Learning Styles
Understanding How You Learn
Journal
1. What are the things you are good at? Consider
everything, big and small, from listening, to helping
others, organizing, driving, cooking, navigating, bowling,
solving puzzles, or understanding how things are put
together. Explain.
2. What are areas in life you feel like you could grow in
(weak areas)?
3. How do you think you learn best? Explain.
Learning Styles
We’re all different! We have different personalities, strengths,
weaknesses, traits, etc. They make us unique.
Our differences affect the relationships we build, the hobbies we enjoy,
the careers we’ll pursue, and how we learn.
We may find that certain aspects of school are more challenging or
easier for us based on who we are.
•Ever wondered why you have difficulty learning from a particular instructor,
whereas another seems to explain things in just the right way?
•Did you ever question why the course that your friend said was so easy turned
into a struggle for you?
•Can’t stand music on when you study? Need music to study? •Get ants in your pants when you sit for too long?
These may be differences in learning styles.
What is a “Learning Style”?
Learning Style = the way you tend to learn
best.
Involves preferred method of taking in,
organizing, and making sense of information.
Our learning preferences may include:
listening, working in groups, being active,
seeing, thinking by ourselves, watching, etc.
They don’t tell us about a person's abilities
or intelligence, but they can help us
Benefits of Understanding Your
Learning Preferences:
People learn best when the strategies used to learn are closely
matched with their preferred learning style.
Can improve learning by knowing what our strengths are and
then doing more of what we're good at.
Can also improve our learning by knowing what our weaknesses
are and trying to enhance our skills in these areas.
Different situations and learning environments require different
learning strategies, so it's best to have a large repertoire from
which to draw.
Three Surveys to Assess Learning
Styles
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Multiples Intelligences
Inventory
Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory
Based on the work of psychiatrist Carl
Jung.
There are key differences in how people:
•
Take in information
•
Prefer to interact with the world
•
Draw conclusions and make decisions
Katharine Cook-Briggs and her daughter,
Isabel Briggs-Myers developed the
personality inventory(survey) to help
people be able to draw meaning from
Myers-Briggs Continued
•
The inventory sorts these
psychological differences into
four opposite pairs, or
dichotomies, resulting in 16
possible psychological types.
•
None are better or worse;
however, Briggs and Myers
theorized that individuals
naturally prefer one overall
combination of type
differences.
Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Myers
The 4 Dichotomies:
To learn more about the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator check
here
.
Where do we get our energy? Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world?
Extraversion (E) Introversion (I)
How do we take in information? Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning?
Sensing (S) Intuition (N)
How do we make decisions? When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances?
Thinking (T) Feeling (F)
How do we organize our world? In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options?
Take the Inventory
Click here to take a version of the
MBTI.
Here’s
another version if you’d
like to check for consistency of your
type.
When finished, write down your result
(Ex: ENTP) .
Use the resources at Truity.com to read
Respond To What You Read
On a piece a paper, answer the following:
•
Does the description of your type fit you? What
are the ways it is right on? Are there ways it
differs from who you feel you are? Be specific
.
Next, Google your type and “learning
styles.” Read about your type’s learning
style at one of the results and respond to
the following:
•
What are ways your type learns best? What are
Multiple Intelligences
Theory proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983
Attempt to analyze and better describe the concept of
intelligence.
Gardner argues that the concept of intelligence as traditionally
defined (IQ tests) does not sufficiently describe the wide variety
of cognitive abilities humans display.
He theorized that there are different kinds of intelligences or
strengths that we have.
By being aware of our strengths and areas to grow in, we can use
Multiple Intelligences
Cont’d.
Schools tend to emphasize development of logical
intelligence and linguistic intelligence (mainly reading and
writing).
Gardner suggests giving equal attention, recognition, and
learning opportunities for individuals that have strengths
in other intelligences.
Gardner's theory connected to what can be observed in
those with Savant syndrome. Read
here
.
Question: After reading about savant syndrome, explore
some of the pages of prodigious savants
here
. What did
Gardner’s 8 Different Types of
Intelligence
The Eight Intelligences:
Linguistic intelligence ("word smart")
Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart") Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart") Musical intelligence ("music smart")
Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart") Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart") Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")
Take the survey found
here
or
here
.
Record your top 3
intelligences.
Read about
Multiple Intelligences
and the 8 different
kinds of intelligence according to Gardner. Also read
this
VARK Inventory
The VARK inventory helps users
identify their preferred learning
mode. The primary modes for
learning are:
•
V
isual (learning by seeing)
•
A
ural or Auditory (learning by hearing)
•
R
eading/Writing (learning through text)
•
K
inesthetic (learning by doing)
Click
here
to take the VARK Inventory.
VARK Results
Respond to the following on your
paper:
•
What was the result of your VARK Survey?
•
How accurate do you feel the results were?
Explain.
•
According to the articles, which learning
strategies may work especially well for you?
•
Which learning strategies do feel come less
naturally to you? How can you work on
becoming more effective in these
Learning Styles Reflection Questions
1. What did the inventories reveal about you that you hadn’t
realized before? Discuss.
2. How did the surveys confirm things you already knew?
Explain fully.
3. How do the results of the inventories fit with your career
interests? Did they bring to light a career that might interest
you?
