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Learning Styles. Impacts on Teaching. Learning Styles. Learning styles correspond to sensory modalities: Visual – learn by seeing Sometimes divided into visual and read/write Auditory Kinesthetic. Learning Styles.
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Learning Styles Impacts on Teaching
Learning Styles • Learning styles correspond to sensory modalities: • Visual – learn by seeing • Sometimes divided into visual and read/write • Auditory • Kinesthetic
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? • Write your name under your predication.
Learning Styles • Test your learning style: • http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire • Did your result match your prediction? • Write your name under your test result.
Learning Styles • What did you think about the assessment tool?
Learning Styles • Potential Issues: • 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: • 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 • bolsters weaker areas • 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: • Class #1: • Kinesthetic – 95% (enjoyed lesson more) • Visual/verbal – 80%
Learning Styles Case Study: • Results: • 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 Vexing Topic to Present: suggestions? How could this topic be presented: • Visually? • Read/Write? • Auditory? • Kinesthetic?