Addressing Gardner’s Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Addressing Howard Gardner’s Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in Adult Learning EnvironmentsHoward Gardner published his research on seven bits of intelligence in 1983 and later added an eighth intelligence category. His perspective on learning differed from the traditional view that intelligence was primarily a linear process that was quantifiably measured through intuitive Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests.

Addressing Gardner’s Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in Adult Learning

Since Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory and research was introduced, many trainers and adult educators have focused on delivering information in ways that address the various bits of intelligence that adult learners possess. Doing so maximizes learning and aids a more holistic manner in which the brain processes information.

According to Gardner, people who use Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence tend to excel at activities that include movement and manipulation of items using various parts of the body. They learn best by actively doing something, rather than simply reading or hearing about it.

As a trainer or someone wh0 deals with adult learners, you can address this intelligence by incorporating physical activities to engage brain neurons and help stimulate learning. Activities and exercises that cause learners to work together in teams to solve problems, create a product with materials provided, or simply get moving to cause their blood to carry more oxygen to energize their brains can help accomplish this. To help your kinesthetic learners address their need for movement, try simple adult learning activities in which movement or engagement is encouraged. In addition, you might simply place toys or other props on tables and encourage learners to manipulate the items quietly throughout a learning event.

For adult learning techniques and additional ideas on how to apply brain-based research done by Gardner and other researchers in your adult learning events, get copies of The Creative Training Idea Book: Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning.

Use Creativity in Training to Enhance Adult Learning

by Robert W. Lucas

Use Creativity in Training to Enhance Adult Learning

Creativity comes in many forms depending on factors such as a person’s background, life experiences, and education. When working with adult learners, trainers can help enhance the learning experience by tapping into their own creativity and that of their participants.

Use Creativity in Training to Enhance Adult Learning by The Creative Trainer – Robert W. Lucas, Awarding Winning Author, and Blogger

The following are three techniques that you can employ in your own training design and delivery to potentially improve learning outcomes and aid in the transfer of training experiences to the workplace.

Apply brain-based learning research tenets to your learning environment by incorporating elements such as color, sound, light, nutrition, and fun in order to help gain and retain attention and stimulate brain neurons.
Build-in adult learning activities that get participants actively engaged in the learning process. Provide instructions and tools required for an exercise then allow learners to approach a problem or issue from their own creative perspective. You will be surprised at the variety of solutions that will evolve for a single challenge.
Use simple props and tools to get a point across or to reinforce key concepts. For example, if you are making a point about how one of your consulting firm’s processes or services addresses the multiple needs of a client, you could use a kitchen potato peeler to make an analogy. You might share that, like the point of the tool that can be used to dig down and expose a rotten spot (problem area) your step-by-step intervention can do likewise when searching for a solution. As with the peeler blades of the tool peeling back layers, your consultants use a structured question/answer survey that helps identify the true problem or issue when something is not working well. Finally, the scraper teeth can be used to fix or remove the spot just as your problem resolution approach provides a series of interventions or training to resolve an issue.

For hundreds of creative training strategies and brain-based learning techniques that address adult learning styles and can be immediately applied in your training design and delivery, get copies of The Creative Training Idea Book: Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning.

Presentation Tips – Using a Flipchart Effectively

by Robert W. Lucas

Presentation Tips – Using a Flipchart Effectively

Flip charts are proven, versatile, effective, and easy to use training aids that have been used in adult learning environments for decades. While they are relatively easy to set up and use, you need to practice with them just like you would any other learning tool.

The following are some issues that trainers and others who deal with adult learners encounter if they are unprepared or take their flipchart for granted.

If you have been delivering information to groups for any period of time, you have probably had one of those embarrassing moments. You know, like when you are writing on a flip chart pad and the easel tumbles over because one of the legs isn’t locked into position.

Presentation Tips – Using a Flipchart Effectively by The Creative Trainer

Another common problem occurs when a tripod frame and the legs slowly start getting shorter. Why? Because the locking nuts were either not securely tightened or have worn out allowing the weight of the flip chart pad to pull the whole frame slowly toward your knees!

To avoid these types of embarrassing moments, make sure that you use sturdy (solid backed) flip chart easels. Many organizations buy the cheap three-legged portable easels with retractable legs and two pegs at the top to mount a pad of paper. Unfortunately, the legs get bent over time and will not extend or retract. Further, the pegs often do not fit the hole size of your pads, they wobble when used, and there is no place to put your markers. This not a professional image.

Another point to consider when using a flip chart is where to position it (see figure). If you place the easel so that the light shines directly on the front of the paper, there will be no shadows. Placing it with lighting behind it can cast shadows and make information difficult to read from a distance.

Extracted from Training Workshop Essentials: Designing, Developing and Delivering Learning Events That Get Results. For additional ideas on designing, developing, using, and storing flip charts, get a copy of The Big Book of Flip Charts: A Comprehensive Guide for Presenters, Trainers and Team Facilitators.