What I Knew
Before
Learning Styles is something I knew about before and didn’t
know the depth of it until this particular assignment. Although the value of
learning styles theory has been questioned, this has been due largely to the
lack of research to support the various models, particularly in relation to
gains in learning and attainment. Nevertheless, there is a common acceptance
that people do learn in different ways and that greater awareness of learning
preferences and styles helps teachers to be more flexible in their teaching and
to use a wider range of classroom methodologies.
What I Know
Now
The ways that people go about gathering and interpreting
information can be surprisingly different. Research shows that people have
different preferences and strengths in how they take in, and process,
information. These preferences are sometimes referred to as learning styles and
are used to describe and help us understand the different ways in which
different people learn. Over the years, a number of different learning styles
theories have emerged. The majority of these have been based on responses to
questionnaires, and since this approach relies on people’s willingness and
ability to be accurate and objective about the ways that they learn, the
validity of learning styles theory has often been questioned. This has opened
my eyes in different ways of going about teaching with a class or individual students.
The main messages for teachers, schools and learners are as
follows.
- Do
not place too much faith in any one learning styles theory. Most are not
very robust or reliable. A learning style should not be thought of as
an absolute, nor should it be considered the main determinant of
intelligence, ability or competence.
- Most
students have elements of more than one learning style. They may have a
preference for one way of learning, but can also learn in other ways
although it may be harder to do so. Knowing their preferred learning
styles may help students develop strategies to compensate for weaknesses
and build on strengths.
- Teachers
should avoid trying to categorise or confine individual pupils to one
learning style. The aim of learning style theory is to help young people
build their skills and capacities to learn well in both preferred and less
preferred modes of learning. Teachers should also be aware that age,
educational level, and motivation influence each pupil's learning and that
preferred learning styles might alter over time.
- A
teacher’s own preferred learning style often becomes his or her
predominant teaching style. Teachers, who are aware of their
preferred teaching styles and the preferred learning styles of each of
their learners, are more likely to adopt student-centred learning experiences,
even if it is not the way they learned or prefer to learn.
- Teachers
should attempt to use a variety of materials and delivery methods to allow
students to at least have their learning style preference partly
addressed.
- It
is important that learners are able to make use of all their senses when
gathering, processing and recalling information. This is particularly
true of visual and kinaesthetic learning. Teachers should be able to
vary their approaches when presenting information and contexts for learning,
for example, conveying the big picture as well as detailing step-by-step
learning where appropriate.
- Some
research suggests that the most able learners are those with reasonably
plastic learning styles who can adapt their ability to learn to the prevailing
materials and circumstances. In other words, making people move out of
their preferred learning style gives them the possibility of developing
new learning strategies.
- Teachers
should also be aware of the importance of feelings and emotions in learning,
as well as the nature of feedback that they give to learners. This
can markedly affect the motivation and achievement of young people.
Helping young people to identify the ways that they learn
best and providing them with opportunities to use all their senses and
different intelligences is one of the key challenges for policy makers,
teachers and parents alike.
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