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LEARNING STYLES
1. Introduction

LESSON

Students can learn any subject matter when they are taught with methods and approaches responsive to their learning styles
Dr. Rita Dunn Director, International Learning Styles Network

Understanding how individuals learn best can help learners adopt with the complex and challenging information. Building new skills, changing behavior, accelerating the learning process all these can be accomplished if there is a clear concept on the learning strategies of the learners. These learning strategies are patterns of informationprocessing activities that the individual uses to prepare for a test of memory.

Lesson 7 will help us further understand our learners when it comes to their learning strategies. Individuals learning strategies or learning preferences vary from one learner to another, thus knowledge on these would assist teachers from planning, implementing, up to assessing the whole process of their instruction. Most importantly,

96 concepts on learning preferences can directly facilitate the

identification of appropriate and relevant strategies of teaching.

Lesson 7 covers: What is learning style? Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn Model) How do they learn?

Objectives At the end of Lesson 7, the students should be able to a) enumerate the various learning styles, b) familiarize with the stimuli and elements of the Dunn & Dunn Learning Style Model, and c) cite an application of varied learning styles to the teachinglearning process There are enrichment activities to help you achieve full grasp of the lesson. Dont worry, your mentor will decide what among these activities will be performed. Learning the preferences and styles of learning is definitely worth knowing!

Come on and lets do the reading!

(,)Good luck!

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2. Presentation
What is Learning Style? The characteristic, cognitive, affective, and psychological

behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment The way in which each learner begins to concentrate,

process, and retain new and difficult information A predisposition on the part of some learners to adopt a

particular learning strategy regardless of the specific demands of the learning task Those educational conditions under which students are

most likely to learn Individuals personal reactions to each of the 21 elements

when concentrating on new and difficult academic knowledge or skills The way you learn best

To identify a persons learning style, it is necessary to examine each individuals multi dimensional characteristics:

98 Analytical learners learn more easily when information is

presented step by step

Global learners learn more easily when they either

understand the concept first and then concentrate on the details

But whether students are analytic or global, they are

capable of mastering identical information or skills if they are taught through instructional methods or resources that complement their learning styles.

Remember: Everyone has a learning style All learning styles are good; we all have perceptual strengths to their best advantage We are never too old to begin capitalizing on our own learning style

99 Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn Model)

100 How do they learn? STIMULI 1. ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS

Sound Light Temperature Design Responsibility Structure With Peers On a Team

2. EMOTIONAL

Motivation Persistence

3.SOCIOLOGICAL

Alone In a Pair

Authority or Collegial Teacher Varied

4. PHYSIOLOGICAL

Perceptual Modalities - Visual - Tactual - Auditory Intake Time of Day Mobility

5. PSYCHOLOGICAL

Global vs. Analytic Hemisphericity - Right Brain - Left Brain Impulsive vs. Reflective

According to Dunn and Dunn Model, the following characterized the learners in accordance with their own learning styles:

101 Analytic learners learn more easily when information is presented step by step in a cumulative sequential pattern that builds toward a conceptual understanding.

Global learners learn more easily when they either understand the concept first and they can concentrate on the details, or when they are introduced to the information with, preferably, a humorous story replete with examples and graphics.

Although

many

children

require

quiet

environment

while

concentrating on difficult information, others literally learn better with sound than silence. For the latter group, words without lyrics provide a more conducive to concentrating atmosphere than melodies with words and baroque music appears to cause responsiveness than rock. Similarly, although many people concentrate better in brightly illuminated rooms, others particularly young children- think better in soft light than in bright light; indeed, fluorescent lighting often overstimulates certain learners and causes hyperactivity and restlessness.

Differences in temperature affect certain people one-way and others another. Some achieve better in warmth and others in

102 cool. Similar differences are evidenced with varied seating arrangements. Some prefer studying in a wooden, plastic, or steel chair, but many others become so uncomfortable in conventional classroom seats that they are prevented from learning.

According

to

Slavin

(1983),

the

discrepant

outcomes

in

cooperative learning research, where no clear small group strategy produced better results than another, were due to intervening variables inherent in the research designs, settings, subject areas, and evaluation measures. Research shows that when students sociological preferences were identified and the youngsters then were exposed to multiple treatments both congruent and incongruent with their identified learning styles, each achieved significantly higher test scores in matched conditions and significantly lower test scores when mismatched.

Task efficiency is related t each persons temperature cycle thus it is related to when each student is likely to learn best. For example, junior high school math underachievers became more motivated, better disciplined, and produce a trend toward

103 statistically increased achievement when they were assigned to afternoon math classes, which matched their chronological time preferences after they had failed in morning classes which were taught during their energy lows. One year later, Lynch (1981) reported that time preference was a crucial factor in the reversal of chronic initial truancy patterns among secondary students.

When students were introduced to new material through their perceptual preferences (visual, auditory, tactual/kinesthetic), they remembered significantly more than when they were introduced through their least preferred modality. Auditory people learn by listening. They are logical, analytical,

sequential thinkers. They are comfortable with typical school tasks including analyzing sounds and numbers, following

directions in order and just doing the right thing. They are considered good students. Visual people learn by seeing. They must get a picture in their brain in order to understand what they need to learn. Tactile- kinesthetic people learn by touching and moving. Visual and tactile-kinesthetic learners are global thinkers. They must see the big picture first before being able to think logically, sequentially and analytically. They must

104 learn new material in context. Their thought patterns tend to be random and divergent. Hence, they may say something that seems totally irrelevant to the topic. However, if we stop and ask them to explain their statement, they can usually help to see how they made a particular connection.

Enrichment Activities
A. Watch any of the following movies: a. Dangerous Minds b. Good Will Hunting Take note of the various learning styles of the learners in the movies and share your ideas in the class. a. How do the teachers in the movies facilitate their students learning styles? b. What specific approaches did the teachers use to be able to teach these various learners? c. If you are in their position, are you going to do the same? Depend your answer.

2. Submit abstracts of researched works on learning styles, either

local or foreign studies.

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3. Summary
The Learning Style Model explains that the students can learn any subject matter if they were taught with the appropriate teaching methods. These methods should be in responsive with the learners learning preferences or learning styles. Recognizing the importance of learning styles, the proponent of the learning styles model, Dr. Rita Dunn claimed that students failed not because of the curriculum but rather the appropriate teaching methods that are not responsive to the learners learning styles.

4. Exercise
Present the various stimuli and elements of Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and Productivity Environmental Preference Survey given by Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn Model. Use symbols, pictures, illustrations or graphics to illustrate each. If your class session allows you to do the activity on-the spot, you can work alone or with a partner or with your peer group. You may do it according to you preference! Conduct a class presentation of your work.

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