There are many pressures on KS2 students. From admissions tests to grammar schools and Primary SATS testing – all these affect how students are placed in secondary school and then all the way to their GCSEs. After SATS, there’s the all-important MEG setting by teachers, which uses their final primary school assessments and their SATS to determine how they will do five years later! As a parent, it is normal to be concerned if you think your child’s natural talents are not coming through at school. We find students generally do very well at school after some time with MagiKats. They become more empowered, understanding how they are unique, and which learning strategies they prefer and can use to do better in school lessons.

KS2 Primary Teachers Adopt Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

Many primary schools around the world do the Multiple Intelligences Quiz developed by Howard Gardner with their students.  Since the time his seminal work; Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1993) was published, teachers have adopted the strategies centered around the seven intelligences. They noticed students preferred to learn this way. As educators, Gardner’s work certainly excited us, and right from the inception of MagiKats in 2004 we incorporated his methods into our mentor programmes for Maths and English.

Eight Variations in Learning Styles or ‘Intelligences’

If you understand that children become more complex thinkers as they get older, KS2 means greater variations. After all, it takes all kinds to make a world!

Gardner’s quiz is particularly useful to determine how your child is learning and what style of learning they naturally succeed with. It is also good for identifying what is NOT working! At MagiKats we encourage all learners to play to their strengths, so this is a useful diagnostic for your child. Especially with SATS at the end of Year 6, it can be useful to know this for revision and learning purposes.

Take the Multiple Intelligences Self-Assessment on literacynet.org

How Does MagiKats Use Multiple Intelligences?

At MagiKats we believe in offering personalised and diversified learning experiences. Gardner’s MIs are designed to tap into a student’s intrinsic motivational levels, using their natural talents to promote the flow of their lessons. MIs aim to:

1. Extend and promote cognitive bridging techniques based on the seven intelligences. At MagiKats we offer a broad array of diversified study techniques by providing mentors with detailed lesson plans incorporating a variety of learning approaches. Across all of our franchises every student will experience diverse learning intelligent strategies in each and every workshop.
2. Explain and promote understanding at interpersonal, intrapersonal and cultural levels. Small group workshops and one-to-one sessions provide the opportunity to extend explanations. We can talk to students about their natural understandings and how things they learn apply to the ‘real’ world - which is, of course, their world! MagiKats is all about learning without limits and enjoying what you learn about.
3. Bring everyone involved to an understanding of each student’s giftedness. This is at the heart of everything we do at MagiKats. Our mentors have always worked towards helping every child to make their aptitude shine. Our Principal’s talk with parents about how their child makes progress and provide extra guidance to bring out everyone’s best.

Let MagiKats Help

In part one of this series, we explored learning styles most applicable to pre-school and early primary-aged learning abilities. In lower primary, we noticed how students are naturally drawn to learn using visual, auditory or tactile learning styles. (See Part One to assess your child).

As children move into Key Stage 2 and upper-primary school, some fine differences begin to develop. We’d like to hear from you if interested in helping your child transition successfully into an accomplished KS2 learner, raring-to-go and confident!

From the team at MagiKats HQ

Further Reading: Leslie Owen Wilson, at Johns Hopkins University: “What’s the Big Attraction? Why Teachers are Drawn to using Mulitple Intelligence Theory in their Classrooms”