Pathways methodology concentrates first on the student's aptitudes, then on the skills and knowledge s/he needs to acquire. Traditional education tends to value a limited range of knowledge and skills but more recent research suggests that intelligence is not unitary but multiple. Pathways aims to give students a broader, deeper, richer educational experience by recognizing each student's strongest talents and building on them in order to ensure that all the areas of talent are developed.

The Multiple Intelligences research of Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University provides a new insight into student-centered learning. Much of traditional education values a very limited range of abilities, centering on literacy and numeracy. However different individuals have different aptitudes. By using the strongest aptitudes or 'intelligences' as a starting point we can educate more effectively by teaching different students the same topic in different ways according to their particular 'intelligences'. In a class situation, this approach allows students to benefit from each other's strengths and to develop their competence in their weaker as in their stronger 'intelligences'. Gardner identified eight 'intelligences':