— Overview
The report shows how a young child's math activity can move from action to picture to symbol, and how multiple intelligences can widen the ways children show what they understand, without turning intelligences into fixed learning styles.
— Contents and key concepts
What the report covers
The report is an early-childhood mathematics paper. It applies Bruner's modes of representation and, in a second strand, Gardner's multiple intelligences, to counting, comparing, and simple pattern work.
The two theories should not be melted into one slogan. Bruner describes how a idea can be represented. Gardner describes more than one kind of competence. Neither is a seating plan by talent.
Enactive, iconic, and symbolic
Bruner's three modes — action, image, and symbol — are the spine of the report. A child who is lining up blocks is already doing mathematics, even before a numeral appears. A drawing of those groups is a second representation. The spoken word and the written numeral are a third.
The spiral curriculum belongs here too. The same comparison, "more" and "less," can be revisited later with larger numbers or with a written number sentence. Head Start and many state pre-K math frameworks in the United States describe counting and comparing with objects before formal notation, which sits comfortably with this sequence.
Multiple intelligences in a math activity
Gardner's theory is used here as a warning against a single paper-and-pencil check. A child might show the same comparison by building two towers, by telling a short story about the groups, or by clapping a pattern. That is a fair use. An unfair use is to say that a child has only bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and therefore cannot be asked to count.
A worked classroom sequence
The report walks through one short activity: comparing two collections. First the children move the objects (enactive). Then they record the groups with stamps or drawings (iconic). Then they say and, if ready, write the numbers (symbolic). The teacher documents the language the children use, rather than rushing to a worksheet.
Limits are stated. Bruner does not give a detailed age chart. Gardner's list has been challenged as a set of talents rather than separate cognitive systems. The assignment is stronger when those limits are on the page.
Sources
- Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Harvard University Press.
- Bruner, J. S. (1960). The process of education. Harvard University Press.
- Gardner, H. (1983/2011). Frames of mind. Basic Books.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (mathematics domain).
Last updated: November 13, 2026
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