problems.
Logical/Mathematical talent is sparked by comparing and contrasting items, solving mysteries, and by taking things apart and putting them back together.
Parents can influence their children’s “logic smarts” by using the following home activities, developed by Connie Hine and Margaret Lewis Crosby, experts in child development.
- While cooking and baking, plan how you will make the recipe, explain each step and why you are doing it, prepare the ingredients, and cook.
- When cleaning a room, decide what is to be done in order of importance and plan the steps. Have a checklist to track each step. Have a place for everything.
- While reading a story, note characters’ behavior patterns and see how the behaviors affect the story. Ask your child why events happened in the story. (awesome for language arts)
- At bedtime, look over a chore chart or checklist with your child to remind him of all tasks and the order of steps to go to bed.
- When grocery shopping, plan the trip through the store. Change or add to the list as needed. Tell a story about all the steps to get to the store. Ask your child to remember what’s on the list.
- During family game time, play logical thinking games like: Clue ®, Jeopardy ®, or jigsaw puzzles.
- While traveling, play category games; find differences and similarities. Describe an unseen object and its possible uses. Create different rules for the license plate game or when looking for items or signs of different colors and shapes.
- During homework, create a good-homework rules list. Have your child evaluate herself when she is finished. List all the tasks and have her decide the order.
- For the news, choose a problem based on the news. Brainstorm possible solutions. Pick the best one.
- For family, describe how everyone gets up in the morning. Say what each eats for breakfast. Who is funniest, grumpiest, sleepiest, etc.?
- To get out of the house on time, make a timeline of the steps to take before leaving. How many minutes does it take for teenage Margaret to get ready, etc. Include why you have to leave.
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Adults who have strong logical/mathematical intelligences may find success as: auditor, accountant, mathematician, scientist, statistician, computer analyst, technician.
To spark this intelligence in adults:
- Create a four-point outline of your hobby. Each point will have four sub-points, with each sub-point having four more sub-points.
- Practice comparing and contrasting two items; for instance, five characteristics of a flashlight, five characteristics of an egg carton, and five characteristics the two objects have in common.
- Create a convincing explanation of something totally crazy, like the benefits of an edible window.
- Participate in a project, like cooking, using the scientific method. If you seldom cook, try making brownies from scratch following a recipe.
References:
http://multipleintelligencesoasis.org/what-mi-am-i/
http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/learning/howard_gardner_theory_multiple_intelligences.pdf
http://webshare.northseattle.edu/fam180/topics/mi/HomeActivities.html
Next week will be Sock Puppet Tim’s second solo performance. Here’s the link https://www.youtube.com/c/EllenLBuikema. Come and cheer him on! Let Tim know how he’s doing in the comment section of You Tube.
Join me the following week for the next installment of Multiple Intelligences, a closer look at Musical Intelligence and how to help strengthen it in children.