Learning StylesTonia Brown

Gemma OllerenshawNaomi De Steunder

Tania Comber

Objectives

Trainees will:• Become more familiar with the main

theories of learning styles relevant in schools today.

• Understand how they might impact on planning and development as a classroom practitioner.

• Become aware of the complexities and subtleties of learning style theories.

Brain Gym

Learning styles can be classified in many different ways:

• They are the overall patterns that provide direction to learning and teaching.

• A set of factors, behaviours and attitudes that facilitate learning for an individual in a given situation.

• The process by which people perceive and process information.

• It is individual.

Styles influence:• How students learn• How teachers teach• How the two interact

Definition of learning styles

How do you like to learn something new?

• Learn by listening to somebody explain?

• Learn by reading?• Learn by seeing a demonstration?

Fun and gamesFind a partner

Sit back to back

One person has a picture

The other person a plain piece of paper and a pencil

The person who has the picture describes it to the person with paper and pencil

The person with paper and pencil draws what the person with the picture describes to them

You have five minutes …….

Fun and games

Look at the next slide for 20 seconds

rabbit water bluenewspaper

Jupiter

cake comma

dividecocoon

four

torso

villain

France

Gruffalo hour

You have two minutes ……

Write down all the words you can remember

And

A definition

Origami

You have five minutes to make your model

How did you find the activities ?

We all learn in different ways ..

Some of us are visual and remember what we see

- learn by looking so remember pictures, words and what we see

Some of us are auditory and remember what we hear

– learn by listening so remember sounds, discussion and what we hear

Some of us are kinesthetic and remember what we touch and feel well

– learn by doing so remember action/hands on learning activities

Some prefer to use the left side when

learning, some prefer to use the right

Words, reading, language

Numbers

Logical, ordered

Makes plans

Likes facts

Follows rules

Tidy, organised

On time

Prefers black and white statistics

Art and being creative

Needs big picture

Takes risks

Music rhyme and rhythm, movement

Has ideas

Imagines, role-play

Disorganised

Prefers pictures

Left brained?

Right brained ?

Each person has certain tendencies towards a particular style.

These can be influenced by culture, personal experiences, maturity

level and development.

BUT

although we tend to have a ‘fast lane’

– a sense we prefer to use

- we learn best when all three are engaged.

Brain Gym

These exercises are designed to synthesize the visual, auditory and

motor skills

In other words get the right side and the left side of the brain working together

Questionnaire

• What sort of learner are you?

(go to corners of room , aesthetic, visual, kinaesthetic, discuss why chose that learning style. Given questionnaire at tables. Group discussion are you surprised by the results?)

Gemma’s bit

Learning styles in the last twenty years

(Naomi )

To learn we also need :To be in a happy, safe, secure

environmentTo drink waterTo have breakfast and a healthy dietTo have enough sleepTo have oxygenTo have no worries/stress/baggage

• Just a thought, should we hand out some biscuits at this point …. And have a couple of bottles of water ??? Ready for the group discussion ……

Group discussion

Based on the learning styles you have just used, how would you integrate these into the classroom in different subject areas?

(A3 sheet paper, marker pens, brainstorm ideas. Give each group one subject area)

(Gemma)

Feedback.

Plenary!

• Not sure what we will do here …

Learning and the Senses Effective teaching usually combines several approaches, or multi-sensory instruction, so the child uses more than one sense at a time while learning. Multi-sensory approaches work well because of the way our brain is organized. When we learn, information takes one path into our brain when we use our eyes, another when we use our ears, and a yet a third when we use our hands. By using more than one sense we bombard our brain with the new information in multiple ways. As a result we learn better.

Rief (1993) says that students retain: 10% of what they read 20% of what they hear 30% of what they see 50% of what they see and hear 70% of what they say 90% of what they say and do

History (handout possibly?)

• 1904 Alfred Binet (French psychologist) developed first intelligence test.

• 1907 Dr Maria Montessori invented the Montessori method of education. She began using materials to enhance the learning styles of her students. Believed that students demonstrate mastery through their actions.

• 1950 – 1970 The study of learning styles declined for around fifty years due to the emphasis on IQ and academic achievement.

• 1956 Blooms Taxonomy (Benjamin Bloom) a step towards defining learning style differences.

• 1962 Isabel Myers-Briggs and Katherine Briggs developed Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• 1976 Dunn and Dunn learning style model was introduced, generating diagnostic instruments for evaluation.

• 1984 David Kolb developed learning style that believed learning skills are closely related to cognitive skills.

• 1990’s Emphasis placed on teachers addressing learning styles through curriculum adjustments that include each style. Allowing each student equal chance to learn.

Stuff that tonia has put together for handout