Running Head: KNOW THY LEARNER

Know Thy Learner, Module 2 Critical Thinking

Kari Woodman
OTL545- Technology and Innovation
Colorado State University Global Campus
Dr. Brenda Bagwell
January 17, 2016

KNOW THY LEARNER

I was not able to get this survey to the students at the school where I am doing student teaching,
due to scheduling issues. I decided to survey adult friends and do a sort of mock classroom. The
results of my survey are below. I used the Edutopia survey that was suggested in our Critical
Thinking Assignment instructions. I asked about 60 people to complete the survey and received
47 responses. The average age was 41 with a range from 25 to 79 years old. The two most
frequent results were Naturalistic (19) and interpersonal (12). I had my survey takers respond to
me with their highest percentage, and as we know, everyone has all eight types of the
intelligences at varying levels of aptitude (Multiple Intelligences, 2016). My results are
simplified explanations of these individuals intelligences. I would like to focus on the highest
percentages and look at teaching strategies for those intelligences.
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Naturalistic was the highest percentage for 19 out of 47 individuals surveyed. Naturalistic
learning is about understanding the patterns of living things and applying scientific reasoning to
the world. Nature intelligence is particularly applicable in careers such as that of a farmer,
naturalist, animal behaviorist, and scientist (Multiple Intelligences, 2009). Some of my PLE
tools I could use to cater to my naturalistic learners are:

National Geographics Education site http://education.nationalgeographic.org/

o There are many interesting, articles, simulations, activities games at blogs that
focus on living things and our natural world
Microsoft Access
o Naturalistic learners enjoy sorting and classifying information, this program
allows for this.
University of Colorados Interactive Simulations http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations
o Free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations
Vision Learning http://www.visionlearning.com/en/#

KNOW THY LEARNER

o This site, like NG has many natural sciences based lessons, activites and
information to explore
The National Severe Storm Laboratorys simulators
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/tools/simulation/
Pattern Activities http://www.education.com/activity/patterns/
o For early learners, this site has some pattern activities. Pattern activities help kids
develop early math skills.
Thing Link https://www.thinglink.com/
o This tool allows users to make interactive images. I could imagine students using
this to label our solar system or the human body and adding links to more
information

The second highest intelligence that I saw in my survey was Interpersonal. Interpersonal learn
well from working with others and have the ability to read people. Interpersonal intelligence is
about social interaction and understanding the people around you and their motives, emotions,
perspectives, and moods (Watrous-McCabe, 2005 ). According to Edutopia.org, some sample
activities for this type of intelligence are: Give and receive feedback, talk out problems, work
on large-group projects so you can use your social abilities to divide up tasks and understand all
aspects of the project, be a part of active learning through mentoring, tutoring, or an
apprenticeship (2009). I found the below items to help build my interpersonal intelligence tool
box:

The 100 People Foundation http://www.100people.org/index.php

o The 100 People Foundation helps students to better understand the complex
issues facing our planet and the resources we share. By framing the global
population as 100 people, our media makes education more engaging and
effective, and improves students' abilities to remember and relate to what they
learn (100people,org, 2015)
YouTube
o Role-playing is one way interpersonal learners can work together to learn, using
youtube to record and share these role plays is an idea.
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse https://gsn.nylc.org/clearinghouse
o This site offers resources for service learning. Service Learning is an opportunity
for students to work collaboratively to make a difference in their community.
Collaborative Learning http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engagingstudents/collaborative-learning.html
o This article from Cornells Center for Teaching Excellence has some helpful
strategies when you are teaching Interpersonal Learners:
Think-pair-share/ Write-pair-share
Fishbowl debate
Case study

KNOW THY LEARNER

Super Scientists http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/index.html

o Since Interpersonal learners tend to like learning about people, this is a site that
highlights scientists in history.
Google Drive and Google Docs
o This is a widely used way to share documents and a great way for students to
work together on a project, electronically.

KNOW THY LEARNER

References
Miller, L. (n.d.). Characteristics and strategies for different learning styles (intelligences).
Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/indiv/p/pfeiferj/edte305/LearningStyle.html
Multiple Intelligences: Digging Deeper. (2009, April). Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/your-multiple-intelligences#natural
Seider, S. (2009). An educator's journey toward multiple intelligences. Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-theory-teacher
Watrous-McCabe, J. (2005, July 25). Applying multiple intelligence theory to adult online
instructional design. Retrieved from
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/258/applying-multiple-intelligence-theoryto-adult-online-instructional-design