EDCI 6227 Learning Styles Course

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You will need to email it to your instructor. Download and save the document as described below and then you can enter your own text into the Student Book word document. Your instructor will expect a version of your Student Book as you complete each module. These can be saved by you in your files as well as being sent to your course instructor via email as an email attachment.

How do I save and name the Student Book?

You cannot type your answers on this web site. You must download your Student Book template which is a word document, by clicking on the download link below.

For your Student Book, please use a text document or a Microsoft Word document and type your text there. Title the document like this:

• NAME OF CLASS
• NAME OF TEACHER
• YOUR NAME
• DATE
• MODULE1

[NAMEOFCLASS_TEACHERSNAME_YOURNAME_MODULENUMBER.doc ]

like this

Save the Student Book on your computer and complete the assignments on the document and then email it to your teacher.

INDEX

STUDENTBOOKS Click here to download all student books

RESOURCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

REFERENCE LINKS

DEFINITIONS

Module 1: What are learning styles?

MODULE 1A Intended learning outcomes for Module 1

MODULE 1B Learning styles: a brief overview 

MODULE 1C Activity 1: Initial thinking about learning styles

MODULE 1D Different approaches to learning styles 

MODULE 1E The brain's hemispheres

MODULE 1F Activity 2: Left brain and right brain (1) 

MODULE 1G Activity 3: Left brain and right brain (2) 

MODULE 1H Learning styles as preferences 

MODULE 1I Determining learning styles or 'dominance profiles'

MODULE 1J Activity 4: Determining learning styles 

MODULE 1K Is that the whole story? The brain as a multi-processor

MODULE 1L Activity 5: The brain as a multi-processor

MODULE 1M Task 1: Investigating another approach to learning styles

MODULE 1N Learning styles are continuums 

MODULE 1O A word about learning styles and multiple intelligences

MODULE 1P Activity 6: Learning styles and multiple intelligences

MODULE 1Q What have you learned? Evaluation of your learning from Module 1

MODULE 1R Congratulations

Module 2: Visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles explained.

MODULE 2A Intended learning outcomes for Module 2 

MODULE 2B An overview 

MODULE 2C Activity 7: Your pupils and the VAK styles

MODULE 2D Task 2: Tracking visual learners

MODULE 2E Task 3: Tracking auditory learners

MODULE 2F Task 4: Tracking kinesthetic learners

MODULE 2G Activity 8: Nurturing the kinesthetic learner

MODULE 2H Task 5: A colleague's opinion

MODULE 2I Activity 9: Good and bad styles

MODULE 2JWhat have you learned? Evaluation of your learning from Module 2

MODULE 2K Congratulations

Module 3: Learning styles in the classroom

MODULE 3A: Intended learning outcomes for Module 3

MODULE 3B: An overview

MODULE 3C: Is attention to learning styles really necessary?

MODULE 3D: Activity 10: Learning styles in the classroom

MODULE 3E: Activity 11: The VAK classroom

MODULE 3F: Teaching with a focus on visual learners

MODULE 3G: Activity 12: Teaching the visual learner

MODULE 3H: Task 6: Focusing on visual learners

MODULE 3I: Activity 13: Teaching the auditory learner

MODULE 3J: Task 7: Focusing on auditory learners

MODULE 3K: Activity 14: Teaching the kinesthetic learner

MODULE 3L: Task 8: Focusing on kinesthetic learners

MODULE 3M: What have you learned? Evaluation of your learning from Module 3

MODULE 3N: Congratulations

Module 1: What are learning styles?

MODULE 1A Intended learning outcomes for Module 1

By the end of this module you should:

• have begun to understand the term "learning styles"
• know that there are different approaches to learning styles
• know something about your own preferences for learning

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MODULE 1B Learning styles: a brief overview

"Learning is not done to people. It is done by them." (Mike Hughes, Closing the Learning Gap)

The term "learning style" relates to the way in which an individual takes in information.

As a result of new research into the area, a number of different approaches to learning styles have been identified. As this course is an introduction to the subject, we'll concentrate on just one of these approaches, known as the VAK model of learning styles. This model suggests that there are three main learning styles:

• visual preferring to see information
• auditory preferring to hear information
• kinesthetic preferring to learn by doing

Nobody uses each style exclusively there will usually be significant overlaps but it's fair to say that at any one time, you will see each type of learner in your classroom. Turned on its head, this means that during any one activity, up to two thirds of your pupils will be attempting to learn outside their natural learning style. We'll look at the VAK approach to learning styles in more detail in Modules 2 and 3. Later in Module 1, we'll look briefly at some different approaches.

"Most of what's learned in your class is not in your lesson plan in other words, there is a documented, enormous and profound difference between presenting and learning." (Eric Jensen, Brain-Based Learning, p35)

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MODULE 1C Activity 1: Initial thinking about learning styles

Think of a recent activity that you have done with one of your classes. Did you notice any differences in how easy your students found it to learn from the activity? If so, could you suggest any reasons for this? Record your thoughts in your Student book (1).

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MODULE 1D Different approaches to learning styles

One approach to learning styles is based on research into how the brain's two hemispheres work. Read Resource 1: Our innate learning styles for some more information.

Although there are links with the VAK model of learning styles, this research into the preferences of the brain hemispheres just goes to show that there are different approaches to the whole subject. We'll now look at this brain hemispheres approach a little more closely.

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The brain's hemispheres

The brain (or cerebrum) contains two hemispheres. These hemispheres each contain the following four lobes:

• occipital
• parietal
• temporal
• frontal

Information coming into the left side of the body (the left ear or left eye, for example) is processed by the corresponding right lobes and vice versa. There is a crossover pattern.

It's thought that each hemisphere has a specific way of processing information, so that the left hemisphere (or logic hemisphere) deals with details, processes of language and the right hemisphere (or gestalt hemisphere) deals with intuition, emotion, images and so on.

In her book, Smart Moves, Carla Hannaford lists the basic differences between the two hemispheres of the brain. Click on Resource 2: Logic/gestalt to see them.

While it's an oversimplification to think of learning in terms of left or right brain labels (there is a real case for thinking in terms of 'whole-brained' learning), it will help if you understand the generalization of the two hemispheres in order to appreciate that connecting them both should be an over-arching goal of education.

(Note what Eric Jensen says about left and right brain labels:

"The prevailing research in neuroscience avoids the definitive left-right brain labels. They now use the term relative lateralization". Brain-Based Learning, p17).

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MODULE 1F Activity 2: Left brain and right brain (1)

Are the majority of the activities you ask your pupils to do "left brain" or "right brain"?

Think of examples of left and right brain activities using the table in Resource 2 as inspiration.

Record your ideas in your STUDENTBOOK (2).

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MODULE 1G Activity 3: Left brain and right brain (2)

Read Resource 3: Engaging the whole brain.

(Remember that these are the thoughts of just one author you may disagree with his assertion that the majority of teachers are "left-brained, analytical thinkers"!)

Think about your teaching in the last few weeks. What activities have you done with students that (perhaps unintentionally) successfully engage both brain hemispheres? One example might be arts and crafts which can activate both the "linear" left hemisphere and the "creative" right hemisphere.

How would you rate these activities in terms of how they were received by the students and how well they achieved your learning intentions?

Record your ideas in your STUDENTBOOK (3)

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Don't fall into the trap of believing that it's possible to perform some type of multiple choice quiz to determine your students' learning styles and then rigidly teach to the results. The whole area of learning styles is only of real use to us if we acknowledge that it's possible for anyone to learn outside their preferred style of taking in information, but that it appears that learning is optimized when working within their preferred style.

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MODULE 1I Determining learning styles or 'dominance profiles'

There are many systems for analyzing and assessing learning styles that have been developed and refined by experimenters over time. Dr Paul Dennison's BrainGym® is based on a method of assessing learning styles by determining the lateral dominance of eyes, ears and hands in relation to the dominant brain hemisphere. From Dr. Dennison's research, we know that when we are faced with new learning situations, we use our dominant sense to access information, be that sight (eyes) or sound (ears), and express with our dominant hand (whether through gestures to accompany words, or in writing).

Other systems for determining dominance learning profiles include the following:

• Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
• Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory
• Predictive Index
• C.A.R.E Profile
• Myers Briggs Type Indicator
• Adversity Index

Researchers who have explored this issue of learning styles include Professors Ken and Rita Dunn from St Johns University, New York, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford, David Kolb and Howard Gardner.

(There's more information on some of the above systems in the Internet Links section. We'll look at the Honey-Mumford research in more detail later in this module.)

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MODULE 1J Activity 4: Determining learning styles

Read Resource 4: Determining learning styles. Then, through simple reflection, try to reach conclusions on:

• how you perceive information most easily
• how you organize and process information
• the conditions under which you can best take in and store information
• how you best retrieve information

Record your reflections in your STUDENTBOOK (4)

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MODULE 1K Is that the whole story? The brain as a multi-processor

Identifying learning styles is really only part of the story, albeit a very useful part for teachers working within the conventional school system. While we do all seem to have favorite ways of learning (and teaching), as Jensen explains in his book, Brain-Based Learning, we are more complex than simply developing and sticking to one way of learning because our brains are "multi-processors". Most of the brain will be called on to a greater or lesser extent during every act of learning.

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MODULE 1L Activity 5: The brain as a multi-processor

At this point, we should briefly reflect on the difference between learning styles and intelligence. Although the boundaries are blurred, and different people define the two concepts differently, for the purposes of this course we would describe them as follows:

Broadly speaking, a learning style is our preferred way of taking in information. Intelligence is how we process that information.

Now read Resource 5: The learning process, to see how Eric Jensen describes the different categories of the whole learning process.

Of the four categories Jensen describes, it's numbers 2 and 3, the "input" and "processing" categories which sum up the difference between a learning style and intelligence.

Has this breakdown of how we actually learn enhanced your understanding of the case for exploring the learning styles of your students? In what way? Record your thoughts in your STUDENTBOOK (5).

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MODULE 1M Task 1: Investigating another approach to learning styles

We've seen from our earlier discussion of the brain's hemispheres, and other pieces of research, that there are many more approaches to learning styles than just the VAK model.

Another approach has been developed by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford. They identify the following four types of learner:

• activists "hands-on" learners who prefer to have a go and learn through trial and error
• reflectors "tell me" learners who prefer to have things thoroughly explained to them before proceeding
• theorists want to be convinced about the validity of the information they are being given
• pragmatists want to be shown what they must learn

These categories vary from more "sense based" or "perceptual modality preference" definitions (such as visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners), and serve to illustrate that the term "learning styles" is best used to refer to the recognition of individual learning differences.

Just for fun, we'll use the Honey-Mumford definitions to do a quick analysis of your own preferred learning style. In your STUDENTBOOK (6), record your initial thoughts on the extent to which you fall into these categories. Are you clearly one of these types or a combination? Which best describe you? As an optional extra to this task, choose one of the following questionnaires.

What's Your Learning Style?

Discover your Learning Styles

Assessment Find Your Strengths

The VARK Questionnaire

When you have completed the questionnaire (which should take 10-15 minutes), study the results.  What are your strengths and development needs? How do these compare with your initial assessments based on the brief information given above?  Make a note of your responses on your STUDENTBOOK (6). In your student book, the third question directs students to Trainer Questionnaire on http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml .

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MODULE 1N Learning styles are continuums

The reality of learning styles is that they're all continuums, and that everyone sits at a particular point on the continuum. In other words, we can't just say that someone is a visual learner or not, an auditory learner or not, a pragmatist or not. Furthermore, our position on these continuums is subject to fluctuations. Some researchers have said the time of day can affect how we learn best, while others have concluded that the time of year and even the menstrual cycle in women have an impact on how information is taken in and processed.

It's important that we remember this so that we can safely encourage students to move with flexibility through and between learning styles rather than relying too heavily on one or other style. After all, this is how we live, and they will have to live, in the real world.

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MODULE 1O A word about learning styles and multiple intelligences

In Activity 5 we looked briefly at the difference between learning styles and intelligence. Now let's explore that difference a bit further by looking at a subject that's often confused with learning styles - multiple intelligences.

Learning styles and multiple intelligences are not the same thing and the concepts should not be confused. We offer a separate course called Multiple intelligences that looks at the subject in more detail, but for the purposes of this course, the following Activity may help.

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MODULE 1P Activity 6: Learning styles and multiple intelligences

Read Resource 6: An analogy, and then Resource 7: Gardner on multiple intelligence myths. Consider the differences between learning styles and multiple intelligences and write a few sentences by way of conclusion in your STUDENTBOOK (7).

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MODULE 1Q What have you learned? Evaluation of your learning from Module 1

When you have worked through the Activities and Task in this module, please look again at the intended learning outcomes. By the end of this module you should:

• have begun to understand the term "learning styles"
• know that there are different approaches to learning styles
• know something about your own preferences for learning

In your STUDENTBOOK (8), make a note of the extent to which you have achieved the learning intentions for Module 1. Save your responses than e-mail your comments to your instructor.

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MODULE 1R Congratulations

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MODULE 2A

Intended learning outcomes for Module 2

"We teach that the most successful learners have developed pathways in all styles of learning. The awareness of the teacher and the student of the individual's preferred style of learning is important but we make all children learn all three ways kinesthetically, aurally and visually."

(Jackie Beere, Times Educational Supplement article, 29 September 2000)

By the end of this module you should have begun to develop an understanding of:

• how visual learners operate
• how auditory learners operate
• how kinesthetic learners operate

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MODULE 2B An overview

"There is no one theory or model which fully describes learning differences or offers a panacea (a cure-all) for teachers. Working with one of the models can help teachers to recognize powerfully the extent of the differences in the way that people learn and the fact that there is no single best way to teach. They can provide teachers with a powerful tool to help them examine and develop their practice." (Teaching for Effective Learning, 1996)

As we mentioned in Module 1, new learning styles theories are almost constantly being researched. In the next two modules, we'll focus on just one of these approaches: the VAK model. This should not be taken to be the definitive categorization of learning styles, but is certainly one that can most easily be applied to and used in schools to beneficial effect.

To recap, this model identifies three main learning styles:

• visual (learning from pictures and images)
• auditory (learning from spoken words and music)
• kinesthetic (learning from moving, touching, doing)

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MODULE 2C Activity 7: Your pupils and the VAK styles

Remember what we touched on in Module 1: while people have tendencies towards one or more of the so-called VAK styles (visual, auditory and kinesthetic), these tendencies are in no way fixed or permanent.

So with this firmly in mind, do the following exercise.

Select a random group of about ten students from one of your teaching groups. Based on what you know so far about the VAK learning styles, and on your observations of these children in your classroom, can you classify each child under one of the headings: visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners?

Are there any children that do not fit firmly under one heading or another?

Roughly how many appear to cross the boundaries between the styles?

Record your conclusions in your STUDENTBOOK(9).

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MODULE 2D Task 2: Tracking visual learners

Note: Tasks 3 and 4 are very similar to this one, so it's probably a good idea to do all three at the same time.

How can you spot a visual learner?

In short, she's the one in your class who will be happy to flick through a book or read through the notes you have given out. She'll pay close attention to you when you demonstrate using body language because she'll be relying heavily on what she sees in order to gather information.

Select at least two pupils from one of your teaching groups who show tendencies to be visual learners. Without modifying your teaching in any way, observe how they respond to the work you set over a period of, for example, a week. What poses problems for them? What do they cope with well? Aim to determine what kind of activities suit them best.

Print out Resource 8: All about visual learners to help you.

Once you've done that, record your observations in your STUDENTBOOK(10).

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How can you spot an auditory learner? He's the one in your class who talks to himself while working and who may be quietly saying out loud the words as he reads. He'll pick up a tune on one hearing and will sometimes think of difficult concepts in terms of songs or music.

Select at least two pupils from one of your teaching groups who show tendencies to be auditory learners. Without modifying your teaching in any way, observe how they respond to the work you set over a period of, for example, a week. What poses problems for them? What do they cope with well? If you teach a particular subject (for example, at secondary level), aim to determine what types of activities suit them best.

Use Resource 9: All about auditory learners, to help you.

Then record your observations in your STUDENTBOOK (11).

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MODULE 2F Task 4: Tracking kinesthetic learners

How can you spot a kinesthetic (sometimes known as "tactual-kinesthetic" or "touch-kinesthetic") learner? He'll be the one in your classroom curled up on his chair or slumped over the desk, probably doodling as you speak. That is, unless he's wandering around the room on the pretence of some genuine need to leave his seat. He needs to discover the world through touch and movement and won't respond so well to sitting, listening and reading as these activities are less physically stimulating to him.

Select at least two pupils from one of your teaching groups who show tendencies to be kinesthetic learners. Without modifying your teaching in any way, observe how they respond to the work you set over a period of, for example, a week. What poses problems for them? What do they cope with well? Aim to determine what activities suit them best.

Use Resource 10: All about kinesthetic learners, to help you.

Record your observations in your

STUDENTBOOK(12).

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MODULE 2G Activity 8: Nurturing the kinesthetic learner

Read Resource 11: Learning to learn, and Resource 12: Disadvantaged kinesthetic learners.

Both Resources suggest that kinesthetic learners are the ones most likely to struggle with schoolwork and the school setting.

From your observations of students displaying the three styles studied, would you agree with this generalization? What evidence have you found to support or refute this?

Record your conclusions in your STUDENTBOOK (13).

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MODULE 2H Task 5: A colleague's opinion

Talk to a colleague who knows the same teaching group you originally chose to analyze. Without telling them about your experiment with kinesthetic learners, ask them if there are any students who have particular problems concentrating, or tend to seem more distracted than others.

Do the names they give match the students you had identified as kinesthetic learners?

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MODULE 2I Activity 9: Good and bad styles

Read Resource 13: Good and bad styles?.

From what you have discovered so far about learning styles and preferences, is there a style of learner that you find most difficult to relate to? Think carefully about any prejudices that you might have and where they might come from.

Do you think that these prejudices, if you have them, would impact on your teaching in any way?

Record your thoughts in your STUDENTBOOK (14).

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MODULE 2J What have you learned? Evaluation of your learning from Module 2

When you have worked through the Activities and Tasks in this module, please look again at the intended learning outcomes for Module 2.

By the end of this module you should have begun to develop an understanding of:

• how visual learners operate
• how auditory learners operate
• how kinesthetic learners operate

How much has this module helped you to achieve these outcomes? Make your notes in your STUDENTBOOK (15). Save your file and e-mail your comments to your instructor.  BACK TO INDEX

MODULE 2K Congratulations

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MODULE 3A

Intended learning outcomes for Module 3

By the end of this module you should be able to:

• identify how to help your pupils to learn in a personally meaningful way
• focus on the visual learners in your classroom to improve their learning
• focus on the auditory learners in your classroom to improve their learning
• focus on the kinesthetic learners in your classroom to improve their learning

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MODULE 3B An overview

"Since we cannot know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned."

(John Holt, How Children Fail)

"Without an understanding of what the mind was designed to do in the environment in which we evolved, the unnatural activity called formal education is unlikely to succeed."

(Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works)

None of the ideas in this module is new. Much of it is already being performed by teachers in their classrooms, although perhaps without a conscious focus on learning styles. The aim of this module is to look at precisely what teachers can do to accommodate different learning styles in their teaching without adding to their existing workload. The aim is certainly not to be dancing to thirty different tunes! Rather, it is to help create flexible and confident learners.

This module will explore each learning style auditory, visual and kinesthetic in turn. As explained in Module 2, the VAK model shouldn't be seen as the definitive categorization of learning styles, but it's certainly one that can easily be applied to and used in schools to beneficial effect.

Remember, while children can have tendencies towards one or more of the so-called VAK styles (visual, auditory and kinesthetic), these tendencies are not fixed. Some children may flow between these styles during the course of a lesson, a day or their school careers. The aim is to facilitate learning across the styles as far as is practicable in your lessons.

In essence, this requires being mindful of what you have learned from Modules 1 and 2, but not being a slave to the concepts. If you're able to incorporate specific techniques for each style, you will not be disadvantaging any of your students. In fact, you will probably be nurturing their ability to respond with intellectual flexibility to the way in which information is presented to them.

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MODULE 3C Is attention to learning styles really necessary?

One thought to hold onto is that studies in the UK and in the USA have found that chronic stress of the kind experienced when the lessons you attend do not suit your preferred way of learning can significantly lower your ability to think. A cynic might say that in this age of focus on bottom line issues such as student performance and league tables, any hindrance to effective thinking should be avoided at all costs!

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MODULE 3D Activity 10: Learning styles in the classroom

From what you have learned so far, think of three techniques that you might employ with your class(es) for each type of learning style, visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Record your ideas in your Student book (16).

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MODULE 3E Activity 11:The VAK Classroom

Recall a classroom or school facility you have visited that functioned well to meet the needs of students and provided a venue for successfully addressing various learning styles. If none comes to mind, do an online search for VAK Classrooms or 21st Century classroom design.

Note facility or classroom arrangements you could adapt to your own teaching situation. Record your thoughts in your STUDENT BOOK (17)

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MODULE 3F Teaching with a focus on visual learners

Identifying the visual learners in your classroom is not enough. You need to be able to employ specific techniques to maximize the learning potential in your lessons.

Something to keep in mind is that internal motivation is the goal to be nurtured in each student. As Nelson Mandela said: "It is easier to educate a man who wants to learn".

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MODULE 3G Activity 12: Teaching the visual learner

Resource 14 is all about teaching visual learners. Read this Resource (remember, you can print it off and save it for future reference) and make a note in your STUDENTBOOK (18) of the techniques that you are most likely to employ in your lessons and why. Not all of the ideas will be suitable or appropriate for your students, but some certainly will be.

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MODULE 3H Task 6: Focusing on visual learners

Using the information and knowledge you have gained so far, look at a series of lessons that you have already planned for the period of about a week for the near future. Refine your lesson plans with visual learners in mind, paying close attention to the ideas given in Resource 14. What can you do differently and what can you encourage your students to do differently?

Once you have delivered these lessons, evaluate them by asking yourself the following questions, paying particular attention to the students you have previously identified as being visual learners and to any students who you find to be particularly apathetic and de-motivated:

• Did you experience any particular difficulties in your focus on visual learners?
• Was there any difference in the way that your students received the lesson?
• What worked particularly well?
• Was there anything that you wouldn't try again?

Record your thoughts in your STUDENTBOOK (19).

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MODULE 3I Activity 13: Teaching the auditory learner

Now we'll think about what you can do to help the auditory learners in your classroom. Remember, individual internal motivation is the goal to be nurtured in each student.

Resource 15 is all about teaching auditory learners. Read this Resource (remember, you can print it off and save it for future reference) and make a note in your

STUDENTBOOK (20) of the techniques that you are most likely to employ in your lessons and why. Not all of the ideas will be suitable or appropriate for your students, but some certainly will be.

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MODULE 3J Task 7: Focusing on auditory learners

Using the information and knowledge you have gained so far, look at a series of lessons that you have already planned for the period of about a week for the near future. Refine your lesson plans with auditory learners in mind, paying close attention to the ideas given in Resource 15. What can you do differently and what can you encourage your students to do differently?

Once you have delivered these lessons, evaluate them by asking yourself the following questions, paying particular attention to the pupils you have previously identified as being auditory learners and to any students who you find to be particularly apathetic and de-motivated:

• Did you experience any particular difficulties in your focus on auditory learners?
• Was there any difference in the way that your students received the lesson?
• What worked particularly well?
• Was there anything that you wouldn't try again?

Record your thoughts in your STUDENTBOOK (21)

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MODULE 3K Activity 14: Teaching the kinesthetic learner

What can you do to help the kinesthetic learners in your classroom? Remove the furniture? Allow for unlimited movement around the room...? Remember, individual internal motivation is the goal to be nurtured in each student.

Resource 16 is all about teaching kinesthetic learners. Read this Resource and make a note in your STUDENTBOOK (22) of the techniques that you are most likely to employ in your lessons and why. As before, not all of the ideas will be suitable or appropriate for your students, but some certainly will be.

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MODULE 3L Task 8: Focusing on kinesthetic learners

Using the information and knowledge you have gained so far, look at a series of lessons that you have already planned for the period of about a week for the near future. Refine your lesson plans with kinesthetic learners in mind, paying close attention to the ideas given in Resource 16. What can you do differently and what can you encourage your students to do differently?

Once you have delivered these lessons, evaluate them by asking yourself the following questions, paying particular attention to the pupils you have previously identified as being kinesthetic learners and to any students who you find to be particularly apathetic and de-motivated:

• Did you experience any particular difficulties in your focus on kinesthetic learners?
• Was there any difference in the way that your students received the lesson?
• What worked particularly well?
• Was there anything that you wouldn't try again?

Record your thoughts in your STUDENTBOOK (23).

BACK TO INDEX

MODULE 3M What have you learned? Evaluation of your learning from Module 3

When you have worked through the Activities and Tasks in this module, please look again at the intended learning outcomes for Module 3.

By the end of this module you should be able to:

• identify how to help your pupils to learn in a personally meaningful way
• focus on the visual learners in your classroom to improve their learning
• focus on the auditory learners in your classroom to improve their learning
• focus on the kinesthetic learners in your classroom to improve their learning

How much has this module helped you to achieve these outcomes? Make your notes in your STUDENTBOOK (24) - save your file and e-mail your comments to your instructor.

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MODULE 3N

Congratulations!!!

RESOURCES

Resource 1: Our innate learning styles

Our wiring is also determined by the specific way we choose to take in sensory information in our dominant sense's connection to our preferred hemisphere. This wiring constitutes our unique learning style, and is neither good nor bad. It is merely a leaning towards certain types of perception and a preference for, and ease with, certain kinds of tasks. However, when the learning experiences you encounter, in school for instance, never match your preferences or bring out your strengths, you may begin to feel that your learning style is indeed inferior".

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Resource 2

Resource 3: Engaging the whole brain

(Extracted from Closing the Learning Gap by Mike Hughes, p45)

"Students spend much of their time during lessons reading, listening and writing. These are very much left-brain activities, which means that the right hemisphere of the brain is often under-used. These activities also tend to favor girls, for whom, in general, the left hemisphere operates at a quicker rate than for boys.

We each have a preferred or dominant hemisphere, the majority of teachers being "left-brained, analytical thinkers". As teachers often teach in their preferred style, there may be a number of students in any class who are disadvantaged because they are predominantly "right-brained thinkers". Bored high achievers and students with apparent learning difficulties often fall into this category.

It is important, therefore, not only that teachers are aware of this situation, but that they employ a range of strategies during their lessons to engage both sides of the brain in the learning process. Care must be taken not to over-compensate the brain needs left hemisphere activities too. The aim must be to provide a variety of activities to ensure that both sides of the brain are fully activated and that the two hemispheres are connected. This need not be too onerous a challenge, nor does it necessarily mean that teachers have to spend a long time preparing lessons. Simply being aware of the situation and seeking to provide a variety of activities is a step in the right direction."

Resource 4: Determining learning styles

(Extracted from The Learning Revolution by Gordon Dryden and Dr Jeannette Vos, p347)

"Overall, your learning style is a combination of three factors:

How you perceive information most easily whether you are mainly a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile learner; whether you learn best by seeing, hearing, moving or touching. (The ability to taste and smell can be important in some work-styles, such as wine-tasting and perfume-blending, but are not major ones in most learning styles.)

How you organize and process information whether predominantly left-brain or right-brain, analytical or "global", using "global" in the sense that you are more a "broadbrush" person than a systematic thinker.

What conditions are necessary to help you take in and store information emotional, social, physical and environmental.

How you retrieve information which may be entirely different to the way you take it in and store it.

How you take in information in the Dunns' research [Professors Ken and Rita Dunn, St Johns University, New York see the Internet links for more information], they discovered that:

• Only 30 percent of students remember even 75 percent of what they hear during a normal class period.
• 40 percent retain three quarters of what they read or see. These visual learners are of two types: some process information in word-form, while others retain what they see in diagram or picture-form.
• 15 percent learn best tactually. They need to handle materials to write, draw and be involved with concrete experiences.s
• Another 15 percent are kinesthetic. They learn best by physically doing by participating in real experiences that generally have direct application to their lives.
• According to the Dunns, most of us have one dominant strength and also a secondary one. And in a classroom or seminar, if our main perceptual strength is not matched with the teaching method, we may
• have difficulty learning, unless we can compensate with our secondary perceptual strengths.

In our experience, kinesthetic and tactile learners are the main candidates for failure in traditional school classrooms. They need to move, to feel, to touch, to do and if the teaching method does not allow them to do this they feel left out, uninvolved, bored."  
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Resource 5: The learning process

(Extracted from Brain-Based Learning by Eric Jensen, p131)

"To get a more accurate understanding of how we actually learn, it makes more sense to sub-divide the learning process into four appropriate categories comprising a more realistic, global learning choices profile. They are the following:

1. CONTEXT. The circumstances surrounding the learner provide important clues about what will happen during the learning. For example, are temperature, social conditions or relationships important?

2. INPUT. All learners have to have some input to initiate the learning. But we only have five senses. The input is most likely visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory or gustatory. Although all two-month old babies are gustatory (concerned with tasting or the sense of taste) learners, less than one percent of all child, adolescent or adult learners use it as their dependent or preferred source. The same can be said for olfactory input (dogs are great olfactory learners!). The input has to be either external (from an outside source) or internal (you create it yourself, in your own mind). Visual external would be you looking outward, visual internal would be you visualizing.

3. PROCESSING. This is the function where the way you handle it and the actual manipulation of the data come in. You can process globally or analytically, concrete or abstract, multi-task or single-task, etc. This is the relative hemispheric dominance, either right or left side.

4. RESPONSE FILTERS. Once you have taken in the information, and processed it, you're likely to do something about it. But your mind's response filters will be your very first, nearly intuitive "reasoning" behind what you do. You'll react based on time, risk assessment, internal or external referencing."  
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Resource 6: An analogy

There's a distinction between intelligence and learning style.

"Learning style"' refers to the particular way in which we take in knowledge.

"Intelligence" is the capacity to use that knowledge to 'solve problems that are valued within one or more cultural settings'. It's the way we process the knowledge we have collected.

For a quick analogy, think of a school hall with three entrances. The three entrances come in from different directions and are different a path, a ramp and some steps. But they are all used by all the people who enter the hall. Think of the people as the information, and the entrances as the learning style.

Once in the hall, eight different events can occur a school assembly, a concert, a disco, a wedding reception, examinations, an election meeting, school dinners, a speech day. These different uses of the hall are like the different ways we process information in other words, our multiple intelligences.

You need to go through one of the entrances to reach the event (your learning style). But how you use the resources in the hall depends on what you want to produce and your ability to do so (your intelligence).  
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Resource 7: Gardner on multiple intelligence myths

(Extracted from Educational Leadership, Vol. 55, No 1, September 1997: Teaching for multiple intelligences A conversation with Howard Gardner)

of those myths?

Howard Gardner: One myth that I personally find irritating is that an intelligence is the same as a learning style. Learning styles are claims about ways in which individuals purportedly approach everything they do. If you are planful, you are supposed to be planful about everything. If you are logical-sequential, you are supposed to be logical-sequential about everything.

My own research and observations suggest that that's a dubious assumption. But whether or not that's true, learning styles are very different from multiple intelligences. Multiple intelligence claims that we respond, individually, in different ways to different kinds of content, such as language or music or other people. This is very different from the notion of learning style.

You can say that a child is a visual learner, but that's not a multiple intelligence way of talking about things. What I would say is, here is a child who very easily represents things spatially, and we can draw upon that strength if need be when we want to teach the child something new.

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Resource 8: CLICK HERE TO READ

Resource 9: CLICK HERE TO READ

Resource 10: CLICK HERE TO READ  

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Resource 11: Learning to learn

(This is an extract from a report on an action research project conducted by Ladysmith First School in Exeter, Devon, UK)

Ladysmith First School has been involved in the 'Learning to Learn' action research project for the past year. This project was launched by the Campaign for Learning on 29 February 2000 to explore the complex area of how we learn. There is a particular interest in recent work on the brain and on intelligence and its potential impact on standards and motivation in schools. This action research involves 24 schools from nursery to secondary schools across England and Wales and these schools will be applying a number of approaches with their children over a two-year period.

Twelve teachers at Ladysmith First School are directly involved in this action research from Foundation Stage through to Year 3. During the past year these teachers looked at whether it would be possible to identify the preferred learning styles of children within their class.

The work on visual, auditory and kinesthetic (VAK) learning styles was used as a starting point and a VAK checklist was drawn up as a guideline for all teachers to use when observing children and their preferences.

In evaluating this part of the research, we found it is not straightforward, clear-cut or necessarily easy to identify and classify very young children's preferred learning styles in the complex arena of a classroom. Trying to identify activities that could be categorized as visual, auditory or kinesthetic was problematic in itself and is there a consistent method of defining learning styles? In the youngest children it was difficult to determine whether learning styles or friendships were the decisive factor in what activity was chosen. However, there seems to be sufficient evidence in this school's experience to suggest that at this young age children have a predisposition towards kinesthetic activities regardless of a preferred learning style. This of course prompts the question how much access do these children have to this type of learning. Through our research we have been made aware that children during the course of a week often have less opportunity to learn kinesthetically, particularly during literacy and numeracy. Therefore perhaps a more important question than "do children have a preferred learning style" is, how do we help all children to develop the range of learning styles, to develop the "toolkit" at their disposal, in order that they can use all their intelligences (Gardner) to their full potential?

As well as our specific focus on learning styles, we have throughout the year been incorporating ideas about kinesthetic activities, BrainGym, model-mapping and giving the children the big picture. We have continued with work started several years ago on sharing objectives with the children and focusing in on their understanding of the learning intentions.

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Resource 12: Disadvantaged kinesthetic learners

Kinesthetic learners generally find that opportunities to work in their preferred style significantly decrease as they get older. There is often a substantial amount of learning during the primary school years that is physical, tactile and generally appealing to the kinesthetic learner. However, as children move into secondary schools, their experiences in the classroom become increasingly visual, while those that make it all the way along the obstacle course into higher education will have to contend with more auditory learning than they have previously encountered."  

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Resource 13: Good and bad styles

Resource 14: CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Resource 15: CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Resource 16: CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

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REFERENCE LINKS

Name: How to Implement and Supervise a Learning Style Program

Description: "This how-to book is for supervisors interested in understanding, implementing, and guiding staff in the proven educational methods of learning styles."

URL: https://www.ascd.org/books/how-to-implement-and-supervise-a-learning-style-program?chapter=all-about-learning-styles

Name: Education Planner.

Description: EducationPlanner is a public service of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA)

URL: http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml

Name: Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI)

Description: The KAI instrument is a form containing 32 questions, which it claims will provide you with insight into how you solve problems and interact while decision-making.

URL: http: www.kaicentre.com/

Name: BrainGym

Description: Brain Gym® develops the brain's neural pathways through movement. Educational Kinesiology – enhanced learning through movement – was created by Dr. Paul E. Dennison and Gail E. Dennison through their extensive research in areas that include education, brain function, psychology, and applied kinesiology.

URL:http://www.braingym.org/

Name: What do you know about learning style?

Description: To see the article, What do you know about learning style? A guide for parents of gifted children by Rita Dunn, Karen Burke and Janet Whitely.

URL:

http://www.nagc.org/Publications/Parenting/styles.html

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DEFINITIONS

Occipital lobe

Receives sensory impulses from the eyes, as well as interpreting shape, color and movement.

Parietal lobe

A general sensory area responsible for interpreting touch, pressure, cold, pain, heat, etc

Temporal lobe

The auditory part of the brain which interprets sound, pitch and rhythm.

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Frontal lobe

This is the motor area of the brain responsible for controlling specific muscles and motor activities.

Relative lateralization

When there is more activity in one hemisphere of the brain than the other.

Brain hemispheres

Sometimes called cerebral hemispheres, these are the two halves of the cerebrum (left and right) in the brain.  BACK TO INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Author: Dunn, Rita Stafford, and Carbo, Marie, and Dunn, Kenneth J. Title: Teaching Students to Read Through Their Individual Learning Styles (1986) Publisher: Allyn & Bacon ISBN: 0835975177

Author: Hannaford, Carla Title: Smart Moves (1995) Publisher: Great River Books ISBN: 0915556278
Author: Hativa, Nira Title: Teaching for Effective Learning (2001) Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers ISBN: 0792368436

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Author: Holt, John Title: How Children Fail (1995) Publisher: Perseus Publishing ISBN: 0201484021

Author: Jensen, Eric Title: Brain-Based Learning & Teaching (1996) Publisher: Turning Point Publishing ISBN: 0963783211

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Author: Pinker, Steven Title: How the Mind Works (1999) Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0393318486