Group Syllabus: Learning Styles

Linda Wash

                                                                Theory Review: Learning Styles

                                                                                EDAC 635 

 

Your name	Commented On
Linda Wash	Cara Johnson

 Learning styles is used to describe how learners gather, sift through, interpret, organize, come to conclusions about, and “store” information for further use. (Chick, 2010) There are four learning styles that are frequently commonly used. Visual, Auditory, Verbal, and Kinesthetic. By using a learning style inventory, it can help us determine our learning style-based questions answered. For the instructor to understand the learners in the classroom and develop a lesson plan, one must know the learning styles of the learners to accommodate, adapt, and differentiate.  There are three popular learning inventories that are used to determine learning styles for learning. They are Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI), Flemings’ VARK Learning Style Questionnaire, and Jackson’s Learning Style Profiler (LSP).  The learning inventories listed are ones that are used across general education setting and special education setting. (Cherry, 2020)

 

                Main Theoretical Points

 

Kolb believed that our individual learning styles was primarily due to our genetics, experiences and the demands of our current environment. Kolb’s learning style inventory is an experiential model that have some influences from Dewey, Lewen, and Piaget. (Florida Atlantic University) This inventory model is viewed as a continually recurring problem solving process in the four-stage cycle followed by the next that is based on Concrete experiences, reflective observation, abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation. For learning to take place effectively, you must continue to move around at each stage of the cycle.  It provides information on how educators can use this information to best serve students as well as possible strategies for accommodating different learning styles. (Florida Atlantic University)

In Fleming’s Vark inventory questionnaire, learners are identified as one of four different learning styles. These learning styles are visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinesthetic and can sometimes overlap depending on the person taking the questionnaire. 

This is one of the more common learning style inventories used to help people learn more about their own individual learning style. Visual includes the depiction of information in maps, spider diagrams, charts, graphs, flow charts, labelled diagrams, and all the symbolic arrows, circles, hierarchies and other devices, that people use to represent what could have been presented in words.

 Auditory is described as a preference for information that is heard or spoken (VARK Learn Limited, 2021)Learners who have this as their main preference report that they learn best from lectures, group discussion, radio, email, using mobile phones, speaking, web-chat and talking things through. Read/Write learning style preference for information displayed as words. 

Kinesthetic is related to the use of experience and practice. This style is more of hands or touching of learning. 

Multimodality: 

Vark Type 1: The learners may have two, three or four almost-equal preferences in their VARK scores. They take longer to gather information from each mode and, as a result, they often have a deeper and broader understanding. They are viewed as procrastinators but some may be merely gathering all the information before acting and their decision making and learning may be better to understand. 

Vark Type 2: Are learners that fall between the two types. (VARK Learn Limited, 2021)

Jackson’s Learning Style Profiler is an inventory to help individuals be aware of their learning styles. It provides a guide to help the learners journey. It is useful for learnings, parents, educators that helps guide the path and have the responsibility of teaching the individual. LSP is based on four factors scale that include, the learning environment, social interaction process, Information processing styles, and Personality Style. There are currently two versions, one for the child and one for the adult. The Learning Environment is the physical learning environment that consist of noise, temperature, and time of the day. Social Interaction Process is the preferences of social interaction during learning, Information Processing Style is processing information during learning, and the Personality style is the personality factors that affect learning. (iASSESS, 2018)

 

Application

I find that the following theoretical points of learning style are very informative for the practitioners: Kolb’s model suggests that all learning happens due to real-world experiences which then help people form mental models of that experience. This would include making a connection with learners through an authentic approach. This can include current events, activities that involves students to collaborate and discussion a problem and come up with a solution based on their findings. Varks: As educators we must embrace diverse learners and accommodate for the learning styles of students. Visual Learners: Teaching on a smartboard, visual presentations and interactive graphics will benefit and encourage engagement and improve the metacognition of the learner if it is presented correctly. Auditory learners: Educators can use books, tapes, recording of topics and stories. This helps with frontloading, and activating prior knowledge of topics. Constant repetition of hearing things shapes the working memory. Read/Write: Teachers can give have students create graphic organizers, and model how to take notes in the Cornell note taking style. This includes annotating and making self-check list. Kinesthetic Learners: As this involve movement of the body, and can sometimes cause distractions in the learning environment. Teachers can allow students to role play in assignments, use manipulatives and sensory items for students. 

 

Reflection 

This assignment required research of various learning styles. I had to narrow the learning styles down to the most commonly used ones. The ones listed in the assignment are one I used as a Special Education Teacher at the Primarily level and when I moved into the secondary setting it was more of the Jackson Learning Style Profiler. This is because as a Special Education Teacher, we have already addressed the learning style at the primarily level, and as the student gets older, they may lean on or change based on the pattern of instruction or behavior. VARK inventory is primarily used as I feel sometime it can overlap with Kolb. I do believe that our learning style is genetic, but it is also unique and the environment plays a huge role in determining it as well. I would say a form of classical conditioning. What stood out to me in my research is that VARK inventory modalities state you can be more than one type of learner. Even though it is rare, it can happen. I would like to further research in the multi-modality in other learning style, as I believe that there are possibilities or more people that have more than one learning style, but uses the primary one as a strength. The goal is for educators to acknowledge everyone learns differently and in that learning there are several learning styles that you may have to accommodate your lesson in order to have a successful outcome. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry, K. (2020). Learning Style Inventory Types and Their Uses. Retrieved from VERYWELLMIND: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-learning-style-inventory-2795159

Chick, N. (2010). Learning Styles. Retrieved from Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/learning-styles-preferences/

Florida Atlantic University. (n.d.). The Learning Style Inventory. Retrieved from http://med.fau.edu/students/md_m1_orientation/M1%20Kolb%20Learning%20Style%20Inventory.pdf

iASSESS. (2018). Learning Style Profiler ( LSP). Retrieved from iAssess: https://iassessonline.com

VARK Learn Limited. (2021). The VARK Modalities. Retrieved from VARK a guide to learning preferences: https://vark-learn.com