For Verbal/Linguistic Learners

These learners learn by saying, hearing and seeing words. They can easily memorize names, dates, places and trivia. To help verbal/linguistic learners:

• Use descriptive language.

• Have them study by reading, writing, telling stories, playing word games and working with jokes and riddles.

• They are good at creating imaginary worlds.

• Create crossword puzzles for practice at www.puzzlemaker.com

For Logical/Mathematical Learners

These learners are adept at categorizing, classifying and working with abstract patterns and relationships. They work well with reasoning, numbers, abstractions, logic, problem-solving and moving from the concrete to the abstract.

• Compare and contrast ideas.

• Create a timeline.

• Classify concepts/objects/materials.

• Read or design maps.

• Use a Venn diagram to explain…

• Teach using technology

For Bodily/Kinesthetic Learners

The brain’s motor cortex, which controls bodily motion, is the key to the intelligence of bodily/kinesthetic learners. These learners process knowledge through bodily sensations and need to touch, move and interact with space.

• Create hands-on projects.

• Conduct hands-on experiments.

• Create human sculptures to illustrate situations.

• Reenact great moments from history.

• Make task or puzzle cards for…

For Visual/Spatial Learners

Visual/spatial learners rely on their sense of sight and the ability to visualize an object.

• They create – Make a visual organizer or memory model of the material being learned.

• Graph the results of a survey or a course of study.

• Create posters or flyers.

• Create collages.

• Draw maps.

• Color-code the process of…

For Musical/Rhythmic Learners

Musical/rhythmic learners recognize tonal patterns. For optimal learning, suggest that they hum or sing the information they want to grasp or have them move their bodies while they study.

• Create “raps” (key dates, math and poems) or write new lyrics to a song so that it explains…

• Identify social issues through lyrics.

• Analyze different historical periods through their music.

• Make up sounds for different math operations or processes.

• Use music to enhance the learning of…

For Interpersonal Learners

Person-to-person relationships and communication are necessary for interpersonal learners. They study and work best with others.

• Analyze the relationships in a story.

• Review material/concepts/books orally.

• Discuss/debate controversial issues.

• Find relationships between objects, cultures and situations.

• Role-play a conversation with an important historical figure.

• Solve complex word problems in a group.

• Peer Tutor the subject being learned.

For Intrapersonal Learners

Almost the exact opposite of interpersonal learners, intrapersonal learners thrive when working alone. Self-paced instruction and individualized projects work best with these students. Suggest that intrapersonal learners keep a daily journal, as their thoughts are directed inward. They have a great degree of self-understanding and they rely deeply on their instincts.

• Keep a journal to demonstrate learning.

• Analyze historical personalities.

• Imagine being a character in history, a scientist discovering a cure or a mathematician working on a theory and describe or write about what you imagine to demonstrate learning.

For Naturalist Learners

Naturalist learners observe and understand the organized patterns in the natural world. Provide them with visualization activities and hands-on activities that are based on nature. Bring the outdoors into their learning environment whenever possible. Study in ways that call on the naturalist learner’s abilities to measure, map and chart observations of plants and animals.

• Sort and classify content in relation to the natural world.

• Interact with nature through field trips.

• Encourage learning in natural surroundings.

• Categorize facts about…

For more information about study strategies for your student, see Susan Fitzell’s book, Please Help Me With My Homework. Available in both print and electronic versions!

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The post Learning Tips For Multiple Intelligences appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

There are too many factors involved in learning and too many ways of approaching the question of how learning happens to think that any one theory can answer those questions definitively. But one person whose work has proven really fruitful for me is psychologist Howard Gardner, who has distinguished eight or nine distinct types of intelligence (he’s still adding to his list), each of which benefits from different approaches to learning and communication in the classroom. Gardner’s types have proved tremendously helpful to my own work developing teaching strategies for working with the special needs of all children in the classroom (e.g., Special Needs in the General Classroom: Strategies that Make it Work, 2nd edition. 2010).

The two most familiar types of intelligence–the linguistic learner and the logical-mathematical learner–fit in well with our dominant models of teaching and recognizing achievement. The odds are good that many teachers, themselves, are examples of these types of intelligence.

On the other hand, some of the other intelligence types may be familiar primarily as classroom problems. There are the “bodily kinesthetic” learners who are physically hyper-active and potentially disruptive; the spatial thinkers who are likely to sit and daydream; the musical kids who are continually humming or drumming; the interpersonal learners who may be chatterboxes; the introverted intrapersonal ones who keep to themselves; the naturalists who are more tuned into the world outside the classroom than to what’s on the board or in the book; or the existentialist, who is inclined to ask annoyingly fundamental questions that have no place in the world of the three R’s, questions like “For what purpose are we here?” or “How do we fit into the world?”

As long as classroom instruction is primarily geared to reach only one or two of these different intelligences, a lot of kids will struggle to process the information being offered them and experience a serious disadvantage in achieving success.

Fortunately, though each person may have a dominant style, most of us actually possess some combination of these intelligences and the learning preferences that go with them. A lesson or project geared toward one learning style is not going to be inaccessible or unhelpful to the rest of the classroom. In fact, by including different kinds of lessons for different kinds of intelligences, teachers will be helping all students develop their multiple potentials, while making sure that no one falls behind or gets lost because they don’t learn well from one type of teaching.

This offers great opportunities for the development of new and varied teaching techniques. For each type of intelligence and learning, there is a corresponding new type of teaching.

The post About Types of Intelligence appeared first on Susan Fitzell.