Multiple Intelligences
By Kay on Thu, Mar 11, 2010
We all learn differently. This is especially apparent to a teacher – whether a homeschool teacher or a certified public school teacher. What’s not apparent all the time is exactly which type of learning is best for each individual.
What most educational systems don’t account for is the vast discrepancy between students and their individual learning styles or ‘intelligences’. Some students are great at math or reading, while others are great learning a new sport or a new song. The key to a good education is allowing for all of the intelligences to be built on.
As a homeschooling parent/teacher, I found Dr. Mercola’s simple article about ‘multiple intelligences’ did a great job of outlining each learning style in an easy-to-understand format. In fact, I could easily recognize most of my strengths as well as my daughter’s, too.
But, the fascinating thing (to me anyway) was the link to an online test to determine your percentages of each intelligence. After I took the test and had fun dissecting my own chart, I had my 7 year old take it, too. (I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone much younger unless you’re ready to re-phrase most of the questions and even answer the questions for them.) What was amazing to me, was seeing how she answered differently than I would have for her. It turns out that she’s stronger in some areas than I’ve given her credit for, and vice versa.
Of course, the next step is for me to start recognizing her most prominent intelligences and allowing her the space to do more of her school work aligned with those strengths while not neglecting the weaker areas. Should make for an interesting next few months…
What about you? Have you heard of these intelligences before? If you have, is it now easier for you (or your student) to complete necessary tasks with this information in mind? Share your stories!
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Tags: home-school, parenting-tips, school-age
March 11th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I took the test even though I’m 28…in my day it used to be just a division between auditory and visual learning, but this is far more intricate. Although I wasn’t sure Mercola’s article helpfully explained how to harnass strengths or support weaknesses (did I miss it?), it was still pretty interesting to look at my test results and re-examine how I can learn better.
Pretty interesting stuff. Thanks!
March 11th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Angela,
In fact, the graphic at the top of the article is actually my results. I remember learning (like you) about auditory vs visual learners in school, although I vaguely remember learning more about some of these other areas in some of my college education classes. So, this was a great reminder for me to be actively looking for ways to incorporate more of the different learning styles in my teaching with Kate.
I took the test, too, and I’m older than 28.
I was also disappointed that the Mercola article didn’t really address HOW to do any of that, so I went on a bit of a search for myself. I found a couple of articles that I thought were helpful after doing only a cursory search, and I’m sure I’ll be digging back into more when I have a bit more time. For now you can check out the following:
A whole list of articles on New Horizons for Learning.
A better description of the activities associated with each intelligence.
Loved this article because of the idea of assessment as a ‘celebration of learning’ rather than a pencil and scantron test.
Great list of questions for teachers to ask themselves as they’re preparing a lesson.
If you find more articles that are more directed at adult learning, I’d love to read those, too! Please feel free to share anything you find!