Weeks 4-5
Now that I've formulated a goal and a context, I need to move on and actually learn a bit more about my topic by selecting revelant resources and applying them to my project.
Week 4
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
To start with this stage, I've been researching a lot about the theory of the multiple intelligence's. I found that Howard Gardner was the creator of this theory, and he wrote a book (Frames of Mind: The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences) explaining it. These are the 7 types of intelligences according to Gardner:
Linguistic intelligence: People with this type of intelligence are sensitive to spoken and written language, so they have the ability to learn and express language easily. They like to use language to express themselves poetically and they find it easy to remember information through language.
Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ones with this intelligence tend to analyze problems logically and answer to their questions using science and logic. According to Gardner, they have the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively, organize and categorize things and have abstract thinking, which is why this intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.
Musical intelligence people have sensitivity for rhythm, pitch and intonation. They can remember the tune of a song easily and have impressive skills for the performing, composition and appreciation of musical patterns. According to Gardner, this type of intelligence is really linked to linguistic intelligence.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: They use the body or parts of the body to solve problems. Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related, so kinesthetic intelligence include those who have good body control and motor skills.
Spatial intelligence: People with this type of intelligence tend to be great observers and have the ability to recognize the pattern of a wide space and to think in three dimensions (aware of their space). They are likely to use metaphors.
Interpersonal intelligence is related to the ability someone has to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others.
Intrapersonal intelligence: The capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations, are the skills someone with this type of intelligence has. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.
To start with this stage, I've been researching a lot about the theory of the multiple intelligence's. I found that Howard Gardner was the creator of this theory, and he wrote a book (Frames of Mind: The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences) explaining it. These are the 7 types of intelligences according to Gardner:
Linguistic intelligence: People with this type of intelligence are sensitive to spoken and written language, so they have the ability to learn and express language easily. They like to use language to express themselves poetically and they find it easy to remember information through language.
Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ones with this intelligence tend to analyze problems logically and answer to their questions using science and logic. According to Gardner, they have the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively, organize and categorize things and have abstract thinking, which is why this intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.
Musical intelligence people have sensitivity for rhythm, pitch and intonation. They can remember the tune of a song easily and have impressive skills for the performing, composition and appreciation of musical patterns. According to Gardner, this type of intelligence is really linked to linguistic intelligence.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: They use the body or parts of the body to solve problems. Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related, so kinesthetic intelligence include those who have good body control and motor skills.
Spatial intelligence: People with this type of intelligence tend to be great observers and have the ability to recognize the pattern of a wide space and to think in three dimensions (aware of their space). They are likely to use metaphors.
Interpersonal intelligence is related to the ability someone has to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others.
Intrapersonal intelligence: The capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations, are the skills someone with this type of intelligence has. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.
(Source: "Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education." InkFed. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
(Source: <http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm>.)
The thing is, this intelligences are not only referring to the way we learn but also to the way others see us, and our relationship with the outside world, so it gets a bit out of the focus i'm trying to give to my project, which is improving people's study methods. Looking for more theories I found this one, which fits more what I'm looking for:
Learning Styles
This theory is very similar to the Multiple Intelligences, but it reduces it self to 4 ways in which people learn. People learn using visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic learning styles, but there's always one which is more dominant in each person. "The way a person prefers to receive, store and retrieve material is known as a person's preferred learning style".
Visual learners tend to be fast talkers and use words and phrases that evoke visual images. They learn by seeing and visualizing and they tend to paint mental pictures of what they're learning. They process material when it is presented in a visual manner (charts, graphs, illustrations, images).
Auditory learners prefer to read aloud and are natural listeners. They prefer to have things explained verbally than to read information, so they tend to remember loads of things from a spoken conversation. They learn by listening. They process information via spoken words.
Read-write learners enjoy reading and writing, which is why they prefer information that is displayed in writing (lists, maps, etc) and they are really good at expresing themselves in a written way. They learn by silently reading, summarizing, rewriting their notes repeatedly in their own words and passing diagrams and charts into words.
Kinesthetic learners tend to speak even more slowly than the rest. They use all their senses to engage in learning and they like to discuss. They learn by solving real-life problems. They process information best when they are able to manipulate the material.
In the same page I found what is going to be the base for my project, and it's the descriptions of each learning style and the ways in which they learn best.
Visual learners tend to be fast talkers and use words and phrases that evoke visual images. They learn by seeing and visualizing and they tend to paint mental pictures of what they're learning. They process material when it is presented in a visual manner (charts, graphs, illustrations, images).
Auditory learners prefer to read aloud and are natural listeners. They prefer to have things explained verbally than to read information, so they tend to remember loads of things from a spoken conversation. They learn by listening. They process information via spoken words.
Read-write learners enjoy reading and writing, which is why they prefer information that is displayed in writing (lists, maps, etc) and they are really good at expresing themselves in a written way. They learn by silently reading, summarizing, rewriting their notes repeatedly in their own words and passing diagrams and charts into words.
Kinesthetic learners tend to speak even more slowly than the rest. They use all their senses to engage in learning and they like to discuss. They learn by solving real-life problems. They process information best when they are able to manipulate the material.
In the same page I found what is going to be the base for my project, and it's the descriptions of each learning style and the ways in which they learn best.
I started to look for more descriptors of each learning style and for ways they each study and this was another good/short list I found in another page:
Visual Learners:
- tend to see things in their minds
- prefer to learn from taking notes and diagrams
- like to learn from pictures, charts, diagrams and videos
- tend to doodle when talking on the phone
- are good spellers and can see words in their mind
- are good at planning and organising
- often know what to say but can not think of the right words
- learn information best by hearing it
- prefer to learn from lectures, discussions, and audio tapes rather than reading a book
- 'sound out' the word when spelling
- enjoy using the telephone, listening to music, singing and talking
- sometimes talk to themselves
- are easily distracted by noise
- are often very good speakers and love discussion
- like movement, rhythm and action
- prefer to learn by practical activities and hands-on experiences
- enjoy dancing, sport, and working things out while 'on the move'
- fidget and gesture a lot, and often find it hard to sit still
- remember best when they are active while learning
- are comfortable expressing themselves both in writing and speech
- like textbooks and handouts, and take lots of notes
- enjoy writing essays and using the library
- make lists and use a dictionary
- are clever at word play
Week 5
After I had a bit more of an idea of how I could apply my topic into my product, I found out most pages in which they talked about learning styles had a link to do a quiz which would determine which was your learning style. After looking at many examples, here are the ones which turned out to be easier to fill in and were complete.
Multiple Intelligences Quiz Options:
http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz -40 questions
http://homeworktips.about.com/library/quizzes/bl_lstylequiz1.htm -9 questions
http://www.ldpride.net/learning-style-test.html -30 questions
http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html -56 questions
http://www.howtolearn.com/learning-styles-quiz - different layout of the quiz (checkboxes)
*If I'm going to make a manual (which is physical) I need to find a way to make this quiz in a written way.
Multiple Intelligences Quiz Options:
http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz -40 questions
http://homeworktips.about.com/library/quizzes/bl_lstylequiz1.htm -9 questions
http://www.ldpride.net/learning-style-test.html -30 questions
http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html -56 questions
http://www.howtolearn.com/learning-styles-quiz - different layout of the quiz (checkboxes)
*If I'm going to make a manual (which is physical) I need to find a way to make this quiz in a written way.
I also started looking for other variables which affect your studying habits, to see if there were other things I had to take into consideration apart from the learning styles. This is what I found out:
How to study:
In order to have an effective study, you need to be able to manage some skills like: time management, concentration, discipline and organization.
1. Study when you are at your Peak. If you are a morning person, study in the morning. If you are more active at night, then study at night.
2. Organize your time. Studying in a hurry will be the same as if you didn’t study at all. Organize your activities and keep a Schedule if necessary so you are able to study everything you need.
3. Your study area should be somewhere that is free of distractions (phone, computer, music), quiet, cool, with good Light (make sure your light bulb isn’t too near), comfortable (but not so much you can easily fall asleep in), neat and clean, organized, and with enough space for everything. There should be everything you need for your studying, avoid the need of getting up from your study place.*
4. Make study periods. After 40 minutes of studying, your brain gets tired, your concentration will decrease and you won’t be learning much. Rest at least 5 minutes between each 40 minutes session.
5. Every time you study, spend at least ten minutes reviewing the material from your previous study session. These "refresher shots" are part of the secret for long-term memory retention.
6. Do not study the day before a test. Use this day to review, not to memorize everything.
*Study environment:
Eliminate things in your environment that interfere with your concentration, and utilize your senses to accommodate learning. Consider the following:
Hearing: What level and what kind of noise can you tolerate? Do you work best in total silence or with a low to moderate noise level?
Sight: Adequate lighting is a must, and the direction and intensity of the lighting are important factors. Poor lighting is a chief cause of eyestrain and headaches among college students, and improper lighting also leads to fatigue.
Touch: Your environment should be comfortable but not too comfortable. Slight amounts of muscular tension have been found to increase efficiency and accuracy in mental work. A chair which promotes good posture is a better choice than a recliner.
If you need to memorize loads of things, you may want to study alone for a while and then get together with someone to ask you questions. For problem-solving assignments, a study group may be your choice.
I found it very interesting the fact that you need to really have to have a special place to study so your brain can get used to the fact that being in that place means that he has to concentrate and learn what's coming. I think that these tips are very simple and basic but most people in the community don't know about them.. Could I include this in my final product? Maybe this is what the posters I'm going to put in bach could include.
How to study:
In order to have an effective study, you need to be able to manage some skills like: time management, concentration, discipline and organization.
1. Study when you are at your Peak. If you are a morning person, study in the morning. If you are more active at night, then study at night.
2. Organize your time. Studying in a hurry will be the same as if you didn’t study at all. Organize your activities and keep a Schedule if necessary so you are able to study everything you need.
3. Your study area should be somewhere that is free of distractions (phone, computer, music), quiet, cool, with good Light (make sure your light bulb isn’t too near), comfortable (but not so much you can easily fall asleep in), neat and clean, organized, and with enough space for everything. There should be everything you need for your studying, avoid the need of getting up from your study place.*
4. Make study periods. After 40 minutes of studying, your brain gets tired, your concentration will decrease and you won’t be learning much. Rest at least 5 minutes between each 40 minutes session.
5. Every time you study, spend at least ten minutes reviewing the material from your previous study session. These "refresher shots" are part of the secret for long-term memory retention.
6. Do not study the day before a test. Use this day to review, not to memorize everything.
*Study environment:
Eliminate things in your environment that interfere with your concentration, and utilize your senses to accommodate learning. Consider the following:
Hearing: What level and what kind of noise can you tolerate? Do you work best in total silence or with a low to moderate noise level?
Sight: Adequate lighting is a must, and the direction and intensity of the lighting are important factors. Poor lighting is a chief cause of eyestrain and headaches among college students, and improper lighting also leads to fatigue.
Touch: Your environment should be comfortable but not too comfortable. Slight amounts of muscular tension have been found to increase efficiency and accuracy in mental work. A chair which promotes good posture is a better choice than a recliner.
If you need to memorize loads of things, you may want to study alone for a while and then get together with someone to ask you questions. For problem-solving assignments, a study group may be your choice.
I found it very interesting the fact that you need to really have to have a special place to study so your brain can get used to the fact that being in that place means that he has to concentrate and learn what's coming. I think that these tips are very simple and basic but most people in the community don't know about them.. Could I include this in my final product? Maybe this is what the posters I'm going to put in bach could include.
Looking for more information I found really fun ways to retain information! Maybe here's another tip I need to include to make studying easier:
Memory tricks: Here are some fun memory tricks you could use to memorize names, lists, events, formulas, etc.
-Rhymes:
"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue."
"Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November..
-Creative Sentences:
"My very eager mother just served us nine potatoes." (the planets in order from the sun)
“Never eat slimy Worms” (N-E-W-S. The coordenates clockwise)
-Acronyms:
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
ROY G BIV (the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet)
IPMAT (stages of cell division: interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telephase)
EGBDF - every good boy does fine (lines of the treble clef)
-Muscle memory:
Move your body while learning things like steps. In step one you raise your hand, in step two you nod and in step three you tap your feet, for example.
Memory tricks: Here are some fun memory tricks you could use to memorize names, lists, events, formulas, etc.
-Rhymes:
"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue."
"Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November..
-Creative Sentences:
"My very eager mother just served us nine potatoes." (the planets in order from the sun)
“Never eat slimy Worms” (N-E-W-S. The coordenates clockwise)
-Acronyms:
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
ROY G BIV (the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet)
IPMAT (stages of cell division: interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telephase)
EGBDF - every good boy does fine (lines of the treble clef)
-Muscle memory:
Move your body while learning things like steps. In step one you raise your hand, in step two you nod and in step three you tap your feet, for example.
Sources:
"12 Steps for Effective Studying." Cuesta College. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/203.HTM>.
http://www.mayland.edu/aca111/StudyHabits.pdf
"12 Steps for Effective Studying." Cuesta College. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/203.HTM>.
http://www.mayland.edu/aca111/StudyHabits.pdf
Skills
The ATL skills I've showed in this part of the process are:
Thinking skills:
Critical Thinking
Reflection
Research Skills:
Information and media literacy
Critical Literacy
Literacy
Thinking skills:
Critical Thinking
- Break down large concepts and projects into component parts and combine parts logically, as appropriate. (Braking down the multiple intelligences theory to learning styles only, and combining them with the study methods).
Reflection
- Implement and measure the effectiveness of different learning strategies.
- Keep an organized and logical system of information files/notebooks. (I wrote down everything I found significant for my improvement in my process journal).
Research Skills:
Information and media literacy
- Access information to be informed (find the differences between learning styles and multiple intelligences)
- Make connections between a variety of resources (I took explanations from different pages about what learning styles were and which were the characteristics of each type of learner to finally get to a summary about them).
- Collect, record and verify data. (Because I looked in a lot of different pages the same thing to make sure the information I saw in one webpage was reliable).
Critical Literacy
- Critically analyze various text forms for underlying meaning. (Analyzing which webpage was useful and specifically which information from it was going to help me in my process).
- Understand the ways in which images and language interact to convey ideas, values and beliefs. (Investigating I saw that many explanations came accompanied by images and videos to make it clear. This is something I'm going to take into account when making my booklet).
Literacy
- Read critically and for comprehension. (I read in every page I went in, and tried to understand what they were explaining so I could extract conclusions for my project).
- Summarize and transform information. (After I took the information that was useful, I summarized in blue what I had learned and said why this piece of information was helpful to move on with my project).
- Identify gaps in knowledge and formulate key questions. (As I began to investigate, I started to notice that every time there were more questions to answer which were essential to fulfill the knowledge I need for my project).