Chapter Two Assignment

Understanding the learning styles of each student can be a very powerful strategy for

teachers. Understanding students different learning styles can help guide daily activities,

curriculum and assessments. Knowing how each student prefers to learn will also help teachers

plan learning experiences that will better engage students academically. There are many different

tests and/or surveys that will identify learning styles. When researching the different learning

style tests I found that many of them were too complex for my kindergarten students. The two

that I decided to use is Sue Teeles Teele Inventory of Multiple Intelligence or TIMI and Laura

Candlers survey of multiple intelligences.

As a kindergarten teacher its hard to find effective inventories for my students. The

TIMI is simple enough for young students. I like that the pictures are black and white, so that the

children do not see color. A lot of kindergarteners will pick a certain picture just because they

like the color of it. This will prevent that from happening and they can choose a picture solely on

the images. I also like the use of panda bears instead of people. Having different children or

adults illustrating the activities can alter a students decision. They may choose a picture just

because they like what a person looks like or that it reminds them of someone else. The pandas

look the same in almost every picture and that is a plus. It is also a quick inventory and is very

simple to score. Too many inventories are a long and difficult process, especially for young

students.

I felt Laura Candlers survey was quick and easy and definitely could be implemented

with my students. The questions were simple enough to ask, but if needed, I could observe and

record my own answers for the students also. I like the way Laura set up her website and gave

background information on multiple intelligences and why they are important for students,
teachers, and parents. Some websites cannot be trusted and you dont know whether the

inventory is authentic and will give accurate feedback. Laura Candler is a teacher, author, and

presenter on many classroom techniques. I feel her survey would yield accurate results.

As school is not in session, I conducted these two surveys on a group of summer school

students. This is a group of all male students of either five or six years old. I tested each student

individually. The results were as follows:

Student Age Grade TIMI Candlers TIMI Candlers

Dominant Dominant Non-Dominant Non-Dominant
DH 6 1st Bodily- Bodily- Verbal- Mathematical-
Kinesthetic Kinesthetic Linguistic Logical
TM 6 1st Visual- Mathematical- Musical- Verbal-
Spatial Logical Rhythmic Linguistic
AC 6 1st Bodily- Bodily- Naturalist Musical-
Kinesthetic Kinesthetic Rhythmic
KS 6 K Bodily- Bodily- Verbal- Verbal-
Kinesthetic Kinesthetic Linguistic Linguistic
TG 5 K Bodily- Bodily- Verbal- Verbal-
Kinesthetic Kinesthetic Linguistic Linguistic

After completing the surveys and analyzing the scores, I was not surprised by most of the

data. With this age group of male students, it is not surprising that bodily-kinesthetic came up as

a dominant intelligence. These students prefer to be taught through hands-on physical learning.

TM was the only student to score a different dominant intelligence, but visual-spatial and

mathematical-logical describes him well in that he learns best when using tools such as maps,

photos, videos, games, etc. There was more of a scoring difference in the non-dominant

intelligences. Verbal-linguistic was the majority of the students non-dominant intelligence. That

is understandable considering these are young struggling learners. Their auditory skills are not

well developed. Overall I felt that both of the surveys were age-appropriate and produced

practical results that would help guide instruction with these students.