Learning Styles:Multiple Intelligence

Any good educator is likely to write their lesson plans in a way that students can understand, or at least they think they do. As an educator they try their hardest to allow students to retain as much information as they can through understanding that everyone learns differently. So, they keep in mind different learning styles. However, through further research there is a new way of approaching this ever growing way of understanding how we process information; multiple intelligence. This means that the way educators' approach learning should evolve. Thus, learning styles may have evolved into multiple intelligence.

If we break it down there are only a few major learning styles: kinesthetically, auditorally and visually. In "Learning Styles Don't Exist" Professor Daniel Willingham explains repetition and diversity may be the reason for students retaining information not necessarily the different modalities, when he set up testing for auditory learners in form of words of objects being displayed and images of the same objects displayed for visual learners the results did not yield that the modality corresponded to more information being retained. People who are so called visual learners learned just as much by being presented with information that was meant for auditory learners and vise versa. However, the idea of learning styles is not such a bad idea. Anything that gets our teachers thinking about how students retain information and how to better their abilities in presenting what needs to be learned is a step in the right direction for our education system.  

Learning how students process and remember information is key to how educators teach.Thus comes in to play, the theory of multiple intelligence. In "Multiple Intelligences: What Does the Research Say?" it explains that there are 8 different ways of learning: "verbal-linguistic intelligence refers to an individual's ability to analyze information and produce work that involves oral and written language, such as speeches, books, and memos, logical-mathematical intelligence describes the ability to develop equations and proofs, make calculations, and solve abstract problems, visual-spatial intelligence allows people to comprehend maps and other types of graphical information, musical intelligence enables individuals to produce and make meaning of different types of sound, naturalistic intelligence refers to the ability to identify and distinguish among different types of plants, animals, and weather formations found in the natural world, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails using one's own body to create products or solve problems, interpersonal intelligence reflects an ability to recognize and understand other people's moods, desires, motivations, and intentions. and intrapersonal intelligence refers to people's ability to recognize and assess those same characteristics within themselves." One may wonder how this can be implemented in the classroom. First, the type of learner according to these perimeters much be identified, which you can do by taking the multiple intelligence survey. I personally took this test and I am a musical, spacial and natural learner. The evaluation was sound as per my personal experiences with learning as well as my own self evaluation.

If we were to compare the two theory's to approaching learning, learning styles simplify that students learn best by information being presenting in one of three ways. Some students may have to see a picture or hear instruction to learn while others may have to physically do something to commit anything to memory. In contrast, multiple intelligence dives into the minds of students and identifies specific ways of comprehension rather than using a black and white system of "you must fit into one of these categories." Multiple intelligence focuses on brain processes and a more scientific approach, learning styles are more simplistic, which leads one to believe that one has evolved into the other through further understanding of how individuals comprehend and retain information. 

Clearly, through scientific discovery and understanding of the brain our ways of thinking and approaching every day activities has changed over the years. Learning styles are out of style and are too simple to be a structure in which teachers should base their lesson plans. Multiple intelligence is a more elaborated understanding of human comprehension and is more advanced. Therefor, learning styles have evolved into multiple intelligence. However, one thing is certain, no matter which way you look at it, these theory's are pointing educators into the right direction by getting them to think and plan with students comprehension and retention in mind. 

  

Wikipedia vs. Textbooks

A day in the life of a student would not be able to be told without a textbook being mentioned. In school we went to class, were instructed to read important events and little more to it. I wish that my predecessors would have been more open minded to using the technology of the age. Today, the internet is a tool some of us take for granted, Wikipedia being a site too often overlooked. To many of us Wikipedia is a taboo, we could not use it for our homework in school as a reputable site. What would you say if I told you that Wikipedia can be a useful tool in the classroom?

Originally, Wikipedia was created to be a cheap alternative to expensive and immediately out of date text encyclopedias. Now, a Wiki for nearly anything and it serves as a quick reference guide for anyone with an internet connection. A video made by CommonCraft explains in detail a brief history of Wikipedia and how it can be used effectively. I am not saying that you should believe everything you read on the internet, Wikipedia included, because you may just happen upon an article that is still being worked on. After all, we have all have heard that Wikipedia is run basically by the whole world and just any old Joe can edit it. Although this is true their source must be reliable and sited. Each article is reviewed and receives a letter grade that reflects how true the information is, how bias , and overall importance of its content pertaining to the subject. Just as easily as Wikipedia can be added to, it can be corrected even quicker by those that monitor its articles. We can see now how Wikipedia may have gotten a bad rap, but through research we now know how closely monitored it is and can now be considered a credible source of general information.

On the other hand we have traditional textbooks and we all know how linear learning can be if all we have to work with is text. Through research of articles including textbook publishing controversy and teaching without a text I learned how the process of making a textbook is rather political. To make a long story short, textbook companies are out there as a business venture. In turn they cater to the states with the largest population: Florida, California, and Texas specifically. Whatever these golden three states chooses for their curriculum to be covered in various texts the entire nation must endure learning, there is no special circumstance for specific need of other states. In my opinion this is just plain unfair. Secondly, textbooks are written by hundreds of people, not just one author and are also written so as not to show bias which leads to confusing and vague writing. Lastly, the cost of textbooks has increased dramatically and updated versions are hard to afford for some schools, especially in rural areas. However, textbooks are not all bad. Growing up I remember that school books were packed full of colorful illustrations that corresponded to what I was reading. Since, I have some trouble learning from block text this helped me tremendously. Additionally, textbooks are designed so anyone of any age can take away pertinent information. In turn, this still makes textbooks a valuable part of the education process.

In conclusion, Wikipedia can be a useful tool in the classroom. As educators we can still stand by our old friend the textbook and utilize them as we always have but also introduce new ways of learning through technology. For example; to engage our students we can have them read on a topic they have knowledge about and allow them to edit information on a subject they are interested in. In turn students can get information straight from the source and realize that reliable information does not just come from books but can come from normal educated people from around the world.

Our Brains on Video Games

What do you think when the words "video game" are uttered. Our class consensus was that they were violent, time consuming and promoted obesity and laziness. At the start of this particular assignment I thought the same thing, nothing good could come of them and they were basically a waste of time. However, within the past week I can honestly say that I will never look at video games the same again.

In class we watched an interesting Ted talk and I encourage you to watch it. In the video I learned violent children may become more violent because of violent video games. Video games train our minds and violence is one of the things that can be trained, if the student is already prone to violence. Do you know the difference between crystalline intelligence and fluid intelligence? Stable or falling IQ is crystalline intelligence and fluid intelligence is rising and rising fast IQ, I had no idea there more than one kind. Also, Natural aspects of video games: seeking novelty, challenging yourself, thinking creatively, doing things the hard way and networking, are directly linked to an increase of intelligence. Who knew just by being a gamer, in moderation, could potentially increase your intelligence. However, the most important thing I learned is that we may be able to reach our students through video game based teaching in the classroom.

Actually, in Chelsea, NY in the fall of 2009 there was a school built based on a video game curriculum, Quest to Learn. This school encourages children in grades 6-12 to learn in a game-like manner. Of course, the curriculum was based on state standards but was also designed as interdisciplinary, organized and had the culture of youth in mind. This school is obviously different already but to make things more interesting the students are taught in a 21st century way through digital learning, lots of hands on projects and to create a system based learning "not just a teacher standing in front of a blackboard, they interact and hardly ever do they just sit in front of books all day, nor just computer screens." An example of this would be to make learning more interesting by creating a story: Dr. Smallz shrunk down to a tiny size, small enough to fit inside of one of his patience bodies but when he did, so he lost all of his knowledge of the human body and dangers that may be lurking by (stomach acid for example). So, the students had to help him navigate through the patient and the students had to take samples and look under a microscope to test for diseases to see how to cure the patient. Sounds fun right, and how can you not see the potential for a better way of teaching anatomy and physiology not to mention diseases and how to cure them? You may wonder about how the students from this school did on tests and how video games, not to mention a video game curriculum can actually help our children and students. Well, we know its working because a DOA survey proved that students had 97 percent of engagement with work. The school won the city wide math Olympiad  their 7th and 8th graders against 9th and 10th graders Lastly, during standardized testing all but 1 student passed out of all 81 students attending the school.

In conclusion, video games are not what there cracked up to be, they may actually be a useful tool in the classroom that can make learning more fun for our digital age of students. Our students are so use to the technology in front of them, why not use it to our advantage and make learning fun?

Is Texting Making Us Bad Writers?

In this day in age just about everyone has a cell phone and therefor just about everyone texts. Of course, as college students the world between our social life and academic life are intertwined with one another. This begs the question “Is Texting Making Us Bad Writers?” My personal thought and immediate response would be, No.

As intelligent beings we know the difference between casual dialect and professional dialect. Naturally we are less likely to use professional dialect in our texts because we are speaking to friends who know us on a personal level and most of the time know what we are trying to say even if we abbreviate extensively, which is basically all text speech is. We abbreviate to the point that sometimes all we use are acronyms; ttyl brb. In.John McWhorter's TED Talk he explains how the term "LOL" has actually evolved from meaning "laugh out loud" to being a placeholder or an acknowledgement in text conversations. "LOL" is a pragmatic particle which, in definition, is how real people use words in real life, in a practical sense. In addition, we know that we are expected to behave and write in a professional manner in school, so we do.

Secondly, one may argue that texting is detrimental to spelling. I believe that all texting is, is being able to put forth an idea and communicate as quickly as possible, which takes a certain level of mental capacity to be able to know two versions of one word, the abbreviated version and the correctly spelled version. Most phones today provide us with automatic spell check and although we may attempt to abbreviate a long word chances are we will be presented with the actual long, correctly spelled version. In addition, we are using phonics more than we realize to figure out how the word may be spelled. In article Can Texting Help With Spelling? it mentioned "A British study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning found a positive correlation between texting and literacy, concluding that texting was actually driving the development of phonological awareness and reading skill in children." We are not dumb, were mankind, we learn constantly whether or not we are aware of it. Each time we use spell check we are given an opportunity to learn how to correct our mistakes, repetition will eventually teach us how to spell things even on a subconscious level. Thus, texting may actually provide us with a pathway to be able to spell better.

In conclusion, we as human beings are more intelligent than we ourselves even thought. We are forced in this generation to learn two different forms of language text speech and formal English writing. In turn, we are expanding our horizons just by doing normal everyday activities. 

Just how we see the term "LOL" can actually have alternative meanings, so does the above image, gets you thinking. You can find MORE comics like these buy licking the link.