Transcript Learning Styles - Chabotcollege.edu

Learning Styles
Impacts on Teaching
Learning Styles

Learning styles correspond to
sensory modalities:
o
Visual – learn by seeing
•
Sometimes divided into visual and read/write
Auditory
o Kinesthetic
o
Learning Styles
 “Good”
learners pick up and remember
new material quickly – most likely, you
are a good learner!
 Which
do you think is your learning
style?
o
Write your name under your predication.
Learning Styles

Test your learning style:
o

http://www.varklearn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnair
e
Did your result match your prediction?
o
Write your name under your test result.
Learning Styles

What did you think about the
assessment tool?
Learning Styles

Potential Issues:
o
o
o
o
Wanting to select multiple options
Not feeling that any options fit
Situational – a test that leans toward reading will
produce a different style than one that leans toward
calculation
Real-life scenarios don’t necessarily correspond well
to academic situations
Learning Styles

Problems with Learning Styles Assessment Tools:
o Low reliability (~0.6)
• Expect to get the same results each time you
administer it, but this happens just over half the time
• Why?
 Test may not be a reliable measure
 Learning styles change based on interpretation of
question, age, and experience
Learning Styles
What cognitive research tells us:

Help students more by presenting them with multiple modalities
o bolsters weaker areas
o draws on multiple memory pathways

“Preferred learning modality” changes based on the type of
material.

Material is typically stored independently of any modality.
Memories stored in terms of meaning, not if you saw, heard, or
interacted with information.

Attempts to match material to learning style may benefit some
students, but will actually harm others.
Learning Styles
Case Study:

Lesson – Molecular Structure

Class #1 – build ball & stick models

Class #2 - read text and look at pictures
How would kinesthetic learners and visual/verbal learners score on a
later test in each class? What is your prediction?
Learning Styles
Case Study:

Results:
o
Class #1:
•
Kinesthetic – 95% (enjoyed lesson more)
•
Visual/verbal – 80%
Learning Styles
Case Study:

Results:
o
o
Class #1:
•
Kinesthetic – 95% (enjoyed lesson more)
•
Visual/verbal – 80%
Class #2:
•
Kinesthetic – 70%
•
Visual/verbal – 70% (enjoyed lesson more)
Learning Styles
Interpretation of Results:
For a given lesson, one instructional technique turns out to be optimal
for all students – the one that best fits the content!
Learning Styles
Fitting Modality to Content
Example: Understand dynamics of carbon cycle
I’ve tried:

Static images and talking through

Static images with students reading and asking questions

Images that students have to connect with arrows

Narrated animation

Walk through cycle with each student being a “carbon atom”, then
diagram their pathway & compare with those of classmates
Learning Styles
Learning Styles
Vexing Topic to Present: suggestions?
How could this topic be presented:

Visually?

Read/Write?

Auditory?

Kinesthetic?