The 21st century classroom presents a number of new challenges to people working in the field of education. Recent reports, for example the TIMMS* revealed the classroom challenges for learners and teachers. The report pointed out that South Africa performed worst of all countries who participated in the evaluation.

To adhere to the demands of the high technological and globally competitive society, it is becoming more and more important for all learners in South Africa to be confident in their ability to do mathematics because knowledge of mathematics is an important skill necessary to succeed in today’s world.

It is believed that by implementing the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) in the classroom educators will be able to improve the performance levels of learners and improve their ability to understand and do mathematics. This theory allows educators to use nine different possible approaches to mathematical learning and teaching. This multiple-instruction approach in teaching mathematics will be discussed in this paper.

This paper focuses on the Teaching of Mathematics to learners in the Intermediate Phase (grades 4-6), by introducing the Multiple Intelligences theory of Howard Gardner. The paper will focus on a combination of multiple intelligences related to different mathematics concepts and the teaching and learning thereof. This multiple-instruction approach in teaching mathematics will be discussed in this paper and is applicable internationally in mathematics classrooms

*Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study