In school, intelligence is measured in one way. For the most part, teaching is geared toward one to two types of learning styles, and children who do not learn in the same way that is being taught are classified by grades as being less intelligent. I wonder what would happen if we looked at all of the different aspects of intelligence and appreciated people's non-traditional intelligence, as well as creating environments in schools that weren't just geared toward one type of learning style.
Learning styles describe the discrepancy between the way people learn. For instance, I might learn more efficiently by seeing a diagram of how something works, while my friend might learn more efficiently by aurally hearing how it works, while a mutual friend of ours may find it easier to read about it in a text. These are all legitimate ways of learning, but for the most part, students usually don't have all of the options when they are learning in school. They learn the way the teacher chooses to teach, and are, by grade, classified in terms of intelligence.
I don't feel that my learning style was really catered to, growing up. So, I will need to work on how I intake information and learn most effectively to increase the rate at which I learn during educational experiences that don't suite my learning style. Based on two learning style tests that I took, I am very clearly a kinesthetic learner. This means that to intake information, I use all of my senses, and I learn best with things like field trips, laboratories, examples of principles, real life examples, hands-on approaches, trial and error, and solutions to problems. I am the type of learner that remembers "real" things that happen, so I can easily remember facts or theories when they are applied to real life. To improve my learning experience, I can take note of examples, or relate what I'm learning to real life situations. I can use pictures to illustrate ideas, which will help me visually remember things. I can also talk to other people like me about what I'm studying to help solidify information.
I think that this is a very important lesson for me, specifically because I am interested in education and sharing knowledge. Knowing how other people can potentially learn will help me make sure that none of my students are left behind because of something that I missed while teaching. I really appreciate what I consider to be good teaching, but that might just actually mean that I really appreciate learning geared towards the way that I learn best from someone with a similar learning style. I hope to use what I've learned about learning styles to help myself learn more efficiently as well as help create the best learning environment for my students.
To take the tests for yourself, follow the links below:
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
