Multiple Intelligences

I discovered after doing the Multiple Intelligence Inventory that I am highest in kinesthetic and naturalistic intelligence. According to surfaquarium.com, kinesthetic learners learn best through “hands on” learning and were described as “sensory, reflexive, and tactile”, among other things. Naturalistic learners enjoy being outside, categorizing things, and finding common traits among items. They were described as enjoying categorization and hierarchical reasoning, as well as having a schematic memory. I identified strongly with most of the attributes listed under each one of my two strong intelligences; except for I do not necessarily consider myself “coordinated”.
In a classroom setting, naturalistic learners enjoy using graphic organizers, organizing or collecting things, and learn very well using tables, charts, or diagrams. Kinesthetic learners enjoy hands-on activities, experimenting with activities in drama and/or music, and building physical representations of concepts.
To encourage students with these types of learning styles, I will make sure that I have a very stimulating learning environment. I will allow students to make physical representations of concepts sometimes instead of simply lecturing or giving a test. It will be very easy to make hands on activities for science experiments or art projects, as well as use manipulatives for math lessons. For naturalistic learners, I can encourage students to make graphic organizers and use graphs, tables, and charts in my explanations. Both of these types of intelligences can be very easily combined with lessons that encourage other learning strengths, and it is important to cater to all learning styles in the classroom.
I would hope to be able to use some fun technology, perhaps Wii, to incorporate kinesthetic learners into technology lessons. I feel as though it would be very difficult for most kinesthetic learners to sit at a computer for too long, so it would be fun to get them involved in a new way. Naturalistic learners would perhaps prefer to do science experiments with technology such as a magnifying glass or a microscope, which would appeal to kinesthetic learners as well because they are also very “hands-on” activities.
Having multiple intelligences represented in a classroom means being able to teach the same material in different ways so that all students can understand and apply the new material. Often, it is possible to cater to two or more learning styles at the same time while teaching a lesson. It is very important to be aware of individual student needs and make sure that all students have the opportunity to succeed. Knowing a student’s learning style can be very helpful when planning a lesson.