Interpersonal Intelligence

Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to make distinctions among other individuals in regard to their moods, motivations and temperaments and to communicate with others. Interpersonal intelligence would emphasize the ability of students to work as part of a group, which requires verbal and non verbal communication skills, co-operation and empathy within a group. The focus would be on learning in groups or in pairs. Students should be encouraged to use the knowledge and skills to help the group or partner succeed. Brainstorming, coaching, demonstration of certain skills, carrying out surveys and writing a report on the findings, projects, discussion and debates would be some of the activities under interpersonal intelligence.

To help students learn with and from others, instructors can incorporate cooperative groups, interpersonal interaction, conflict mediation, peer teaching, group brainstorming, peer sharing, community involvement, and parties or social gatherings as context for learning (Armstrong, 1994). Approaches such as encouraging the development of social skills and service learning are also interpersonally grounded (Campbell, Campbell, Dickinson,1996), as well as interviewing for knowledge and finding individuals with like interests. (Kagan and Kagan ,1998). To encourage interpersonal interaction in my classes, students often work in small groups that I assign. Later in the semester, students have become comfortable enough to choose their own groups.