After reading the Reflective reader I began to think about Kolb's Learning Circle and where I fitted. I realised it wasn't that easy to define what type of a learner I am as I am a mixture of different types depending on what I'm trying to learn or achieve. When looking on how I first started my blog my initial style was to use what is referred to in the reader as active experimentation as I like to try and work things out by myself but then as the course progressed and I started commenting and reading other peoples blogs I've realised that I also use what is referred to as reflective observation as I saw how other people had set out their work and went on to adjust my blog from ideas I'd seen and liked. However maybe subconsciously at the time used my concrete experience from using such sites as Facebook. By reflecting on this and seeing how I use nearly all of these methods in the circle and not in any particular order I can see that I am not the kind of thinker that fits anywhere in the circle but looking at it and using it as a structure to my thoughts did help me to delve deeper into the way I think individually and see that it isn't as simple as one might think to define the way we think.
I then started to think about where other people I know fit within the circle, and If they too felt as though they could not precisely specify at what point they ‘learn something’ or if they too start to realise that it is mainly a subconscious occurrence rather than a conscious one; meaning they don’t actually realise what has been learnt until they take the time to reflect.
I spoke to my friend Alison Williams who is also a performer but where my field is Musical Theatre and acting her field is Dance performance and Dance Teaching. I was interested to find out if she learnt as I do or it was different.
“Being a dancer I find that I learn mainly from observing others and practicing what I’ve learnt. I also find when teaching children that they learn from actively doing something rather than from watching it being done. Adults however tend to have a more mixed method of learning and tend to learn from being shown rather than doing something for themselves in a dance class.” (Alison Williams FDI CGE, 2010).
Here I found that it not only depends on the individual to where they being to learn something within Kolb’s circle but also depends on the age of the individual as our way of learning differs as we grow up.
I found Howard Gardner’s theory on Multiple Intelligences extremely interesting and found I was able to relate to this theory as the idea of multiple intelligences is something I have discussed with various people quite intensely.
The idea that intelligence can be measured by something like academic qualification is something I have never really agreed with. Of course this method can be used to measure intelligence in a very basic and boxed off fashion, but I have always believed that intelligence can be measured in many ways and saying that one person isn’t as intelligent as another based on their academic achievements is not as easy as society is lead to believe. Gardner’s theory supports this greatly and is something I can relate to well.
“People have a unique blend of intelligences. Howard Gardner argues that the big challenge facing the deployment of human resources 'is how to best take advantage of the uniqueness conferred on us as a species exhibiting several intelligences”
(Smith, Mark K. (2002, 2008) 'Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences', the encyclopaedia of informal education, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm.) (Gardner, Howard (1983; 1993) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York: Basic Books.)
After reading the above article on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence I began to think how I use my own interpersonal intelligence in situations. When thinking about it it’s obvious that people use the reactions and body language of others to inform their intelligence of a situation, but of course this is all done subconsciously.
I support the idea that people don’t only use one type of intelligence and are also not only one type of learner be it; kinaesthetic, visual or listening. I feel that we all use a mixture of these as well as more subconsciously in everyday life. I feel personally however that I tend to use my kinaesthetic intelligence mainly. This may be as I’ve trained in dance and sports from a very young age so have grown up with this type of learning. I also feel I learn a lot by listening, this could be a result of having always been around music and being a trained singer as well as growing up playing musical instruments. I feel the one I use the least is my visual intelligence and will make an effort to use it more to see how this affects or doesn’t affect the way I learn.
After reading the reader I have come to realise I like the idea that people as not set to being one type on learner and it is not something that is necessarily easy to judge. The only conclusion I can offer is my opinion on the way I learn personally from what I have read. I think a lot of the way we learn depends on the type of upbringing we have had and what types of activities we enjoyed as children. I was a very physical child who danced and played sport from a very young age and feel this may be part of the reason my default intelligence is kinaesthetic. A person who grew up around a musical family may learn in a more musical way by listening much like a person who grew up enjoying literature may learn more visually. Overall I feel the measure of intelligence and the way a person learns is not something we can necessarily measure as such but is still a very interesting subject to pull apart as it has really made me reflect on the way I learn personally and ways in which I may be seen as intelligent or not. It is mostly down to personal opinion and opinion based on the theory of others.
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