Transcript Learning Styles II

Learning Styles,
Part II: Different
Ways of Teaching
A KIT workshop
Agenda
 What is your Learning Style?
 Description of different Learning Styles
 What is your Teaching Style?
 Discovering strategies to match the
learning styles of your students
 Summarizing comments
 Evaluation
Introduction
 Students prefer to absorb and process
information in different ways:
• seeing and hearing
• reflecting and acting
• reasoning logically and intuitively,
• analyzing and visualizing,
• steadily and in fits and starts.
Different Teaching Methods
Instructors may:
 Lecture
 Demonstrate
 Lead Students to Self-discovery
 Focus on Principles and
 Focus on applications
 Some emphasize memory
 Some emphasize understanding
How can Learning & Teaching
Styles help?
Mismatches between LS of the student &
the TS of the professor can result in
boredom, inattentiveness,
poor performance on tests,
discouragement,
changing majors,
even dropping the course for the student.
For Professors
 Professors may be confronted by:
low test grades, unresponsive or hostile
classes, poor attendance and dropouts.
 Professors may become overly critical of
their students (making things even worse)
 Professors or begin to wonder if they are in
the right profession.
 Most seriously, society loses potentially
excellent professionals.
How to Accommodate?
 Does not mean to teach each student
according to his or her preferences
 Strive for a balance of instructional
methods
 Teach partly in preferred style (to increase
comfort level and willingness to learn)
 Teach partly in a less preferred style (to
provide practice and feedback in ways of
thinking and solving problems)
Why Incorporate Learning Styles
in our Teaching?
In summary:
 Making Teaching and Learning a dialogue
 Responding to a More Diverse Student
body
 Communicating Our Message
 Making Teaching More Rewarding.
 Ensuring the Future of Our Disciplines.
Models of Learning Styles
 Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorTM
 Kolb/McCarthy Learning Cycle
 Felder-Silverman Learning Styles Model
 Grasha-Riechmann Learning Styles
 McCarthy Model
Multimodal Approach (VARK)
The VARK Approach
Neil Fleming, Lincoln University, NZ
• V - Visual
• A - Aural
• R - Read/write
• K - Kinesthetic, sensory modalities
For more information, visit
http://www.vark-learn.com
Visual Learners like to . . .
 Use visual materials (e. g., pictures, maps,
graphs)
 Have a clear view of the instructor in order
to see body language and facial expression
 Use color to highlight important points in
the text
 Take notes or ask instructor to provide
handouts
Visual Learners like to . . .
 Illustrate ideas as a picture or
brainstorming bubble
 Write and illustrate a story
 Use multi-media (e.g., computers, videos)
 Study in a quiet place
 Read illustrated books
 Visualize information as a memorization
aid
Auditory Learners like to . . .
 Attend lectures
 Participate in class discussions/debates
 Make speeches and presentations
 Use a tape recorder during lectures instead
of taking notes
 Read text aloud
 Create mnemonics and musical jingles to
aid memorization
Auditory Learners like to . . .
 Discuss ideas with fellow students
 Dictate their thoughts to someone who
writes them down
 Use verbal analogies and story telling to
demonstrate course material
Reading/Writing Learners like to . . .
 Use printed sources (e. g., texts, lecture
notes, lists, dictionaries, handouts)
 Use the library
 Attend classes of lecturers who are
articulate and who speak in full sentences
 Take detailed notes
 Write essays
 Use manuals (laboratory, computer)
Kinesthetic Learners like to . . .
 Attend laboratory sessions and field trips
 See examples of previous exams
 Take frequent study breaks
 Move around while learning new things
(e.g., read on an exercise bike)
 Assemble collections (shells, rocks, etc.)
 Attend classes of lecturers who give “real
world” examples
Kinesthetic Learners like to . . .
 Chew gum while studying
 “Dress up” their work space with posters
 Listen to music while studying
 Scan an assigned reading to get a “rough
idea” before reading in detail
SO ...
 Traditional instruction focuses almost
exclusively on the formal presentation
of material (lecturing)
 In order to reach all types of learners, a
instructor must devise strategies that
take different learning styles into
account
General strategies for all styles
(Richard Felder)
 Introduce theory followed by problems
related to the theory
 Balance conceptual information with
concrete information
 Use sketches, plots, schematics, vector
diagrams, computer graphics, and physical
demonstrations (visual) in addition to oral
and written explanations
General strategies for all styles
(Richard Felder)
 Use analogies and demonstrations to help
students relate to concepts
 Present students with issues, case studies,
experimental observations, and have them
work in groups to arrive at their own
inferences
 Provide class time to think about the
material being presented, and for active
student participation
General strategies for all styles
(Richard Felder)
 Encourage or mandate cooperation on
homework
 Demonstrate the logical flow of individual
course topics
 Point out connections between the current
material and other relevant material in the
same course, in other courses in the same
discipline, in other disciplines, and in
everyday experience
How can an instructor do all that and still get
through the syllabus?
 Put most of the material in handouts, and
go through the handouts quickly in class
 Talk to students about their learning styles,
either in class or in advising.
(Many students have been coping with LS/TS
mismatches since high school (or earlier) and have
attributed their scholastic difficulties to their own
inadequacies)