Learning Styles

1. Learning Styles

2. Learning styles • The different ways in which individuals learn • Preferred and consistent sets of behaviors and approaches to learning

3. Processes of learning • Cognition Acquire knowledge • Conceptualization Process information make connections • Affective Motivation Decision-making style Values, emotional preferences

4. Students have… • Different levels of motivation • Different attitudes about teachng and learning • Different responses to learning environments and instructional methods

5. Diversity reflected in teaching and learning • Learning styles Taking in and processing information • Approaches to learning Surface, deep, strategic • Intellectual development levels Attitudes about knowledge How it is acquired, evaluated

6. Instruction is most effective if it is designed to address a broad spectrum of learning styles.

7. Some theories of learning styles….

8. Concrete experience Reflective observation Abstract conceptualization Active experimentation Kolb’s Theory of Learning Styles

9. Concrete experience Labs Field work Observations Films, tapes Reflective observation Logs Journals Brainstorm Abstract conceptualization Lectures Papers Analogies Active experimentation Simulations Case studies Independent work Kolb’s Theory of Learning Styles

10. Approach to task Feeling Watching Doing Processing continuum Perception continuum Kolb Thinking

11. Learning style types Feeling Activist Reflector Watching Doing Processing continuum Perception continuum Pragmatist Theorist Kolb Thinking

12. Activist (Description) • Hands-on • Intuition (rather than logic) • Practical • Experiential approach

13. Reflector • Looks from different perspectives • Sensitive • Watcher • Gathers information Uses it to solve problems

14. Theorist • Concise • Logical approach • Ideas and concepts important • Requires clear explanation

15. Pragmatist • Solve problems • Use learning to apply to solutions • Practical issues • Technical tasks • Less concerned with people and interpersonal aspects

16. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator • Extraverts • Sensors • Thinkers • Judgers

17. Extraverts Try things out, focus on the outer world Introverts Think things through, focus on the inner world of ideas

18. Sensors Practical, detail-oriented, focus on facts and procedures Intuitors Imaginative, concept-oriented, focus on meanings and possibilities

19. Thinkers Sceptical, make decisions based on logic and rules Feelers Appreciative, decisions based on personal and humanistic considerations

20. Judgers Set and follow agendas, seek closure even with incomplete data Perceivers Adapt to changing circumstances, postpone reaching closure to obtain more data

21. 1. Sensory/intuitive What type of information does the student preferentially perceive? Concrete,practical: abstractions 2. What type of sensory information is most effectively perceived? Visual: verbal 3. How does the student prefer to process information? Actively: reflectively 4. How does the student progress toward understanding Sequentially: globally Felder and Silverman Model

22. How Medical Students learnR Hilliard 1995 Learning approaches correlated with… motives to “do well” study methods academic performance Study methods were determined by the assessment methods

23. Sum Up • Everyone has an individual learning style • It would be impossible to design instruction for all learning styles • Designing learning experiences to appeal to several learning styles is helpful • Students can accommodate their learning to the teaching styles they experience • Felder & Silverman look at how students work with information.

24. Learning Style Indicator What kind of learner are you?