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Parents know that
all children have unique interests. Some love sports and other physical activity
and seem antsy when they can’t run free. Others whistle or hum, or tap out a
beat on any available surface as they work. Some keep collections of everything
from action figures to stickers. Others can wile away the hours watching ants at
work.
What might come as
a surprise is that the areas that interest children are also those that
characterize their learning styles. For example, when learning to read and
write, the ant-watcher may want to read books about nature and write stories
about backyard adventures. The collector may take to labeling all of the items
in the house with index cards bearing their names. The budding musician might
take a more oral approach to language, making up silly songs from rhyming words.
Active kids might clap or stamp out the different syllables of words or twist
and turn their bodies into the shapes of letters as they learn.
Understanding
your child’s intelligence
In his 1983 book Frames
of Mind, Harvard professor Howard Gardner expanded the definition of what it
is to be "smart" by outlining seven forms of intelligence (the eighth,
naturalist, was added in 1999). Gardner and advocates of his theory believe that
these intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened.
Gardner says that most people have all eight intelligences, although tendencies
may be stronger in one or two areas. Additionally, almost all people have the
ability to develop every one of the eight kinds of intelligences to a reasonable
degree. What is unique is how the eight intelligences are expressed in each
person. They include:
-
Verbal-linguistic
— Sensitivity to the meaning and order of words. Children with this
intelligence tend to use an expanded vocabulary and usually like to tell
jokes, riddles or puns. They also like to read, write, tell stories and play
word games.
-
Logical-mathematic
— The ability to handle chains of reasoning and to recognize patterns
and order. Children with this intelligence enjoy working with numbers, want
to know how things work, ask a lot of questions, collect items and keep
track of their collections.
-
Musical
— Sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm and tone. Children with this
intelligence listen to and play music, sing, hum, move to the rhythm and
create and replicate tunes.
-
Bodily-kinesthetic
— The ability to use the body skillfully and to handle objects
expertly. Children with this intelligence play sports and love to be
physically active. They tend to use body language and like dancing, acting
or other movement activities.
-
Spatial
— The ability to see in pictures and images, to understand the order
of things (particularly objects and images) and to take what is learned and
create something new. Children with this intelligence excel at art. They
doodle, paint, draw and build with blocks. They enjoy looking at maps and
doing puzzles and mazes. They can take things apart and put them back
together again in new and creative ways.
-
Naturalist
— Recognize and classify the various plants and animals of our
environment. Children with this intelligence spend time outdoors observing
plants, collecting rocks and catching insects; they are attuned to
relationships in nature.
-
Interpersonal
— The ability to understand people and relationships. Children with
this intelligence have many friends, tend to negotiate between them and to
be excellent team players.
-
Intrapersonal
— The ability to use one’s emotional life to understand oneself and
others. Children with this intelligence control their feelings and moods and
often observe and listen. They are aware of their personal abilities and
often do best when working alone.
(Source for
definition of eight intelligences: www.scholastic.com)
At familyeducation.com,
parents can complete a series of surveys to learn more about their children’s
intelligence(s).
Multiple
intelligences in the classroom
Teachers are
becoming more aware of various learning styles and are trying more and more to
teach in ways that appeal to a spectrum of learning styles. For example, a
kindergarten teacher might develop a unit on ocean life (naturalist bent),
asking children to:
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Crumple
colorful tissue paper for vegetation and cut out paper sea animals to
create a classroom display (spatial).
-
Read from
the classroom library that is filled with a variety of fiction and
non-fiction books on sharks, jellyfish and the adventures of deep-sea
divers (verbal-linguistic).
-
Listen to a
tape of Baby Beluga by Raffi and then sing the song together as a class
(musical).
-
Play a
guessing game in which they take turns acting out the part of various sea
animals (bodily-kinesthetic).
Another example
could be a fourth grade unit on the Revolutionary War in which students might
read aloud a passage on Washington crossing the Delaware (verbal-linguistic) and
then team up to act out the passage using such props as brooms for oars and
newspaper hats (bodily-kinesthetic). Students with a musical bent might be
encouraged to provide sound effects or sing a patriotic tune. Students with a
logical-mathematical bent might engage in charting how long the trip likely took
based on a variety of data, such as distance traveled, time of year, water
temperature, etc.
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For
permission to reprint this article, please contact the
Capital Region BOCES Communications Service at (518)
464-3960.
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