Implications on the Importance of the Multi-intelligences of Learner and its Importance to Teachers

The educational implication of the multi-intelligences of learner is that development in each learning capacity relies on some preferred learning styles.  Thus, every individual learner has the opportunity to learn and the responsibility to himself/herself to become educated. We have no control over how information is presented to us, but we can control how we adapt the information. Rose (1992) indicates that we remember 20 percent of what we read, 30 percent of what we hear, 40 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we say, 60 percent of what we do, and 90 percent of what we see, hear, say and do. (5). Therefore, if I, the learner, want to remember more of what I study, I need to engage more of my senses in the learning process. Here are some education implications needed by the learner on how to study more effectively using preferred learning styles:

·             Visual study techniques 

1.          Prepare learning maps using key words, primarily nouns,

2.          color highlight new ideas,

3.          write down what is heard, and

4.          prepare graphs and diagrams.

·             Auditory study techniques

1.          Ask a lot of questions,

2.          read aloud dramatically— perhaps even with an accent, and use audiocassettes to record and listen to lectures or to record and listen to notes you read.

·             Physical study techniques

1.          Practice a skill as soon as it is learned—hands-on experience,

2.          walk around while reading,

3.          listen to tapes while exercising,

4.          take notes on post-it notes and arrange the ideas on a large surface,

5.          take notes on postcards and then arrange the topics so that they make better sense to you or make new relationships,

6.          make notes by paraphrasing the material instead of just taking notes on what the author or teacher is saying,

7.          let the information sink in while you take a walk or go do something else, and

8.          use a buddy to help you study.

The student’s job is to take the subject material and do something extra that helps him/her to learn it using multiple senses. We have separate memories for what we see, what we hear, and what we do. If we activate all three memories simultaneously, our ability to remember the information and act on it goes up several hundred percentage points (Rose, 1992).

Give its importance to the Teachers

One of the most remarkable features of the theory of multiple intelligences is how it provides eight different potential pathways to learning. If a teacher is having difficulty reaching a student in the more traditional linguistic or logical ways of instruction, the theory of multiple intelligences suggests several other ways in which the material might be presented to facilitate effective learning. Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, a graduate school instructor, or an adult learner seeking better ways of pursuing self-study on any subject of interest, the same basic guidelines apply. Whatever you are teaching or learning, see how you might connect it with:

·         words (linguistic intelligence)

·         numbers or logic (logical-mathematical intelligence)

·         pictures (spatial intelligence)

·         music (musical intelligence)

·         self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence)

·         a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)

·         a social experience (interpersonal intelligence), and/or

·         an experience in the natural world. (naturalist intelligence)

For example, if you’re teaching or learning about the law of supply and demand in economics, you might read about it (linguistic), study mathematical formulas that express it (logical-mathematical), examine a graphic chart that illustrates the principle (spatial), observe the law in the natural world (naturalist) or in the human world of commerce (interpersonal); examine the law in terms of your own body [e.g. when you supply your body with lots of food, the hunger demand goes down; when there's very little supply, your stomach's demand for food goes way up and you get hungry] (bodily-kinesthetic and intrapersonal); and/or write a song (or find an existing song) that demonstrates the law (perhaps Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing?"). 

You don’t have to teach or learn something in all eight ways, just see what the possibilities are, and then decide which particular pathways interest you the most, or seem to be the most effective teaching or learning tools. The theory of multiple intelligences is so intriguing because it expands our horizon of available teaching/learning tools beyond the conventional linguistic and logical methods used in most schools (e.g. lecture, textbooks, writing assignments, formulas, etc.). To get started, put the topic of whatever you’re interested in teaching or learning about in the center of a blank sheet of paper, and draw eight straight lines or "spokes" radiating out from this topic. Label each line with a different intelligence. Then start brainstorming ideas for teaching or learning that topic and write down ideas next to each intelligence (this is a spatial-linguistic approach of brainstorming; you might want to do this in other ways as well, using a tape-recorder, having a group brainstorming session, etc.). Have fun!  

All too often, teachers teach in their preferred learning method without taking into consideration how a student learns. Based on the statistics then, if a teacher’s preferred learning style is auditory and lecturing is the only instructional method used, he/she has missed 75 percent of the students. This mismatch of the teachers’ learning/teaching style and the student’s learning style is one of the biggest reasons for academic underachievement and frustration (Tracy, 1992). With a knowledge of multiple intelligence and learning style theory, educators can integrate various learning strategies so that students bombard their minds in many different ways with new ideas and remain engaged in the educational process. Howard Gardner says that using multiple intelligences simply provides students with the experience he calls "many windows looking into one room" (Gutloff, 1996:10).

The challenge for the teacher is threefold:

A.     To help students ascertain which of their intelligences are predominant and which learning style is preferred.

B.     To incorporate a cornucopia of teaching strategies to address differing intelligences and learning styles, and

C.     To teach students how to study to capitalize on their intellectual strengths and learning style.