Learning theories and styles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 29 steps. 

Students have many different ways of learning so its important to take this into account when designing lessons. At the basic level there are visual, aural, reader writer  and kinaesthetic preferences for learning learners known as VARK.People are generally a combination of all four just to different degrees. It is important that a teacher is responsive to the individual learning needs of all their students and able to differentiate the lesson to enable all students to learn. Sometimes it simply a case of presenting the same information in different ways. Written on the board, spoken aloud and perhaps a visual representation or an analogy relevant to the everyday lives of the students. Like Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:9b,who searched out proverbs to explain difficult ideas to the people the wise teacher is responsive to the cultural as well as intellectual diversity of students, for example the story telling traditions of the Pacific people means their learning style is often auditory and kinaesthetic through dance and drama. 

Science appeals to kinaesthetic learners because of the opportunities for practical investigation but the language of science and the requirement for precision in reporting can sometimes prove a stumbling block for this type of learner. It is important that teachers expose students to different learning styles but be aware of the favoured one.Traditional textbooks focused on the  learning of answers rather than the exploration of questions and so did not take into account different learning styles.AASR(1989)

Another learning theorist the beginner teacher should  become acquainted with if they wish to develop the characteristics of a wise teacher is Robert Sternberg who researched the cognitive basis of intelligence and how people actually process information based on their experiences and their relationship with their environment. He believes that people have practical,

analytical and creative intelligence and that today's  testing does not fairly measure a students abilities. His sixteen principles of teaching wisdom are a useful guide for the beginner teacher to learn what to teach students for them to be useful citizens.. How to go about teaching students can be found in the works of Gagne the most influential instructional design theorist of the last few decades whose theory proposes  nine instructional steps that will take into account all the different learning styles.
For students to be effective learners and teachers to be effective teachers they each need to know their own learning style. The teacher aware of their own and others' learning styles is able to interpret students needs in the context of their learning style and adjust their teaching accordingly. Similarly a student aware of their own learning style is better able to develop a set of learning strategies to take advantage of their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses and become a self directed learner..

References
American Association for
 he Advancement of Science Report,Science for All Americans (1989)p14
Sternberg,R.J.(2003)Wisdom, Intelligence and Creativity Synthesized.NY Cambridge University Press
http://www-tc.pbs.org/teacherline/courses/rdla130/pdfs/edth_learning_styles.pdf