Howard Gardner Wins Education Research Award

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) has honored Howard Gardner with the 2020 Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award. It is AERA’s premier honor, granted for outstanding achievement and success in education research.

Howard Gardner writes:

I am very honored — and also humbled — to receive this recognition from my colleagues in education. In turn, I want to thank my colleagues in research over the decades — and especially the dozens of individuals at Harvard Project Zero with whom I have collaborated and learned from since I began there as a researcher 53 years ago.

While I am best known for developing the theory of multiple intelligences, that was basically a work of intellectual synthesis, it’s our teams’ empirical work — experimental and qualitative — over many years on the development and expression of artistic cognition, the creation of innovative forms of assessment (including the assessment of intelligences in young children), the nature of understanding and creation in and across the disciplines, the experiences and understandings of contemporary secondary school and college students, and, especially, the understanding and the pursuit of ‘good work’ that is being recognized by this award. My fondest hope is that, going forward, individuals the world over will draw on their profile of intelligences to carry out work that is excellent, engaging, and ethical — the intertwined virtues of good work.

Read more in these articles from the Harvard Gazette here and the Harvard Graduate School of Education here.

The AERA press release is reproduced below.

Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award 2020 Award Recipient 

Howard Gardner
Harvard University

Howard Gardner is John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-founder and senior director of Project Zero.  He is internationally known for his theory of multiple intelligences, which profoundly transforms the field of education in authentic assessment, teacher development, human potential, and curriculum design and implementation.  His interdisciplinary research program, including Project Zero and the Good Project, has advanced groundbreaking understanding on student creativity and engagement.  His research contributions have been recognized by the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and numerous prestigious fellowships and awards.  

This award is given to honor a meritorious contributor to educational research; its purpose is to publicize, motivate, encourage, and suggest models for educational research at its best.