Module 5: Learning/Thinking

Styles
and Multiple
Intelligences
Learning Outcomes

1. Identify how individuals differ from learning/thinking styles and multiple intelligences.
2. Determine how the left and right brain functions.
3. Identify the teaching strategies guided by thinking/learning styles and multiple intelligences.

Description

Individuals have preferred ways of learning. Teachers often refer to these differences as learning
styles, though this term may imply that students are more consistent across situations than is really the
case. Iindividuals, including students, do differ in how they habitually think. This module presents you
the different learning styles of students and strategies that can be used to guide these differences for a
successful learning.

Learning/Thinking Styles

According to Kolb and Kolb (2005), learning style describes individual differences in approaches
to or ways of learning. A person’s learning style is a biologically and developmentally imposed set of
personal characteristics that make the same teaching method effective for some and ineffective for
others.

Some students may like to make diagrams to help remember a reading assignment, whereas
another student may prefer to write a sketchy outline instead. Yet in many cases, the students could in
principle reverse the strategies and still learn the material: if coaxed (or perhaps required), the diagram-
maker could take notes for a change and the note-taker could draw diagrams. Both would still learn,
though neither might feel as comfortable as when using the strategies that they prefer. This reality
suggests that a balanced, middle-of-the-road approach may be a teacher’s best response to students’
learning styles. Example, a student may prefer to hear new material rather than see it; he may prefer for
you to explain something orally, for example, rather than to see it demonstrated in a video. But he may
nonetheless tolerate or sometimes even prefer to see it demonstrated. In the long run, in fact, he may
learn it best by encountering the material in both ways, regardless of his habitual preferences.

Learning Styles

1. Visual - best acquire new information by sight

2. Auditory - needs to hear content explanations. He/She appreciates and learns faster through
songs and stories. He/She also finds it easier to learn through sounds.
3. Kinesthetic - they prefer activities that involve their whole bodies. Learners like him prefer
dramatizations, pantomimes, and fieldtrips. They may often be restless in class. Role-playing and
interactive games are good strategies to help them learn.
4. Tactile - learns best by manipulating materials. He/She requires experimentation and hands-on
activities to learn well. He/She needs to touch, feel, and experience.

Categories of Learning Styles

1. Imaginative learners: They perceive information concretely and process it reflectively. They
learn well by listening to and sharing with others while integrating others’ ideas with their own
experiences. They often have a difficulty with traditional teaching approaches.
2. Analytic learners: They perceive information abstractly and process it reflectively. They prefer
sequential thinking, require details, and value what experts have to offer. They do well in
traditional classrooms.
3. Common sense learners: They process information abstractly and actively. They enjoy practical
and hands-on learning. They often find school frustrating because they do not see an immediate
use for learning.
4. Dynamic learners: They provide information concretely and process it actively. They prefer
hands-on learning and get excited with new concepts and ideas. They like taking risks. Activities
that are tedious and sequential frustrate them.

Individual Preferences

 Sound levels
 Lighting
 Temperature levels
 Seating arrangements
 Mobility
 Group sizes
 Types of learning activities
 Eating or drinking while concentrating
 Time preferences
 There are two major ways to use knowledge of students’ cognitive styles (Pritchard, 2005). The
first and the more obvious is to build on students’ existing style strengths and preferences. A student
who is field independent and reflective, for example, can be encouraged to explore tasks and activities
that are relatively analytic and that require relatively independent work. One who is field dependent
and impulsive, on the other hand, can be encouraged and supported to try tasks and activities that are
more social or spontaneous. But a second, less obvious way to use knowledge of cognitive styles is to
encourage more balance in cognitive styles for students who need it. A student who lacks field
independence, for example, may need explicit help in organizing and analyzing key academic tasks (like
organizing a lab report in a science class). One who is already highly reflective may need encouragement
to try ideas spontaneously, as in a creative writing lesson.

The theory of multiple intelligences also has strong implications for adult learning and
development. Many adults find themselves in jobs that do not make optimal use of their most highly
developed intelligences (for example, the highly bodily-kinesthetic individual who is stuck in a linguistic
or logical desk-job when he or she would be much happier in a job where they could move around, such
as a recreational leader, a forest ranger, or physical therapist).

The theory of multiple intelligences gives adults a whole new way to look at their lives,
examining potentials that they left behind in their childhood (such as a love for art or drama) but now
have the opportunity to develop through courses, hobbies, or other programs of self-development. It
suggests that teachers be trained to present their lessons in a wide variety of ways using music,
cooperative learning, art activities, role play, multimedia, field trips, inner reflection, and much more.

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?”).

Left and Right Brain (Comparison Chart)

LEFT BRAIN (Analytic) RIGHT BRAIN (Global)

Successive Hemispheric Style Simultaneous Hemispheric Style

1. Verbal 1. Visual

2. Responds to word meaning 2. Responds to tone of voice

 3. Sequential 3. Random

4. Processes information linearly 4. Processes information in varied order

5. Responds to logic 5. Responds to emotion

6.Plans ahead 6. Impulsive

7. Recalls people’s name 7. Recalls people’s faces

8. Speaks with few gestures 8. Gestures when speaking

9. Punctual 9. Less punctual

10.Prefers formal study design 10.Prefers sound/music background while

studying

11. Prefers bright lights while studying 11. Prefers frequent mobility while studying

Multiple Intelligences

Multiple intelligences has grabbed the attention of many educators around the country, and hundreds
of schools are currently using its philosophy to redesign the way it educates children.

1. Visual/Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart) - learning visually and organizing ideas spatially. Seeing
concepts in action in order to understand them. The ability to “see” things in one’s mind in planning to
create a product or solve a problem.
2. Verbal/Linguistic (Word Smart) - learning through the spoken and written word. This intelligence is
always valued in the traditional classroom and in traditional assessments of intelligence and
achievement.
3. Mathematical/Logical (Number Smart/Logic Smart) - learning through reasoning and problem
solving. Also highly valued in the traditional classroom where students are asked to adapt to logically
sequenced delivery of instruction.
4. Bodily/Kinesthetic (Body Smart) - learning through interaction with one’s environment. This
intelligence is the domain of ‘overly active learners. It promotes understanding through concrete
experience.
5. Musical (Music Smart) - learning through patterns, rhythms and music. This includes not only auditory
learning but also the identification of patterns through all the senses.
6. Intrapersonal (Self Smart) - learning through feelings, values and attitudes. This is a decidedly
affective component of learning through which students place value on what they learn and take
ownership for their learning.
7. Interpersonal (People Smart) - learning through interaction with others. Not the domain of children
who are simply “talkative” or “overly social.” This intelligence promotes collaboration and working
cooperatively with others.
8. Naturalist (Nature Smart) - learning though classification, categories and hierarchies. The naturalist
intelligence picks up on subtle differences in meaning. It is not simply the study of nature; it can be used
in all areas of study.
9. Existential (Spirit Smart) - learning by seeing the “big picture”: “Why are we here?” “What is my role
on the world?” “What is my place in my family, school and community?” This intelligence seeks
connections to real world understanding and application of new learning.

It is important for teachers to use their knowledge about thinking/learning style and multiple
intelligences in planning activities to help their students learn effectively.

Every student has their own learning styles which speak to the understanding that each of them
learns differently. Technically, an individual’s learning style refers to the preferential way in which the
students absorbs, processes, comprehends and retains information.
Teaching Strategies on Different Learning Styles

 Be inquisitive and ask them what they think about the concept/idea/topic.
 Ask them to bounce ideas off of each other and compare their ideas with others.
 Allow them to discuss and share stories.
 Include group work that accepts each other’s’ different ideas.
 Engage in a role-play that depicts different way of learning/thinking styles and multiple
intelligences.