HOW ARE YOU SMART? PART ONE

Did you know you were not born with the ability to read? That’s right, it is not natural for you to read. You had to teach your brain how to make meaning from these squiggly lines on the page. Research suggests human minds differ in their ability to make meaning. The key to remembering what you read is to discover the way your mind likes to learn.

To prove this theory, notice how your mind recalls the following items:
· Remember the Star Spangled Banner (National Anthem)
· Remember a basketball
· Remember how to swing a bat
· Remember the definition of a flower

Did you hear the tune for the Star Spangled Banner, see a picture of a basketball and physically feel swinging the bat? “Information is not stored in a specific location in the brain but in various locations- visual, auditory, and motor cortices – and is joined in circuits or networks of neurons (p. 72, Wolfe, 2001).” Remembering the definition of a flower was harder because you had to pull from several different cortices to create meaning.

HERE IS THE TRICKY PART
Even though all sensory information flows into the visual, auditory and motor cortices, your mind may prefer to use one over the other two. You’ve heard the term diversity to describe race, ethnicity, and gender. When it comes to the brain, cognitive scientists say humans are neurologically diverse or differ in the style their mind likes to learn. Some minds prefer to listen and talk (auditory learner), some like to look at pictures and draw (visual learner), while others would rather move and touch (kinesthetic learner).

On the web site, http://www.businessballs.com/, Victoria Chislett, a performance psychologist, defines the three learning styles as:

• Someone with a Visual learning style has a preference for seen or observed things, including pictures, diagrams, demonstrations, displays, handouts, films, flip-chart, etc. These people will use phrases such as ‘show me’, ‘let’s have a look at that’ and will be best able to perform a new task after reading the instructions or watching someone else do it first. These are the people who will work from lists and written directions and instructions.
• Someone with an Auditory learning style has a preference for the transfer of information through listening: to the spoken word, of self or others, of sounds and noises. These people will use phrases such as ‘tell me’, ‘let’s talk it over’ and will be best able to perform a new task after listening to instructions from an expert. These are the people who are happy being given spoken instructions over the telephone, and can remember all the words to songs that they hear!
• Someone with a Kinesthetic learning style has a preference for physical experience - touching, feeling, holding, doing, practical hands-on experiences. These people will use phrases such as ‘let me try’, ‘how do you feel?’ and will be best able to perform a new task by going ahead and trying it out, learning as they go. These are the people who like to experiment, hands-on, and never look at the instructions first!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU AS A READER?

• If your mind prefers visual input, you must look at the pictures on the page before, during, and after reading. You should also take notes by drawing pictures to represent the concepts you read.
• If your mind prefers auditory input, you may have to read out loud or record yourself reading and then play it back. You should talk about the concepts you read before you take notes.
• If your mind prefers kinesthetic input, you may have to read standing up or sitting on an exercise ball. Stop often to walk around the room and take notes by creating movements to represent the concepts you read.
  
  How are you smart?
  
  For more information on learning styles, visit: http://www.businessballs.com/vaklearningstylestest.htm

Wolfe, Patricia. (2001). Brain Matters. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, Virginia.