This lesson focuses on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences.  Students determine how they are smart and then learn more about the learning styles and how they apply to children.  To make it fun, I will have the students participate in 6 different activities each illustrating various learning styles.  Students must identify the learning style(s) illustrated in each activity and justify why.  A quiz on the multiple intelligence will complete the lesson.

Time Frame: 3-4 days (43 minute periods)-Choose Time Unit

Class Size: 16

Objectives

• Identify Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and explore learning styles.

• Determine personal style(s) of learning.

• Evaluate children’s activities to determine multiple intelligences illustrated.

Set

• How are you SMART?  Give students the multiple intelligence survey as this one. Discuss their results.

Materials

• There’s a Monster at the End of this Book (optional)
• Jello and baggies, plastic spoons
• A box of recycled junk (empty containers, caps from hair spray, old pen parts, springs, belt buckles,artificial flowers/parts,ribbon, feathers, toilet paper tubes, etc.)

Background for Teachers

• Knowledge of multiple intelligences as they apply to children.
• Since I don’t have access to a preschool or young children, this allows my students to experience preschool type activities and how children can learn from them.

Instructional Procedures

• Have students take notes on a reading from this article on the multiple intelligences and suggested activities as they apply to children.

Activities

• Students will complete six activities and complete the activity as described then identify all of the learning styles/multiple intelligences being illustrated.  Emphasis that they must be able to justify their answers. Note: Activities are explained in more detail in the attachment.
  1. Activity #1: Read “There’s a Monster at the End of this Book ” (see above clip)
  2. Activity #2: “Monster Eye Patterning” activity
  3. Activity #3: As a class sing and perform the song “There’s a Monster in My Closet” sung to “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
  4. Activity #4: Monster Guts- different color jello cubes in baggies
  5. Activity #5: Recycled Monsters
  6. Activity #6: Write a journal entry

Extensions

• Students who are part of a child development class could actually use these as a model and then come up with their own theme related activities.  Example:  Have students create activities addressing all or several learning styles that follow the theme of apples or snow.

Closure

• Students fill in a student response sheet after participating in each activity.  At the end, discuss all of the activities and the learning styles they represented.  Involve students further by having them justify why they  believed something was a certain learning style.

Assessment

• End the lesson by giving students a quiz on the multiple intelligences in Howard Gardner’s theory.

Attachment

• Multiple Intelligences Student Response Sheet (Word)
  
• Multiple Intelligences Lesson Instructions (Word)
• Multiple Intelligence Quiz (PDF)

Links

• Learning Style Quiz
• Multiple Intelligences Article

Similar Lessons

• Intellectual Development (Piaget)
• Developmental Theorists