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EDU 5013 Curriculum
EDU 5023 – Principles of Learning and Teaching >
Foundations, Theory &
Practice
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Lecture 1 Reflection
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Lecture 2 Reflection
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Lecture 3 Reflection
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Lecture 4 Reflection
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Lecture 5 Reflection
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EDU 5074 Professional
Practice in Higher
Education
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EDU 5053 Global Issues
and Education
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EDU 5023 – Principles of
Learning and Teaching
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EDU 5033 – Principles
and Practice of
Assessment
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Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences gives
us some insight to the way students learn. The theory of
multiple intelligences "emphasizes the highly individualized
way in which people learn and recognizes that each of us
has unique intellectual potential". Howard Gardner’s theory
of Multiple Intelligences suggests there are eight
intelligences. They include verbal-linguistical, logicalmathematical,
musical,
bodily-kinesthetic,
spatial,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. Some students
can fit into a few or many of the intelligences. George Evans
said "every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way." I
believe that each student has his or her way of process information in terms of
how they learn and how they retain the knowledge. Majority of students learn
and understand a particular concepts through traditional lecture. I think students
learn best when teacher adopts various instruction techniques. Some students
learn best when they can reflect the things they have learned. They learn by
listening, brainstorming and sharing ideas with others. On the other hand, some
students learn best through conceptual learning and logical thinking. Some
students need to be actively involved in their own learning by practicing handson problem solving.
Every person has strengths and challenges in abilities. No two people are
the same. As a result, it is not fair to assume every student will learn best with
the same instructional strategy. Each student has unique multipleintelligences
and the different ways to learn. In other words, not every person learns best
from a single teaching approach. As a teacher, I must constantly be aware of
the learning styles of my students in order to incorporate instructional strategies
that will enhance their learning potential.
At the beginning of a class, it would be useful to give students a quiz that
would interpret each student’s favored learning style. A free one that could be
used is found at www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz.
It gives me a better idea of the learning styles of my students. It also helps me
decide the best way to present information and to design activities. I believe it
is equally important to include bits of each of the intelligences.
Verbal-Linguistic—Verbal/linguistic learners enjoy hearing, seeing, reading,
writing, discussing, debating and thinking about words. These are the students
who can be relied upon to listen as I speak, watch as I write on the chalkboard,
and take notes. These are the most traditional students who our school was
designed for. In classroom, I deliver the lesson via e-books, powerpoints and
whiteboards. Sometimes, I come into the classroom and just talk for an hour
without using any technology except writing on whiteboards. I also record some
of my lectures and they can listen it at home.
Logical-Mathematical—I teach my students how to recognize and solve
quantitative problem in chemistry. Sometimes there are many ways to obtain
the final answer. I demonstrate and explain the pros and cons of different ways
and strategies to get the answer. For example, some of my students do very
well in quantitative part of the chemistry. However, they find problem
understanding the theory and explanation part of the chemistry.
Visual-spatial— While the verbal/linguistic learners think in words, the
spatial/visual learners think in pictures. They are picture smart. They tend to
think in pictures and colors and images. They are creative and imaginative. I
have administered the learning styles quiz that I mentioned above to my
students. Not surprisingly to me, most of them are strongly visual-spatial
learners. As a teacher, I like to include some sort of visual such as pictures,
graphics, posters, drawings, charts, newspaper clipping, and cartoons in my
powerpoint presentation. I have also used video clips that I have found at
YouTube. A good picture actually tells a thousand words. Students will
understand much deeper when they see a clear picture of the lesson.
When teaching about chemical bonding and geometry, the students are
stimulated with visual and audio aids using diagrams and video. This helps
them to recognize the shapes of molecules. When they can imagine the
molecule, they can relate and understand the concept better. For those bodilykinesthetical students, they learn better when they touch and play with the real
models in class.
Another example is where i show a funny video that explain about chemical
bonding.
C
Musical—Many students feel they have to be “in tune” with the subject. They
learn best when more to sounds listen. This type of learner can easily
understand patterns and relationships in the songs or rhythms. They enjoy
listening to music and sounds. As a teacher, I think using sound in classroom
can caught the students’ attention. I have a number of students who tell me that
they can read or study better while listening to music. Sometimes, I find ways
to introduce music into the classroom. For example, I use sodium chloride song
to explain about the chemical reaction between sodium and chlorine to form
sodium chloride salt. Sometimes when the students cannot recall certain
concepts, I sing the song to my students to help them recollect the information.
I also introduce some sounds when playing some animation that describe about
certain concepts.
NaCl song
Bodily-Kinesthetic—These students enjoy touching things and moving
around. As a teacher it would be important to give students a chance to stand
up and move around. I ask my students to write the working steps on
whiteboard. In laboratory, they practice exploration and hands-on experiment.
Taking a walk outside or going on a field trip would be helpful. With technology
there are virtual field trips available. The interactive sites give students that
sense that they are moving around, even if they are not, by just moving a
mouse. When assigning project to student, I allow the students to choose ways
to present it, either in powerpoint, role play, demonstration, or film.
Interpersonal and intrapersonal—I assign my students in group and give
them problem-solving task. This encourages my students to discuss with
others and sharing some ideas.I also gives individual assignment to my
students to discuss about certain topic, where i ask them to reflect about
the things they have been learned.