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Understanding Your Learning Style II

Personal Knowledge

Intermediate Level

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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.

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Learning Style Preference NotesLearning Styles are “lenses” for understanding your own and others preferences for learning and contributing to teamsThey are never right or wrongIndividuals have preferences or strengths, but everyone can (and probably should) use all styles at some point in their learning or work in teamsIndividuals have strength of preferences: some may be strong, others may be weak

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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Maximizing Your LearningIntuitive 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.

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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

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Maximizing Your LearningVisual 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

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Maximizing Your LearningVerbal 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

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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

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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?”

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Maximizing Your LearningGlobal 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.

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Inductive vs. Deductive

Inductive preference: prefers to learn from specifics and generalize to the “big picture” or conceptDeductive preference: prefers to learn from the general/theory/concept and then move to specifics or applicationNOTE: This dimension is not assessed in the Felder Index

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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?

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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 teamsDifferences 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

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Learning Styles in Teams: Part II

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Learning in a Mixed Learning Style Group/Team: Maximizing

EVERYONE’s LearningIn 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?

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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)

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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”)

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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)

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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?”

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Exercise: Active/Reflective LearnersActive 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?