Stephen Wagner
Assessing Level of Thinking & MI
March 24th, 1999
Student #2
Student number two was a female about the age of 13, enrolled in keyboarding I. The young student was very bright and was a pleasure to have in class. She loved to talk with her friends, but when class time started she immediately went to work. She stayed focused and was a diligent worker. She was very alert to the teacher
=s instructions. This student was a big help to the teacher. When asked by the teacher, the student was willing to help other students.We began the interview with the Piaget questions that were given. During this phase of the interview, the student approached the task in a very orderly and systematic way. She only needed the instructions given in the question and no further guidance was given for her to complete the task. This student was much quicker in completing the first question. Just the opposite happened in question number 2 of the Piaget questions, she randomly went about ordering the meats, breads, and dressings to find the answer. The student stated in the interview that she spoke aloud and quietly to herself many times during the school day. This occurred in math and science class the most. The student mentioned that she used this technique several times a day when the work she is doing became difficult. When asking others to help her with work other than the teacher, she said that she mostly asks other girls to help her and not boys.
When the multiple intelligence test was given, the student did not understand the meaning of the test at first. After explaining to her what the test was for, she quickly checked all the appropriate boxes that she felt applied to her. After reviewing the items that she had marked, some interesting items were found. Her test showed that she was not a linguistic, logical-mathematical, naturalist, or musical person. Her strong points were in the interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence areas. The test also showed her to be a spatial person with a high area for art. Why did she mark interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence areas as her strong points? Does it have to do with gender and age?
I think that age more than gender was a leading factor in her responses. I would guess to say, that at around 13 years of age, intra and interpersonal areas are a huge factor in their lives. I would go as far to say that those areas are more important to them than any of the other areas of the intelligence test.
This student also was found to be somewhat at the formal operational stage of thinking. What I mean by this is that when given the first problem to work on with the numbers, she systematically went about answering the questions. When we moved onto the second question, she reverted back to more of a concrete operational stage when trying to come up with as many different combinations of sandwiches as possible. Why did this happen? Did the first question seem so simple, and the second so hard?
Based upon the assessments made with this interview, the classroom most appropriate for her type of learning would be a very vygotskyian setting. Open classroom discussions would benefit this student greatly. Hands on type work with groups of peers would lend itself nicely to this student
=s learning style as well. I do not believe that lecture and the student=s lack interacting with others would be a very good classroom environment for this student. This student would feel very uncomfortable in this type of learning environment. This type of student would need to have a classroom that involved large amounts of group work and activities.As far as giving specific examples of business education classroom applications that would meet the needs of this student, I would say that this student would be a valuable asset in any business course I would offer. To start her out, I would make sure she was involved heavily in FBLA activities. This outgoing, highly motivative student would excel in this organization. The FBLA and other clubs that the business teacher sponsors have many fund-raisers during the school year, it would be a good opportunity for her to be involved in these activities.
I would need to offer hands-on activities throughout my lessons each week to aid in this student
=s learning, making sure to have group work as well. For example, during a desktop publishing class, the students might be working on a new flyer for the next FBLA meeting, this would be a good time to allow for both hands-on experience and working with others to develop a flyer. Another example might be to have the students in groups several times a week working on journal entries together during accounting class. The business class room has become a model for those like Piaget and Vygotsky. Most courses offer many hands-on, group work, and allow for the student to discuss topics open and freely and if in the business world.