Learning styles and student learning
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Abbie M. & Jessica S.
Both 16 years
Nanango State High School
Queensland, Australia |
Synopsis: This article explores the importance of students understanding their own learning styles and developing better relationships with teachers through a dialogue about learning styles. It outlines the process of students collaboratively planning curriculum in a year 9/10 English class and the effects of a workshop on learning styles on the students’ understanding of teaching and learning.
There is no doubt in our minds that it is essential for every student and teacher to know how they learn best. In the perfect world, students and teachers would work together, using their knowledge of learning styles to create the perfect classroom, where everyone enjoyed themselves, while getting the most out of every lesson. Is this really so much to ask?
We aim to outline some of the knowledge we have acquired during our time in the classroom to help make teaching and learning a more positive activity for all involved. We believe that students should be given the chance to discover the way they learn best, and use this knowledge to achieve great things, not only within the classroom but throughout their lives.
During 2005 we have been involved in the IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools) student team at our school. A small group of year 11 and 12 students, along with the head of English, attend meetings once a week and discuss teaching and learning. We discuss our own experiences within the classroom and how we think they could be improved. Currently, we have been working on developing dialogue between students and teachers, allowing both parties to feel comfortable talking about previous lessons, what worked and ways in which to enhance our learning.
This has not been easy, and is a slow process, but one that we hope to develop further in the coming year. Through this IDEAS program, along with our own experiences within the classroom, we have acquired a great deal of knowledge about teaching and learning, knowledge which we hope to be able to use to improve what takes place inside the classroom.
Students and teachers need to feel comfortable talking together about issues of pedagogy. Before anything else can happen, there needs to be a good student-teacher relationship, with trust and respect being an essential part of the equation. I (Abbie) witnessed this in years 9 and 10, when I saw the benefits of good communication and trust between students and teacher. By the middle of grade 9, we began a process where our English teacher, along with a volunteer group of students, had fortnightly meetings to plan our lessons and assignments. Through this, we hoped to improve our learning, with everyone working together and having a say in what went on in the classroom.
This allowed us to create multiple intelligence assignments that suited a wide range of learning styles and ability groups. During this process, as a class, we also wrote a statement of good teaching and learning, which was crucial to the whole process and the first time any of us had really had to think about what makes good teaching and learning. This statement reads as follows:
‘Good teaching and learning involves a variety of new and exciting ideas for classroom activities. Where possible, activities should be hands on, creative and set in different environments. At the beginning of a unit students and teachers should set goals to be accomplished by the end of that unit. Where possible, students should be given choice because everyone has different interests and learning abilities. Students need to be respected and treated as equals’.
9D, Nanango State High School, May 2003
Along with this statement, we wrote a list of student and teacher responsibilities that we needed to follow so that everyone knew what was required of them – these became the basis of our discussions and planning. Through this process, students who previously had been disruptive and refused to take part in classroom activities began to enjoy their English lessons and do their work, as, for the first time, they had been given a say in what happened in the classroom. Students were also given the chance, through multiple intelligence activities (based on the work of Howard Gardner) to discover the way they learned best, whether it was through drawing or writing (for example), and were able to use these skills to achieve their best possible results.
None of this would have been possible without the trust and respect that the students shared, not only with each other, but crucially with their teacher. The students and teacher felt comfortable enough to discuss their ideas with each other, without the threat of being ridiculed or ignored. The trust and respect that our class shared with our English teacher does not have to be a one of a kind. If a teacher is willing to talk to the students about issues as adults and the students realise that they are going to have to make compromises, then students and teachers can sit down and discuss problems without the constant inhibition of the teacher as the authority figure. These relationships form slowly: the more discussions that take place between students and teachers the more comfortable both will feel in talking about teaching and learning, as well as problems. Once student-teacher relationships are formed, discussions can take place comfortably about learning styles.
While we have been able to better understand how we learn through a learning styles workshop we took part in late last year, not every student has the opportunity to have such an experience. Therefore students need to be given the chance to discover how they learn best through activities within the classroom, preferably early on in their high school years, if not earlier. As we mentioned previously, multiple intelligence activities are a great way for this to be achieved.
One of the first assignments in year 8 was a multiple intelligence activity based on a pirate theme, where we were put into groups and had a number of activities that needed to be accomplished by each group. There were a selection of activities and each group needed to finish a certain number, with a few being compulsory, to enable the teachers to mark us fairly. Each group picked their activities, some were done individually, others in pairs, until the group put their finished work together and the assignment was completed. Activities included mapping, writing diary entries, drawing settings from a book, singing and acting.
This gave the students a chance to experience a variety of learning styles and, by the end of the assignment, each student had a better understanding of what they preferred. It also gave the students a chance to experience working individually, in small groups and in larger groups, to give them a taste of what they preferred. This was very beneficial to us and since then our class created similar activities through our 9/10D process. We feel that if students are given the chance to take part in just one assignment of this sort, their knowledge of learning styles would improve and would help them throughout the rest of their lives - in their work and study.
Once students have taken part in an activity that allows them to realise their preferred learning style, students and the teacher can work together to help adapt assignments to suit their way of learning. This does not mean that teachers will be required to write up multiple intelligence activities for every assignment their class is required to do! When the teacher knows the different learning styles of their students, they can work together to make activities accessible to the student’s learning style. For example, if the student was a visual learner, and had to read a novel and then write a 500 word essay on the theme of the text, to help the student to incorporate their learning style, the student could draw pictures to summarise the main points of the story and draw diagrams to link the main characters together. In the end, the student is still going to have to write the essay but by allowing the student to plan it using pictures, the story will make more sense to this student and therefore, in the end, the essay will be of a higher standard.
It is obvious that the students cannot always learn the way they prefer, so the students and the teacher can work together to adapt to other ways of learning. This can also be helped by the teacher trying to incorporate a variety of learning styles into the way he or she teaches, to give students experience of a diverse range of styles. Once the student knows how they learn best, and the teacher also understands that each of their students will learn differently, student learning and understanding improves, which is not only extremely rewarding for the student but also for the teacher.
While multiple intelligence activities allowed us to discover a lot about how we learned best, we were given a greater understanding of the different learning styles when we, along with the rest of the IDEAS team and a group of teachers, took part in a learning styles workshop at our school. During this workshop we learnt about the four main learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile and kinaesthetic), what these styles involve, and ways in which we can use our preferred style in lectures, reading, studying and test-taking. We also discovered the elements that affect the way we learn - some people love to work with lots of sound, while others can’t get past the first page of a book while others are around them. Light and temperature also affect the way people work, with the time of day playing a big part in when certain students learn best.
We were also given tips on altering the conditions to suit our learning style. For example, if you work best in strong light, move to a sunnier part of the room or ask the teacher if you would be able to work outside. The same thing applies for noise levels: if you cannot work with noise around, move away from people or, once again, move outside where you will be able to work to your full potential. Through this workshop we also learned that teachers teach the way they learn best, whether they know they’re doing it or not. This could explain why a student who prefers auditory learning is not learning so well in a class where the teacher is teaching visually. Once again, this does not mean the teacher needs to change the entire way they teach, but they should try to incorporate the different learning styles at one stage or another. This workshop was extremely worthwhile; I discovered that I learn best visually, while tactile learning is my weakest. Students and teachers need to be able to discuss these learning styles as equals, and use them to their advantage to achieve the best possible results for both.
All of this information on learning styles and student-teacher relationships may seem unfamiliar territory to a lot of teachers. Teachers at our very own school have discussed their fear of change, of losing control of their class once the students have some control over what they are learning and how they learn. And, of course, there is never any guarantee of success. Trying something new is never easy; we have discovered that through our experiences during the previous year. However, when a student who has previously been disruptive starts to enjoy his or her time in the classroom and talk sensibly to the teacher about the way they learn best, it makes all the hard work and stress worthwhile.
We aren’t implying that this is going to work with every student or every class, but the knowledge and understanding that will be gained from attempting something of this sort will be an experience that can be used throughout your lives. It really is essential for every student to recognise how they learn best, and for every teacher to understand the learning styles of their students and use this information within the classroom. For with this knowledge and understanding, great things can be achieved between students and teachers, within classrooms and schools of every size.
Learning to learn
Year 10 students
George Spencer School and Foundation College
England, United Kingdom
A presentation on the theme of ‘Learning to Learn’
http://www.george-spencer.notts.sch.uk/learningtolearn/
* Learning to Learn has been a feature of life for students at George Spencer Foundation School and Technology College since September 2001. The presentation covers the different components of this innovation and how it has impacted upon students as learners.
How do you learn best – do you know? Is it important that you know?
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Christabel L.
14 years
Blackfriars School
England, United Kingdom |
I learn in many different ways that are appropriate for me and my peers. When I revise for tests I revise in many different ways, such as making notes, reading information sheets and I get people to test me on the things I need to know. I use the internet to find information to learn about different things. I read some books that help me with different subjects at school and just general knowledge.
I learn best when I am on my own in a room with information sheets and I read the information out aloud but this method is not always appropriate for all subjects. I use many ways of learning, such as when the teacher stands at the front of the classroom and when a teacher talks to me one-to-one. All these ways are good ways of learning but they aren’t all appropriate in all problems and solutions.
When a teacher is standing at the front of the class I can learn a lot but sometimes I forget the important information if the teacher is talking about a lot of different things. The best thing to do would be to have a pen and paper to write notes down as the teacher talks or have hand-outs with information on them telling us what we have to do. So we can keep referring back to the hand-outs when we are doing the work. This is a good way of learning for me and I would be able to get on with the work easier if we were given hand-outs and I would be able to keep referring back to the information given by the teacher.
The internet is a powerful source of finding information and you can find out about all different kinds of things. I can learn a lot of different information and sources from the internet but I don’t think this is my best way of learning. When you use the internet you are given all the information, which is good in a way but in another way it isn’t because it might mean that you don’t have to think about much yourself because the internet tells you it all. Internet is very useful and it’s a fast way of learning; a lot of people find the internet useful to have.
Reading non-fiction books is a good way of learning because there are some very good facts about different things in different books. When you read widely the books are very interesting and you can refer back to a book quickly and easily. You can have a book with you at all times and they are easy to locate. You can get a lot of books from the library and school.
When I know the answers just from general knowledge, I am just remembering things that I have learnt years before. But I think it is always best to check to see if I’m definitely right by looking the answer up in a book, using the internet to find the answer or asking a teacher or member of staff at school.
I think when I am talking to a teacher on my own I understand and learn more than when a teacher is talking to the whole of the class. I think this because I feel that if I have got an issue on what I am doing, I can talk to the teacher by myself better but what I think about is that I can’t rely on a teacher all my time at school and that I sometimes have to solve problems on my own, which is good for me when I leave school so I can be independent.
I don’t really know which of these ways is best for me to learn but I think when I am talking to a teacher one-to-one and when we have handouts are two of the main ways for me to learn best. And I can understand and take information in more easily.
Learning to learn: internal and external factors
Cameron P. & Kimberley-Rose S.
Edgemead High School
Cape Town, South Africa
The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘learning’ as ‘Knowledge obtained through studying’.
We disagree with this definition but only due to its restriction. We feel it doesn’t allow for the unconscious processes we have discovered through our research, as well as the external factors within different environments.
We have explored some divisions within the learning process and hope this insight will be beneficial to fellow students across the globe.
Internal factors
E.R. Guthrie (1886-1959) said that learning requires a response to be made in a changing situation. In other words, the most recent response is the only piece of knowledge that is retained from an experience.
This hypothesis was later argued against by a psychologist called E.C. Tolman (1886-1959). Tolman put forward the idea of learning being a gradual process, not a one-off ‘thing’ as previously thought.
Involuntary Learning
This subheading accommodates those processes used when information is acquired subconsciously or involuntarily.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING. Pavlov’s dog is a prime example of classical conditioning. For those who don’t know the story, a man by the name of Petrovich Pavlov rang a bell just before feeding his dog. He proved that the dog developed an association between the ringing of the bell and the arrival of food. How did he know this? Whenever the bell was rung, the dog began to salivate, even in the absence of food.
INSTRUMENTAL LEARNING. This involves learning to receive an award or to avoid punishment. Older generations will bear witness that a system known as corporal punishment will fall under this category. Whilst instrumental learning can be very successful, it more often than not produces negative psychological results that can damage individuals for many years.
ACQUISITION OF SKILL. This involves acquiring a skill that will be used habitually. A great example is learning to tie shoelaces.
PROBLEM-SOLVING. Every mathematics pupil will know about problem-solving. When pupils solve a quadratic equation, they adapt their pre-learned knowledge to tackle the issue at hand. By solving each new obstacle, new understandings and knowledge are being comprehended.
Voluntary Learning
Although a lot of learning happens subconsciously, it doesn’t change the fact that conscious input is still required. There is an old saying that says, ‘You reap what you sow’. And this is particularly important in the field of knowledge.
Voluntary learning can be divided into the following categories.
REPETITION. It is possible for associations and knowledge to be fully developed all at once, but this (unfortunately) rarely happens. Instead, we need to resort to repetition to gain a comprehensive understanding of an environment. Studies have shown that when an exercise is performed for the first time, the area of the brain controlling that function requires more blood than usual to complete the task. The more the task is repeated, the more the brain develops neurons to handle the activity. Slowly a reversal occurs - as the person develops a confident understanding of the task, less and less blood is now needed to execute the exercise.
REINFORCEMENT. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Continual repetition eventually induces fatigue and creates a sense of lackluster. Sometimes certain stimuli are required to buffer these side-effects. Whilst these vary from person to person, it is normally seen as a reward of some type (money, food, holiday, praise, and so on.
EXTERNAL FACTORS. In this section we will be focusing on the physical and external atmospheres of learning. We will look at our way of life, social relationships and how they affect us, our home life and even how the foods we eat affect our concentration and how they affect our mood and our ability to concentrate.
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS. The type of environment and social relationships the child is placed in, may affect him or her in either a positive or negative way. Children who are brought up in a happy household, who are encouraged with their school work and are stimulated to think for themselves develop far more rapidly than those who are placed in unhealthy circumstances, where little or no motivation and self-development can be pursued. This can also take place at school, where bullying could be a factor within the educational institution and the child associates the bully with the school, so therefore feels displeasure for school and school work.
LIFESTYLE. It is important, of course, to also maintain a healthy lifestyle. It not only enhances your health but also the way you think and approach problems and with how much stamina. Being in control of your body and keeping it healthy affects the way your brain works. You must keep in mind that the body and the mind work together and that one will affect the other. Being sluggish and eating junk food will leave you lethargic, uninterested and unmotivated to do the work that needs to be done.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE. Exercising boosts your stamina, as well as your mood, which will improve your memory for learning. Exercises such as yoga relieve stress and pressure associated with studying and exam situations. Stress hinders your thought process because you cannot concentrate on the task at hand. Breathing exercises, such as those found in yoga, are designed to utilise your lung capacity and bring blood to the brain. Tai Chi is a type of exercise with restrained movements and poses, which improve calmness and focus. Karate is more of a physical work-out but instills obedience and focus, as well as quick thinking.
FOOD. The importance of eating healthily while studying cannot be under-estimated. It is most important to be aware of the quality and quantity of the food you are consuming. Eating heavy meals while you are doing strenuous mind tasks should be discouraged because blood goes to your digestive system, where it is needed most and not to the brain where you need it to study efficiently and to remember the information. As stated earlier, consuming junk food leaves you lethargic and the same is true for a large or heavy meal. Should a larger meal need to be eaten, then do so by eating the right foods that digest fast. Examples of these are vegetables and fruit. A fast-digesting meat includes fish and chicken. Avoid meats such as pork, which take longer to digest. It is wise to avoid foods such as turkey, sugar, white flour, coffee, and alcohol. Foods rich in lecithin, such as organ meats, eggs, wheat germ, and soybean, are recommended. Following a healthy eating plan while you are studying will leave you mentally alert because your body is working in harmony and digestion will be undemanding.
CONCLUSION. There is no overall set formula for successful learning, as each individual responds to his or her environment in a unique way. But there are common traits that can be applied, such as the ‘internal factors’ that were discussed. Whilst the effects of ‘corporal punishment’ are debatable, others like ‘repetition’ and ‘reinforcement’ bring an invaluable and comprehensive understanding to the forefront.
But don’t discard how a healthy lifestyle, positive support from friends and family members and a keen attitude towards the task can also be beneficial in the long run. Remember - with every action, there is a reaction! After all, where would our human race be without the quest to know more?
Bibliography
1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 22, 15th Edition, pp.886-904.
2. Mega Memory, Kevin Trudeau, First Quill Edition, 1995.
Learning to learn
Lauren H.
16 years
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School and Language College
England, United Kingdom
There are mainly three different ways of learning: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic.
Different ways of learning affect different people, some find it easier to learn in their way, out of the three. Knowing how you can learn better is a good start for revision and also for later life.
Some people may find visual learning easier because they find it better to see things and remember them to do well in an exam. Others may find auditory learning easier because they can say it to themselves or get someone else to read it out and they will remember what was said, and then others may find kinaesthetic as their best way of learning, as they do something else at the same time as learning. However, many people can have two different learning ways. They may have a small percentage of kinaesthetic skills and a large percentage of visual skills.
Some teachers teach their lessons using all three of the learning techniques, to suit all people’s learning ways. Personally, I think schools should do a test to see what a child’s most common way of learning is. From their results they could arrange pupils into different revision classes, as to what suits them best to learn.
Another way teachers could help their pupils is they could change their lessons weekly. A few lessons they could have a visual lesson, by looking at pictures and boards. An auditory lesson could be when they listen to a tape player and a kinaesthetic lesson could be doing actions at the same time as working, for example, singing a song
Cardinal Wiseman does a test for all year 7 pupils when they arrive at the school, so that they can see how they can learn and revise. From statistics, 65% of the population find it easier to learn with visual learning skills, 30% learn from auditory skills and 5% learn from kinaesthetic skills.
Scientists state that if you are a visual learner you may only use one side of your brain, if you are auditory, it uses the other side and if you are kinaesthetic then it’s a small proportion of both. This is why you my have two different learning techniques. It’s more likely that a person may be both a visual and an auditory learner, as this would use both sides of the brain.
Knowing what learner you are may help in later life. It will help you decide on whether you would like to be in an office or a factory. If you are a visual learner, then you wouldn’t benefit from being in an office and someone who is an auditory learner wouldn’t benefit working in a factory.
Personally, I find my way of learning is visual because I would find it boring if I just read pages and pages of words with no colour or pictures. I would also find it hard to do something else at the same time, as it would distract me and I wouldn’t learn.
Learning to learn
Mallorie, Sara and Caitlin
13 years
Overnewton Anglican Community College
Melbourne, Australia
Learning is a vital part in our daily life. It provides us with knowledge that we need to help with our life, such as decision-making, job-taking, career choices, and many more. However, everyone learns differently. We have to be careful about how we help each other learn. We have different styles of learning, different environments that we need, different levels of participation and different ways of organising things. These differences bring us to do our best in discovering our strong points, as well as our weak points, so we do our best at learning.
There are lots of different ways of learning. Sometimes it may be hard for the student to understand. These different ways are put into headings, identifying each student’s strong points and weak points. These are as follows:
Logic and mathematical learning
Logic and mathematics includes the basic maths, reasoning, problem-solving, and patterns. The students that work best in patterns and relationships, classifying, categorising and working with the abstract would work better in this style of learning.
Bodily and kinaesthetic learning
Bodily and kinaesthetic learning involves touch. The subjects that involve body and kinaesthetic include athletics, dancing, arts and crafts, and using tools for construction. Students who work best at touching, moving, and processing knowledge through bodily sensations would fit under this style of learning.
Visual/spatial learning
Visual/spatial learning is big on visualisation. It needs lots pictures to understand. It uses the mind to try and visualise what people are saying. If they are better at visualisation, mazes, images and charts, then this is their right style of learning
Musical and rhythm learning
Musical and rhythm learning consists of singing, melodies, picking up on sounds and remembering tunes. People who are good at these areas sometimes put many things into tunes or songs to remember them, for example, practicing words - they may put something into a tune to remember the order of how it goes, or some other musical or rhythmic activity.
Interpersonal learning
Interpersonal learning is a very unique way of learning. It consist of the students understanding others, leading in groups, organising things for the benefit of others, communicating with each other, resolving conflicts and selling ideas. Students who have the ability to share, compare objects, relate things with each other, take charge of interviews and are able to cooperate with others well would suit best with this topic.
Natural learning
Natural learning consists of learning through the natural world by understanding nature, making distinctions and identifying flora and fauna. The students who would fit best into this area would work best through working in nature, exploring living things, and learning about plants and natural events.
Intrapersonal learning
Intrapersonal learning involves the student him or herself, and keeping sure that, when that student does learn, he or she would learn in a quiet place. It also includes understanding themselves, recognising their own strengths and weaknesses and setting goals. The student’s strong points in this area would involve working alone, doing self-paced projects, having space and reflecting. These qualities would cause the student to do his or her best at learning in this area.
Verbal/linguistic learning
Verbal/linguistic learning lets students have the qualities of reading, writing and telling stories, memorising dates and thinking up words. These types of qualities would benefit the student by helping the student to learn best through reading, seeing and hearing words, speaking, discussing and debating. The students who work best through this would work best in this area.
Although these areas would greatly increase the students’ learning, the teachers and the way students participate in each subject greatly affect how they learn, as well. The way teachers act towards student lets the student understand how the teacher acts, letting the student try to learn the way the teacher wants them to learn. But this won’t work too well, as all of the students in a class learn differently, making the responsibility of the teacher more difficult. The teacher must understand each student’s level in the class and organise properly how he or she would benefit as many students as possible. But the responsibility doesn’t only come from the teacher but the students as well. The students’ responsibility to participating to the best of their ability greatly increases the chance of having them learn as best they can. To participate, they must continue to try and learn through the teacher and, if they don’t understand something, then have the teacher come and explain it to them in such a way that the student will understand what to do and how to do every bit of it.
The student should also try to put their hand up to answer questions and participate in any such activities to do with the subject. The teacher should also write dot points on the board, so that students that aren’t particularly good at listening can read off the board.
Another area that would have a student work and learn better is where they are learning, whether at school or at home. Some students work well with some background noise at home, while others need dead silence in order to work. At school, however, it is different. Not too many students get a choice about how they want to work. Because there are classmates around, it causes students to get distracted and talk, making other students that need dead silence in order to work more distracted. Whilst this happens, students who can only work with a fair bit of noise in the background have the advantage of completing their work. To solve this problem, students who need dead silence should work together, while the rest can work together. This lets students get the most out of learning. Also, the state of where the student is working greatly helps to keep the student comfortable when they are studying. At home, the student can recreate their own room or study to make it comfortable to work in. At school, there can be eye-catching posters around the room, talking about different subjects and how to understand them easily so that it would keep the student interested.
The classroom could be in a state that is relatively clean, with colours that will help the students to relax and let them know that they are welcome to learn at their own rate. Having all this happening around the classroom would greatly increase the students’ will to learn.
The way students know what to do and when to do it depends on how organised they are. Some will need to have diaries to aware of what homework needs to be done in a certain period of time, while others can remember what homework they have. This also includes the type of books they have, how well they use them and when they intend to use them. Some students need to write things down off the board, so later on they can revise what they learnt at school, while others can just remember everything that the teacher has written down on the board or what he or she explained. All this depends on how organised the student is.
Each student must do their part in learning. They must help each other to find their strong points, in order to learn as best as each student can. All students must learn to the best of their ability because, in order to get the best out of life, we need wisdom and knowledge to make the right choices. It also would benefit their future career in life and would help them to make wiser choices.
Learning to learn
Rebecca B.
16 years
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School and Language College
England, UK
Learning is something which everybody does throughout their lives – at school, at home and in our everyday experiences. Most people find that they are able to learn to the best of their ability when they use certain techniques. The three main types are: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners. Visual learners prefer written information, diagrams and notes. Auditory learners respond well to hearing the information, and kinaesthetic learners are able to learn in a practical way, through movement and touch. There are ways to find out which type of learner you are, including different tests and you can also discover yourself through lessons at school. At our school, Cardinal Wiseman, we now provide a test for year 7 pupils so that they can find out early on which style of learning they prefer and put this to use.
I think that I am a visual learner, which I have discovered myself, at school in my lessons. This is the most common style of learner and makes up 65% of the population. I think it is important for people to know which style they prefer because it will help you during school life and beyond, in your career. For example, if you are a kinaesthetic learner, which is the least common type of learner according to statistics, you would not do well in a job at an office or a similar job because you would not cope well with the lack of movement.
At school, I think lessons are mainly taught in a visual way, occasionally having certain lessons in an auditory or kinaesthetic style. This could affect pupils who learn better in the two other ways and they may not gain as much knowledge as other pupils. I think schools should start to separate pupils into classes which are especially designed for their learning style. It would improve lessons for both teachers and pupils, because pupils who find it hard to concentrate in a visual lesson would no longer be disrupting the class. Instead, they could be in an auditory or kinaesthetic lesson with similar pupils. In visual lessons, teachers could use pictures and writing on the board and from books. In auditory lessons teachers could use tape players and speak throughout the lesson. In kinaesthetic lessons, the teachers would need to use actions and movements. If this could not be done in schools, I think another way to change and improve lessons would be to vary, with the three styles of learning each lesson.
There has been a lot of research done to determine styles of learning, and it has shown that people can be linked to more than one learning style. It has proved that pupils who used to be labelled as disruptive and loud are actually just struggling with the way they are being taught. Schools could send out questionnaires to new students asking them if they know what their learning style is and, if so, could they come up with any suggestions on how teachers could deliver their lessons in order to take in the learning styles of all the pupils in the class.
Learning to learn
Peter G.
16 years
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School and Language College
England, United Kingdom
There are different ways of learning that people have discovered for themselves, and you can tell how a person learns their work, by these three ways of learning: kinesthetic, visual, or auditory learners.
Kinesthetic learners learn by moving their bodies, activating their large or small muscles as they learn. These are the ‘hands-on learners’ or the ‘doers’, who actually concentrate better and learn more easily when movement is involved. Kinesthetic learners often wiggle, tap their feet, or move their legs when they sit and also often labelled as ‘hyperactive’ as children. Because they learn through movement, kinesthetic learners often do well as performers: athletes, actors, or dancers. They also work well with their hands. They may be good at repairing work, sculpting, art, or working with various tools. And finally, they are often well co-ordinated and have a strong sense of timing and body movement.
Visual learners learn by taking notes and making lists to read later, they read information that has to be learned, for example, from books, videotapes, filmstrips and print-outs or from seeing a demonstration. A visual learner will need to see all study material. Visual learners practice visualising (mental imagery) or picturing spelling words. They write everything out for frequent and quick visual review. They analyse words by tearing them apart and putting them back together (to-get-her-together). They use enlarged paper for graphing, making it easier for them to plot lines.
Auditory learners learn best by hearing information. They can usually remember information more accurately when it has been explained to them orally. Auditory learners can remember quite accurately details of information they hear during conversations or lectures. They have strong language skills, which include a well-developed vocabulary and an appreciation for words. The strong language skills often lead to strong oral communication skills. They can carry on interesting conversations and can articulate their ideas clearly. Because of their ‘fine tuned ear’, auditory learners may find learning a foreign language to be relatively easy. Auditory learners often have musical talents. They can hear tones, rhythms and individual notes with their strong auditory skills.
It is important that you know the way you learn because then you can continue that way of learning and achieve the results that you want. Sometimes when, in lessons, you may not be able to learn the work you have done because the teacher wants you to learn in a certain way, this does make a difference. Lessons could be improved by the teacher finding ways of revising and explaining it to the class. This would give ideas to the pupils and may have an effect on their results. Also, they could be improved by putting pupils into groups of what learner they actually are, putting them into classes where the learners are all the same can accommodate all learners. I found out that I am a visual learner and I found that out when I read my own work!
A new way of learning
Mark A.
17 years
Australian Science and Mathematics School
Adelaide, Australia
Our education systems in this new millennium are becoming more flexible with their curriculum and classes, and this makes learning to learn, or metacognition, a more emphasised classroom practice. The practice of discovering how a person learns best can be invaluable to the individual’s understanding of concepts, allowing them to get ahead of the rest in their intellectual development.
The most common aspects of how individuals learn are categorised by the senses; seeing, or visual information; hearing, or information presented through speech or sound; and touch, the practical approach to construction and experimentation. Each of these aspects can be sub-categorised and mixed, so an aid, such as film, can incorporate both visual and audio information simultaneously, or a practical experiment can be aided with the use of written explanations and instructions or by the advice of a teacher. Learning to learn can also include techniques on a much simpler scale, such as time management and techniques for examinations, which are as important as the learning styles but more universal amongst students.
At the Australian Science and Mathematics School, in Adelaide, South Australia, I am able to discover information in many different ways, whether it be in a classroom style discussion, research, or practical endeavors. I have personally found that information presented in classroom discussions is often more concrete, and therefore easier for me to apply, but this is not to say that I do not get information from other activities, as well. This is a key point to metacognition, there is no one way that an individual will learn, but there will be a way that a random individual learns best by.
Even though the learning to learn process is new in schools, it is sensible to have a curriculum that is able to adapt to an individual's needs and accommodate all learning styles, which effectively means the abolition of the fixed curriculum style learning that most schools undertake. A fixed activity, like answering questions from a textbook, will not be beneficial to all students, as only so many people would find the approach effective, though it may be easy to administer. I believe the solution to this is being solved at my school, where rather than being given a task that must be approached in a certain way, we have assignments that can be approached in a variety of ways; have a variety of sources that we can use, such as ICT facilities, a local library on campus, and the expertise of the teachers; and can present the task in multiple mediums, such as video presentations, oral presentations, posters, experiments, models, and anything else that would be deemed appropriate for the activity.
We still have the basics, such as classroom 'lectures' and activities for learning, but the life and curriculum at the school would be more of a parallel to university than that of a high school (with a keen focus on the sciences and mathematics, and a good technological environment).
This approach to learning is very good, but I feel that the education style needs to be more widely implemented than the fixed education systems in many schools that I have seen and been to. We cannot expect that results yielded from a fixed curriculum can be a measure of the students’ intellectual capacity and skills, when their learning styles may not be attuned to the way a class is taught, and therefore their comprehension of the subject is lowered. All that this situation will lead to are the students with the highest grade understanding everything that is taught, but then finding themselves in a completely different magnitude of comprehension in the workplace. Because of this, it is paramount that an individual is able to experience a wide range of learning styles, and be taught in the way that they understand information best to be a success.
'How do you learn best?'
Joshua & Sarah
Year 8
Ossetts School
England, UK
View their powerpoint on the at http://www.ossettschool.co.uk/ossett_web
How to change and improve the curriculum
Year 9 student
The Forest Boys School
England, United Kingdom
Many aspects of the curriculum must be addressed before it’s too late for the students of Britain’s schools. People have only been taught how to pass exams not any life skills. The current curriculum forces teachers and schools to do this, by not allowing them the leeway they need to teach us valuable skills for the future. Pupils have exam techniques crammed down their throats from Day 1.
For example, in our Resistant Materials class, we should be learning things such as how to decorate, put up shelves and repair objects, such as cars, bikes and desks and how to assemble flat pack furniture. However, instead we are learning the ‘useful’ talents of bending plastic into pen stands, clocks and other such pointless objects. In stark contrast, in food technology we learn how to cook and be safe around the kitchen or with food. We get taught how to be healthy.
Other subjects that should be optional from as early as our first year at secondary school are: music, art and some parts of technology. Here are the reasons for this.
Music should be optional because you don't get taught much. If everyone was taught how to play an instrument properly during the lessons, it should be compulsory but, as that doesn't happen, it should be optional. Art should be optional because, from one lesson per week, you can't be taught how to become the next Picasso. The majority of people are either born artistic or not and those who aren't usually can’t be taught how to draw, paint or any other aspect of art to a high standard. The subject should not be compulsory if only a handful of people are particularly skilled at it. Certain parts of Design & Technology should be optional. Pupils should be able to choose which specific part of technology they wish to learn about. The options are Engineering, Resistant Materials, Food Technology and Graphic Products.
However, many aspects some people, adults and students alike find ‘ridiculous’ or ‘have no purpose’ should stay. These include CPSHE (Citizenship, Personal Social and Health Education), RE and Business Studies.
RE needs to be kept compulsory because it teaches atheist or agnostic students to tolerate other religions and it encourages more morality. This is important so racism will not become prevalent among today's youth culture. Pupils who are religious also get a further insight into their religion and the religion of others across the world.
Business Studies should be kept on the curriculum because it teaches students about business and what the majority will do, that is, office work. In the course you cover important issues such as marketing, business strategy, decision-making, and so on. This is vital to everyone of all ages, so it should be taught to all children of secondary school age.
Within English we learn things such as how to write poetry and analyse the language used in pieces of literature, when it would be far more useful for us to learn how to write formal letters, for example, letters of complaint, applications for jobs and letters for legal reasons. Also knowing how to write a CV, a will and other things everyone will need to know how to do at some point during their life.
Also, within mathematics, we are taught things like trigonometry, so we can pass exams but have almost no use in ordinary life. However, if we were taught things like how to open an account, manage money, write cheques and work out tax, it would give us the knowledge needed to able to lead a sensible financial life.
There should also be a lesson in which we learn about how our legal systems function. So if something happened, like a family member died or we were diagnosed as being terminally ill, we wouldn't have to worry about the legal side of the proceedings. Also, it would help to know what to do if we got jury duty, was a witness, a victim or even the person being accused.
ICT is seriously under-taught at our school. There was, until only a few weeks ago, just one ICT teacher for the entire school. We were given one ICT lesson per fortnight during years 7 and 8. Now in year 9 we are expected to do a half GCSE. We think ICT should be made one of the national curriculum's core subjects and prioritised in the way English, maths and science are. It should be compulsory to study it at GCSE level, because, let’s face it, nearly all jobs involve ICT at some level.
Even as an aid to study, it is hugely useful. You could quite easily integrate ICT into the entire curriculum because of the huge research resource that is the internet. If this was the case, and pupils had computers on hand more often, then we believe that there would be a phenomenal increase in results. To avoid pupils copying the information needed straight from a site, the work could be cross-referenced in the way that universities check work. We are not proposing that all lessons should be working with ICT, just that every three or four lessons we could go online and research the topic before starting it.
Finally, in Modern Foreign Languages, we should learn things that have actual use in a foreign country: like how to ask for directions, make bookings and check into hotels, as well as being able to understand what you’re ordering and how to order it in a restaurant. Instead, we learn how to say things like what we've done and how to talk about the weather and other such useless phrases.
Learning to learn
Quincy W.
Shenley Brook End School
United Kingdom
This presentation is about learning to learn and Shenley Brook End School council’s honest views about Learning to learn and best ways to learn. Click here to view Quincy's Powerpoint.
Knowing how you learn best
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Sonia
12 years
Leanyer School
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia |
The way that I learn best is by visual and hands on learning. I think that visual learning is much easier than the other types of learning, such as long speeches and copying from the board. I based this on the fact that, with visual learning, you can actually see what you are studying about and have a good point of view what it looks like and what it can do.
Sometimes with hands-on learning you will not miss out on important little facts, and this can lift your grade and give you a better understanding of things. Another easy type of learning is group learning or joint learning.
It is important that you know how you learn best because you can use that procedure for self-learning and also teach it to other students who have difficulties in learning and understanding. This can also benefit teachers, and gives them a different option from the routine method of teaching.
Different ways of learning
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Nerida
12 years
Leanyer Primary School
Darwin, Australia |
Different people have different ways of learning. Some people learn by looking while others learn by hearing and some would learn by actually doing. Personally, I learn best by doing. If you know what way you work best, you will then be able to work that way and learn more easily. It is important you know what way you learn the easiest because this means you can try harder if is not that way.
Learning Styles
Nazareth College
Melbourne, Australia
View the students' website by clicking here.
