Understanding Your Learning Style II

1. Understanding Your Learning Style II Personal Knowledge Intermediate Level Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

2. Acknowledgment of Support The material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. DUE-0089079: “Implementing the BESTEAMS model of team development across the curriculum.” Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Additional support was provided by the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Morgan State University, the United States Naval Academy, and Howard University. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

3. Warm-Up • Reflect on a time when you had a lot of trouble learning a particular subject. • What made it so difficult for you? • What steps did you take to learn the material? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

4. Knowing Yourself: Learning Styles in Engineering • What is a learning style? • Characteristic ways of receiving and processing information in order to learn. • Examples include: • Preferring to learn by doing versus by listening or reading • Preferring to learn by first seeing the “big picture” or by going step by step Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

5. Models of Learning Styles • The Kolb Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) is widely used to describe: • Preferences for perceiving as a continuum from reflective observation to active experimentation • Preferences for judging information as abstract conceptualization to concrete experience Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

6. Review of Kolb • Characteristic ways of perceiving and judging knowledge: • Assimilators -high reflective observation and active experimentation • Divergers - high concrete experience and reflective observation • Accommodators - high active experimentation and concrete experimentation • Convergers - high active experimentation and abstract conceptualization Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

7. Index of Learning Styles (ILS) • Created by Dr. Richard Felder, a chemical engineer and leading engineering education professor at North Carolina State University • Uses concepts from the Kolb LSI, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and other learning theories • The ILS is designed to be particularly relevant to engineering education Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

8. Learning Style Preference Notes • Learning Styles are “lenses” for understanding your own and others preferences for learning and contributing to teams • They are never right or wrong • Individuals have preferences or strengths, but everyone can (and probably should) use all styles at some point in their learning or work in teams • Individuals have strength of preferences: some may be strong, others may be weak Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

9. Key Dimensions of ILS Learning Preferences • Active versus Reflective preference (similar to Kolb LSI) • Sensing versus Intuitive preference (similar to the MBTI) • Visual versus Verbal preference • Sequential versus Global preference • Inductive versus Deductive preference Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

10. Your own ILS Profile • Look at your own profile: • Are you strong in some areas? • Weak in others? • Balanced throughout? • How can you use your learning style preferences and strengths to maximize your learning? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

11. Active vs. Reflective Preference • Active preference: prefers to learn by trying new things out, improving experiments, working with others • Reflective preference: prefers to learn by thinking things through, working alone Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

12. Maximizing Your Learning • Active Learners • Study in groups and take turns explaining topics to each other • Anticipate what will be asked on tests and brainstorm the answers • Try and study alone and then report or discuss w/ others; in teams, allow time for reflection, write down your ideas, then speak up STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

13. Maximizing Your Learning • Reflective Learners • Summarize material you are studying • Make a list of “key points” • Think of possible test questions based on the material • Think of applications of the material to things you are interested in • Discuss your work w/ a fellow student or be a tutor STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

14. Sensing vs. Intuitive • Sensing preference: prefers to focus on facts, procedures, preferring the practical and concrete • Intuitive preference: prefers to focus on innovation, concepts, preferring the theoretical and hypothetical Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

15. Exercise: Sensing/Intuitive Learners • Imagine you are a part of an engineering society effort to reach out to talented high school students in the community and teach them about the field of engineering. • Design an experience for 9th graders so that they can understand the concept “conservation of energy.” • Divide into S/I groups and design a plan. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

16. Maximizing Your Learning • Sensing Learners • Ask instructors for specific examples • Ask for how the material can be applied in engineering practice • Ask yourself ‘what if’ questions. For example, “what if I changed this parameter?” “What if, I used this concept in a different context?” • Make friends with symbols by creating a symbol dictionary and learn them like a foreign language STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

17. Maximizing Your Learning • Intuitive Learners: • Avoid careless mistakes: read the entire question or assignment before you take action • Check your solutions: make sure the question you answered was the one that was asked • Link the specifics of the course or task to the big picture: Why is your instructor presenting this material? How is it important now, to practicing engineers, to research scientists? • Make one note card per week with specific formula, equations, etc. then memorize it. STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

18. Visual vs. Verbal • Visual preference: prefers to learn by visual representations, e.g., flow charts, diagrams, pictures • Verbal preference: prefers to learn by reading or listening Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

19. Maximizing Your Learning • Visual Learners: • Find or create visualizations of the concepts you are learning (flow charts, schematics, photographs, diagrams) • Plan a concept map: list key points/concepts and link w/ arrows showing the relationships between them • Color code your notes w/ highlighters so that related concepts are in the same color • Explain your concept map to a classmate in order to enhance your understanding STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

20. Maximizing Your Learning • Verbal Learners: • Write summaries of the class material in your own words • Work in groups where you can take turns explaining concepts and problem solutions to one another • Develop a concept map that represents the material presented in class; add symbols as the class continues STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

21. Sequential vs. Global • Sequential preference: prefers to learn in small increments, linear, orderly progression • Global preference: prefers to learn holistically, large leaps of understanding, “systems” thinking Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

22. Maximizing Your Learning • Sequential Learners: • Ask your instructor to “fill in” any steps you find missing (“How did you get from here to there?”) • Try and outline your notes or the material in logical order • Relate the new material to other concepts and information you know. Ask: “Where else would this apply?” STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

23. Maximizing Your Learning • Global Learners: • Get the “big picture” by skimming the material (read the titles, then subtitles, then graphs, section headings, finally, the first sentence in each paragraph). • Link the new material to concepts you already know (Ask: “Why is this important?” “Who uses this information?” “How is it applied?”) • Create a concept map identifying links between individual concepts, explain the relationships to a class or team mate. STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

24. Inductive vs. Deductive • Inductive preference: prefers to learn from specifics and generalize to the “big picture” or concept • Deductive preference: prefers to learn from the general/theory/concept and then move to specifics or application • NOTE: This dimension is not assessed in the Felder Index Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

25. Exercise: YOUR Learning Style • Remember when you reflected on a time when you had a lot of trouble learning a particular subject... “What if” you had known your ILS? How might that have made a difference in how they approached learning the material? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

26. Take Home Points • Learning preferences are not “right” or “wrong” • Knowing your own preferences can help you understand your own strengths in terms of learning and related tasks such as working on teams • Differences in terms of how people look at the world, prefer to work and interact, are all positives when it comes to teamwork and accomplishing complex projects Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

27. Learning Styles in Teams: Part II Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

28. Learning in a Mixed Learning Style Group/Team: Maximizing EVERYONE’s Learning • In an ideal class, everyone’s learning style is appreciated and accomodated. • Considering your own learning preferences, ask: “Does what the instructor is doing now match my learning style?” If not, what can you do to make the material more meaningful? STRETCH YOURSELF Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

29. Helping Everyone Learn in a Team Context • In order to help everyone contribute to the team, try the following: • Start with real world examples and problems that show why the theoretical/technical material will be useful or important (helps sensing & global learners) • Balance concrete information with conceptual information: do hands-on experiments or demonstrations to illustrate Laws and principles (helps sensing & intuitive learners) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

30. Learning in Teams, cont. • Draw and Talk: use schematics, computer graphics, plots, vector diagrams, etc. to support verbal explanations provided in lectures or readings (helps both visual and verbal learners) • Illustrate using BOTH numeric and algebraic examples (helps both sensors and intuitives) • Use physical analogies/demonstrations to make the abstract more real (e.g. “100 microns is about the thickness of a sheet of paper”) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

31. Learning in Teams, cont. • Work in small groups or sub-teams to solve problems inductively (starting with empirical data work out solutions and then generalize to principles and laws) • Allow time to think and ask questions: “What is the most confusing point?” write it down and hand in or discuss with neighbor (helps reflective learners) • Ask the “So what?”: where can the information being learned be applied? Brainstorm all possible applications (helps global learners) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

32. Learning Styles in Team: Stuck? • When your team is at an impasse, ask each member: • What is the learning style preference of each member of your team? • How do you define the problem/issue from your perspective? • How would you solve a problem such as this? • What information is missing that would help solve the problem? • If not all learning styles are represented on your team, ask “What would a ‘global’ learner want to know? How would they approach this?” Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

33. Exercise: Active/Reflective Learners • Active and Reflective Preference Learners split into groups: • What is your favorite aspect of working on a team project and why? • Think of engineering teams you have worked on before. • Project design • Team work • Testing and experimentation • Report writing and presentation • Is there a connection between your preferences in teams and your preferred learning style? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004