Understanding How You Learn

    Have you ever finished a class and wondered, did I really learn anything? As a Mathematics Major at Virginia Western Community College, I understand how difficult it can be to learn in the traditional classroom. Standardized tests do not tell you how you learn, only what you have mastered. For the past fifteen years, there continues to be a strong movement in education towards teaching to many types of learners. You may hear words teachers use such as “differentiation”, “multiple intelligences”, and so forth.

  The one test that is the most important towards understanding how you learn is based upon Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Multiple intelligence tests show educators what mode each student learns. There are eight categories in Gardner’s Theory, and each of us have varying degrees of intelligence in each category. Typically, one category outshines the others and this category is deemed as the way you learn. However, each category can be strengthened and re-evaluated as the individual’s interest’s shift during their lifetime. 

The eight categories are as follows: 

    Once you take the assessment, it will direct you to a results page that tells you how to use your intelligence to learn and what it takes for you to learn more easily. There is also a page on the site called “Practice”, which tells you how to strengthen your other intelligences.

  Remember, you do not always learn the same way a teacher will conduct the classroom. It is vastly important to your education to understand what makes you tick! Once you know what that is, use it to your best advantage in and out of the classroom.

  Update: There is a 9th intelligence called "Existentialist" but the test for this is still in development!