Running Head: LEARNING STYLES INVENTORY
Learning Styles Inventory Assignment
Madeline Webb
Ivy Tech Community College – Central Indiana
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Psychologist, Howard Gardner, created the theory of multiple intelligences. He
proposed that a person’s intelligence could not be considered a fixed or measurable
attribute. Rather a person is intelligent in many areas. Examples of the different
intelligences he proposed included musical intelligence, spatial intelligence and linguistic
intelligence. By highlighting people’s intelligence types you can begin to see their strong
and weak intelligence areas. By understanding someone’s learning habits, the teaching
methods best for them can be identified. The purpose of Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences is to encourage teachers to incorporate different teaching methods into the
classroom so that every student can perform to their maximum potential.
My strongest intelligences are interpersonal and spatial intelligences.
Interpersonal intelligence means someone is able to communicate well with people and
understand them. Interpersonal intelligence can also be referred to a being “people
smart”. I am very personable and have always been able to get along with people easily.
Spatial intelligence refers to the ability to use physical space to understand patterns and
relationships. When I am learning, I draw diagrams, construct graphs and make models to
help me learn.
My weakest areas are musical and logical intelligences. Logical intelligence
means to solve problems logically like math and science. Although I am not terrible at
maths and science, I find it harder to learn those subjects. Musical intelligence refers to
the ability to be able to recognize different musical elements. I enjoy music and like to
listen to different genres when I am studying but pay little attention to the elements
within the music and don’t use them to help me learn.
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Understanding the theory of multiple intelligences for a learner has many benefits
for a teacher. A learner may not be very logical so, they might struggle with math and
science. However, if a teacher realizes a student is particularly good with music,
incorporating the two together like a rhyme the student might be able to pick up the
knowledge needed to succeed. Every student is different and learns in different ways. By
knowing each student’s different intelligences, a teacher will be able to better educate
each student.
Teachers need to be able to instruct classes in multiple ways to ensure each
student, no matter what type of intelligences they have, are able to succeed and not be left
behind. Teachers in the past focused teaching more through the linguistic and logical
intelligences. This works well in testing circumstances as you can easily judge whether or
not a child’s grade is good or bad. However teaching students, whose strengths are not in
these areas, are being ignored. The theory of multiple intelligences encourages teachers to
use multiple teaching methods to meet the different intelligences of all their students.
Another focus on how students learn effectively is the idea of learning styles. The
three learning styles are auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners. In my personal learning
styles inventory, I was recognized as a visual person. This means that I learn better when
things are displayed through visual aids and by looking at the teacher’s facial expressions
and body language. I also draw diagrams, flow charts and graphs to aid my learning. I
also use highlighters, visual diagrams, pictures, videos and draw pages down from
memory.
A teacher who understands different intelligence types and learning styles should
never repeat the same to educate a class. This may be beneficial to some children who
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share the same learning style or intelligence that the subject is being taught. But for
someone else who does not share this style will struggle with the material being presented
and fall behind. By presenting material in multiple forms encompassing different learning
styles and intelligences, a teacher is giving all the students a chance to succeed in the
subject.
After learning about the different types of intelligences and learning styles of
students the assignment has taught me how important mixing the styles will help my
future students. By using the whole range of different styles and intelligences I am
ensuring that each of my students will be able to grasp the concepts I am teaching. To be
successful as a teacher, my responsibility is to teach each child the concepts needed to
progress and succeed in school as well as life. If I only teach these concepts in one or two
ways I am not supporting every student’s different learning abilities. This is what I
believe the author is trying to put across with the comment that teachers must know how
to “access all types of intelligences so that all students can learn to their maximum
potential” to successfully teach their students.