intelligences

Learning Styles Profile

Rate each of the following on the basis of 1 to 4.

1=least like you; 2=a little like you 3=quite a bit like you; 4=most like you

Learning Style #1 Do you: Like to write? Like to learn new words? Like to tell stories? Enjoy reading? Give good directions to others so that they understand the first time? Have a good memory for names, dates, facts? Enjoy making or hearing puns? Enjoy metaphors? Total score

Learning Style #2 Do you: Like to work with computers and calculators? Enjoy math class? Easily add numbers in your head? Enjoy doing science experiments? Ask a lot of questions about how things work? Enjoy chess, checkers, or other strategy games? Enjoy logic puzzles or brainteasers? Like to go by steps, from A to B to C, rather than jumping from A to D? Total score

Learning Style #3 Do you: Read maps, charts, or diagrams more easily than text? Build interesting three dimensional constructions (like LEGO buildings or others)? Prefer to draw pictures rather than tell stories? Find your way to a new place easily? Like to take things apart and then try to figure out how to put them back together? Doodle a lot on notebooks? Visualize the back side of an object from looking at the front? Estimate distances between objects easily? Total score

Learning Style #4 Do you: Find activities like riding a bike, skating, or walking on a balance beam easy? Run, swim, and exercise without getting tired? Learn to play new sports easily and quickly? Learn a new dance step easily and quickly? Use a lot of hand gestures and body movements when talking to friends? Like touching things you�ve just seen? Cleverly mimic other people�s gestures or mannerisms? Move, tap, or fidget while seated for a long time in one spot? Total score

Learning Style #5 Do you: Enjoy playing a musical instrument? Listen to music a lot? Hum or sing a lot? Tell people when music sounds off-key? Have a good singing voice? Remember the melodies of songs? Sing harmony? Compose music in your head or on paper? Total score

Learning Style #6 Do you: Like to work and/or play with others? Understand how people are feeling by looking at their faces? Give advice to friends who have problems? Have a good sense of empathy or concern for others? Seem to be street-smart? Seem to be a natural leader on teams? Get energy from being with people rather than being alone? Feel that several minds working on something are better than one? Total score

Learning Style #7 Do you: Often need a quiet place to work or just be alone? Like to make collections of things that have special meaning for you? Remember your dreams? Display a sense of independence or strong will? Have a realistic sense of your own strengths and weaknesses? Accurately express how you are feeling? Have an interest or a hobby that you don�t talk much about? Get energy from being alone rather than being with people? Total score

Learning Style #8 Do you: Enjoy collecting bugs, flowers, or rocks? Like to closely examine what you find in nature? Keep detailed records of your observations of nature? Like to watch natural phenomena like the moon/tides and hear explanations about them? Become fascinated with one thing from nature and want to learn about it thoroughly? Want to find out the name of a bird or a bug you�ve seen? Like to classify things? Want to become a geologist, biologist, or some other type of scientist? Total score

Done taking the survey? Now read the explanation below Multiple Intelligences (back to top) Intelligence is often considered to be how well you score on tests or what your grades are in school. In the 1900s, French psychologist Alfred Binet tried to come up with some kind of measure that would predict the success of failure of children in the primary grades of school. The result was the forerunner of the standards IQ test we use today. This gave us a dimension of mental ability by which we could compare everyone. In the 1980s, Harvard University psychologist, Howard Gardner conceived a pluralistic view of the mind, and recognized the many discrete facets of cognition. Gardner defines intelligence as the ability to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings. He acknowledges that people have different cognitive strengths as well as different cognitive styles. Gardner bases his view in part on findings from sciences that were nonexistent in Binet�s time. One involves studying what people are capable of who have sustained localized brain damage to certain cognitive centers. Out of this came Gardner�s �theory of multiple intelligences.� Instead of looking for a correlation between tests, he argues, we should look to how people develop skills that are pertinent in their culture. When a child learns to play the piano, s/he is learning several skills. Will the training s/he received learning the piano skills enhance mathematics skills, or vice versa? The standard IQ test measures how intelligent a person is in traditional areas involving math and language. All other areas that a person may excel at or have natural ability in are not taken into consideration. Each individual is unique. We all have different physical features�we are not all blue-eyed, brown-haired, six-foot tall men; we each have different personalities�some are jokesters and comedians while others are quiet, reserved, and serious; likewise, we all have our own set of talents, gifts, and abilities. Not everyone will excel in math and language. Why should we compare how smart children are or how successful they will be based on a test that measures only two aspects of who they are?

Gardner has identified eight intelligences. These areas in a culture are valued as abilities to solve a problem or create a particular product. The intelligences are like talents and gifts in that there are many combinations possible; indeed, all people have all of these qualities to some degree. Intelligences can also be strengthened. How readily the improvement occurs depends upon the biology of the person�s brain and the teacher/cultural context.

Style 1: Linguistic � the ability to use language to describe events, to build trust and rapport, to develop logical arguments and use rhetoric, or to be expressive and metaphoric.

Style 2: Logical/mathematical � the ability to use numbers to compute and describe, to use mathematical concepts to make conjectures, to apply mathematics in personal daily life, to apply mathematics to data and construct arguments, to be sensitive to the patterns, symmetry, logic, and aesthetics of mathematics, and to solve problems in design and modeling.

Style 3: Spatial � the ability to perceive and represent the visual-spatial world accurately, to arrange color, line, shape, form, and space to meet the needs of others, to interpret and graphically represent visual or spatial ideas, to transform visual or spatial ideas into imaginative and expressive creations.

Style 4: Bodily-Kinesthetic � the ability to use the body and tools to take effective action, to construct or repair, to build rapport, to console, to persuade, or to support others; to plan strategically or to critique the actions of the body, to appreciate the aesthetics of the body and to use those values to create new forms of expression.

Style 5: Musical � the ability to understand and develop musical technique, to respond emotionally to music and to use music to meet the needs of others, to interpret musical forms and ideas, and to create imaginative and expressive performances and compositions.

Style 6: Interpersonal � the ability to organize people and to communicate clearly what needs to be done, to use empathy to help others and solve problems, to discriminate and interpret among different kinds of interpersonal clues, and to influence and inspire others to work toward a common goal.

Style 7: Intrapersonal � the ability to assess one�s own strengths, weaknesses, talents, and interests and to use them to set goals, to understand oneself and to be of service to others, to form and develop concepts and theories based on examination of oneself, and to reflect on one�s inner moods, intuitions, and temperament in order to use them to create or express a personal view.

Style 8: Naturalist � the ability to recognize and classify plants, minerals, and animals, including rocks, grass, and all variety of flora and fauna, and to recognize patterns and cultural artifacts. Adapted from: Barnard, Spencer. Seven intelligences checklist. [] Teaching to the Multiple Intelligences. [] For more info on this subject: Gardner, H. (1993) Multiple intelligences: The theory into practice. New York: Basic Books. Gardner, H. (2004) Changing minds: The art and science of changing our own and other people�s minds. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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