Learning+Styles

Learning Styles


 * Definitions || “Learning styles are the ways in which individuals characteristically approach different learning tasks” (Cassidy, 2004)

Three learning styles theories exist:

1. Instructional Preference - visual, auditory, kinesthetic, music/rhythmic, linguistic, spatial

2. Information Processing Style - Concrete Experience (feeling), Abstract Conceptualization (thinking), Active Experimentation (doing), Reflective Observation (thinking)  3. Cognitive Personality Style - Briggs-Myers Indicators: (E)Extraverted, (I)Introverted, (S) sensing, (N) Intuitive, (T)Thinking, (F) Feeling, (J) Judging, and (P) Perceiving ||
 * Technique || There are two train of thought on this:

1. Identify the individual's learning preference and adjust instruction to meet the needs of the individual

2. Train students to be able to adjust to any learning situation by using a variety of models of teaching ||
 * Application || Differentiation - There is a great deal of research on differentiation. Design and deliver lessons that play to a variety of learning preferences. Use data to identify students who continue to struggle and provide additional training

Howard Gardener's Multiple Intelligences Theory - Howard asserts that all students have learning strengths. He primarily focuses on the student's instructional preference: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, music/rhythmic, linguistic, spatial ||
 * Similarities to other Models || Learning styles is not a model of teaching at all. Rather it is the realization that individuals approach learning situations differently. Through an acknowledgement of learning individuality, the instructor designs and delivers lessons to challenge the individual. A certain degree of learning discomfort (frustration) is normal in order for learning to occur.

Equity - Individual difference and socialization affects how the individual approaches any learning situation.

Mastery Learning - ongoing formative assessment that feeds back into instruction lends itself to determining how the individual learns and providing corrective action. ||
 * Caveats || Research shows that learning styles are difficult to assess and use due to the resources required to do it properly.

Research also shows that the gap between the learning styles of the individual is greatly reduced in higher education. As such this raises two questions:

A. Do individuals adapt to a variety of learning preferences as they progress to higher levels? B. Or, are individuals weeded out as they reach college and beyond? ||