Learning Styles

Overview

"Everybody has a preferred learning style. Knowing and understanding our learning style helps us to learn more effectively. This is particularly true for LD/AD(H)D (Learning Disability / Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder) people because of their different ways of learning. Through identifying your learning style, you will be able to capitalize on your strengths and improve your self-advocacy skills." (LDPride, 2010)

Strengths

Everyone has different strengths, weaknesses and ways of learning, through a better understanding of these differences we can be more effective teachers. Learning styles are even more important when working with people with disabilities, some already have recognized struggles with learning and if they are presented information through using their preferred learning style it helps them to cope and internalise the information.

Weakness
It can be more time consuming having to think about all of the different learning styles and incorporating them into the classroom (with time I feel it would become almost automatic). The teacher needs a very good understanding of the different methods and how to incorporate them, or they might think they are implementing them but really still focusing on personally preferred learning styles and teaching methods.

Opportunity
Understanding learning styles opens up huge opportunities for people with disabilities and students in general, it makes the teacher think about topics more and come from a broader view rather than a narrow "chalk and talk" or similar method of teaching. For example I created a lesson plan for year 2 maths teaching terminology of liquid in litres, thinking out of the square and through identifying all of the learning styles, there were tasks including: a race through an obstacle course with the students holding a litre measure of water, chanting liquid in litres, the team with the most water at the end won. Another attention grabber was having a toy lion (for L word association), and doing CPR on the toy saying help we need 2 litres of blood (red cordial) do we have enough (jugs out the front with different measures written on them).

Threat
The tasks can not lose the meaning of the subject, tasks need to reinforce learning, not be given for fun or task sake. If a great task is thought up it needs to be modified or dropped if it does not meet the overall goal of learning. It is a balancing act, what is needed is enough different methods need to be used to meet the preferred style of the learner, but content needs to be covered efficiently as well......this would be a challenge! But most definitely worth it!!

Task meaning for me
Completing the Learning styles helps me to focus on my strengths but also to recognise that they will also be how I will be tempted to focus my teaching. Everyone naturally thinks in terms of their learning style. I have also used profiling of learning styles before and found it to be very beneficial, but time consuming. Also there are limitations if a formal testing method like the Multiple Intelligences Test (BGFL, 2010) are used, I tested one student with learning disabilities who would mimic back the last phrase said on most occasions giving a false reading. I suspected she was doing this and repeated some of the questions, changing the answers around, which confirmed my suspicions.

The Multiple Intelligences Test can be downloaded onto your computer in Excel format and then can be completed without going online.


References and texts of interest

BGFL. (2010). Multiple Intelligences: Test results. Retrieved 5 November, 2010, from http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/ict/multiple_int/questions/results.cfm

LDPride. (2010). What's your learning style. Retrieved 5 November, 2010, from http://www.ldpride.net/learning-style-test-b.html

Learning Disabilities Resource Community. (2010a). Multiple Intelligence Inventory. Retrieved 5 November 2010, 2010, from http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php

Learning Disabilities Resource Community. (2010b). Multiple Intelligence Inventory: Eight Styles of Learning. Retrieved 5 November 2010, 2010, from http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php?eightstyles=1