Intelligence Survey

Directions: Print this survey and check 15 statements which capture your greatest interest.  Then, examine the key provided below to determine clues to your strongest intelligences. 

1. 1. __ I often fidget rather than sit still; I’d rather be up and active.
   2. __ I generally organize a time schedule for weekly events.
   3. __ I enjoy taking photographs from different angles.
   4. __ Designing a web page would be a relaxing activity for me.
   5. __ I love to participate in throwing and catching games.
   6. __ I’d select icons for a PowerPoint to showcase ideas with graphics.
   7. __ Preparing key points to win a debate, would capture my interest.
   8. __ When waiting, sometimes I find myself tapping rhythms on a table.
   9. __ Telling stories to others, is great fun.
   10. __ For me, sketching a building seems easier than baking a cake.
   11. __ When working in a group, I enjoy summarizing people’s thoughts.
   12. __ Multiple choice tests are usually easy for me.
   13. __ To show my concern for others, someday I’d like to join a march.
   14. __ I would really enjoy learning to play a guitar or another instrument.
   15. __ One of my favorite activities is keeping a personal journal.
   16. __ As I read a textbook, I make more sense of it by outlining each chapter.
   17. __ Choosing an appropriate metaphor as I write a poem, is a fun challenge.
   18. __ I love interacting with others on team projects.
   19. __ When dining in a restaurant, I like listening to the background music.
   20. __ I enjoy walking alone at times rather than having someone with me.
   21. __ In novels, I often compare characters’ personal choices with my own.
   22. __ By following a map, I usually find and arrive at destinations with no trouble.
   23. __ Days after I attend a concert, the melodies replay in my mind.
   24. __ Whenever I catch fish, I enjoy cooking them on a campfire.
   25. __ I like singing in a choir, even on a busy week.
   26. __ When I write, I often share stories based on personal experience.
   27. __ I can easily identify patterns and derive larger meanings from data.
   28. __ In all four seasons, I enjoy observing changes connected to nature.
   29. __ My best thinking occurs when I brainstorm with other people.
   30. __ Helping others complete a project brings me a lot of satisfaction.
   31. __ Finding solutions for numerical problems is fun.
   32. __ I would rather write a joint public release than writing one alone.
   33. __ Every chance I get, I participate in golf, soccer, volleyball, tennis or softball.
   34. __ I would leap to challenges of using appropriate gestures in a role for a play.
   35. __ I’d like to find and try a new career by completing an interest inventory.
   36. __ Learning new dance steps and moving to music bring me real satisfaction.
   37. __ As I walk in the woods I often pause quietly to observe animals’ habits.
   38. __ I am drawn to water outside, such as lakes, creeks, rivers or oceans.
   39. __ I would enjoy writing an essay for a contest.
   40. __ Sometimes I awake early just so I can go outside to watch the sunrise.

Answers for preferred activities from survey are listed after each intelligence below.  Determine your strongest gifts, and then glance at what your intellectual mix looks like in real life.

Verbal-Linguistic: 7, 9, 11, 17, 39

Logical-Mathematical: 2, 12, 16, 27, 31

Visual-Spatial: 3, 4, 6, 10, 22

Musical: 8, 14, 19, 23, 25

Bodily-Kinesthetic: 1, 5, 33, 34, 36

Interpersonal: 13, 18, 29, 30, 32

Intrapersonal: 15, 20, 21, 26, 35

Naturalistic: 24, 28, 37, 38, 40

  MITA SIMPLY OFFERS A WAY TO ACCESS AND ENGAGE YOUR  INTELLIGENCES.

Harvard's Howard Gardner (1991) defines intelligence as "the ability to solve real-life problems, to generate new problems, and to create something meaningful or offer a service that is valued within a person's culture or community." The Unschooled Mind,  p.30. Gardner identified eight distinct areas of the brain with each of the following intelligences.  Typical strengths for persons gifted in a specific area are listed.  Adapted from Weber (1999), Student Assessment that Works: A Practical Approach, pp. 17-19.

Verbal-Linguistic: tell stories, write essays, participate in interviews, converse easily with peers.

Visual-Spatial: paint, draw, design web pages, decorate rooms, make cards, create scrapbooks.

Logical-Mathematical: solve problems, balance checkbooks, make and keep schedules, budget their money.

Musical: attend concerts, play an instrument, hum melodies, sing along with others, enjoy rhythm and rhyme.

Intrapersonal: keep a personal journal, enjoy reading alone, study to answer personal questions about life.

Bodily-Kinesthetic: engage in sports, enjoy moving body to music, enjoy walking tours, use body language.

Interpersonal: join a discussion group, engage in family and community projects, enjoy debates, join chat rooms on the web.

Naturalistic: collect wildflower specimens, enjoy hunting expeditions, follow an animal's footprints, photograph landscapes, visit the zoo.

Thanks to Howard Gardner we find new hope within his evidence for at least eight distinctive intelligences within all normal human brains. Over the years, I have been encouraged personally by Gardner, especially from his enormous contribution to providing evidence for new potential within human minds. Few would deny that most of us use a very small portion of our mental ability but those who use more brain find greater contentment and success. Neurology and other related fields have opened wonderful new possibilities for those who take time to find and cultivate their intelligences.

In the survey you already began to awaken intelligences that build on unique and innate strengths. For the curious, an exhilarating journey will launch here, from your personal potential to new watersheds with multiple intelligence possibilities. Traditional ideas about who’s brainy and whose not, have given way to MITA insights, from evidence in neuroscience and from amazing possibilities for life-changing applications for application in our personal lives and career.

Expand on these by adding several of your favorite activities from your stronger intelligences.  When you interact using your strong gifts, you begin to engage creatively and actively in new ways. 

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