For example , if an autistic child enjoys looking at books, watching television,
and tends to look carefully at people and objects, then he or she may be a
visual learner (Santrock 433). Once a person?s learning style is determined,
then relying on this modality to teach can greatly increase the likelihood that
the person will learn and possibly communicate. Some people have problems with
Gardner?s theories about intelligence (Traub 3). Many say that there is no
concrete research behind Gardner?s ideas (Traub 5). The problem may lie in the
term ?intelligence? (Traub 3). Intelligence is not often viewed as a
concept, but as a measurement, a term of value. (Traub 3). Gardner says that his
use of the word ?intelligence? (Traub 3) is intentional. He chose to
challenge the traditional view of the concept of intelligence. There are many
different avenues available to help people discover their own learning style and
assess their intelligence. Mainly there are questionnaires to help assess the
way that people process information. Looking through a few of the assessment
which can be found easily online, I found that they are pretty standard. They
call for you to check statements that you find are true about yourself. These
statements are then put into their appropriate ?intelligence? (Traub 3)
category. The category with the most true statements is ranked as your strongest
intelligence. Each of the other intelligence?s are put in order accordingly.
As teachers, we can quickly assess our students at the beginning of the school
year by performing a similar inventory. We can take the statements and re word
them so that they appeal to a younger audience. We can also assign activities
and let our children choose how they are going to present them. A fun activity
that is often used is ?What I did over summer vacation?. The children are
asked to present what they did over summer vacation. They are able to present
this any way they like and are given suggestions such as ?Write a song about
your summer vacation? for the musical learner; ?perform a skit about your
Summer vacation? for the ?body kinesthetic? (Gardner 12) learner; and
?tell us what you learned about yourself over your Summer vacation? for the
intrapersonal learner. Getting to know the learning styles of the children in
your classroom at the beginning of the year will help you to plan your
curriculum effectively for the rest of the year. Knowing about learning styles
and multiple intelligence is helpful for everyone, especially for people with
learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. Although there is not
concrete research to back up Gardner?s theories; we know that using learning
styles in the classrooms is working. Knowing your own learning style and the
learning styles of your students will help to develop coping strategies,
compensate for weaknesses, and capitalize strengths. It is every teacher?s
duty to make the learning process a pleasurable one for all students; becoming
familiar with the different learning styles will help us to do just that.
Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1988 Santrock, John.
Child Development. McGraw-Hill, 1998 Special Report on Dudley Moore. Channel
Seven News, ABC Network. Nov. 1999 Traub, James. ?Multiple Intelligence
Disorder?. The New Republic (1998). 5 pgs. 24 November 1999