Learning Styles

1. Learning Styles • Introduction • Types of style • Learning tips

2. Introduction to learning styles • A complex field of research, proliferating since Honey and Mumford in 1982 • Findings adopted by many large organisations • Common finding that learning patterns are not well suited to actual range of preferred learning styles • Wide range of models to characterise learning styles

3. Range of models include: • Honey and Mumford (1982) distinguished between four preferred learning styles: • Activist • Reflector • Theorist • Pragmatist

4. Honey and Mumford model (1.1) Activists learn best from activities in which there are: • New experiences and challenges • Short ‘here and now’ tasks including teamwork and problem-solving • Excitement, change and variety • ‘High visibility’ tasks such as leading discussions

5. Honey and Mumford model (1.2) Reflectors learn best from activities where they: • Are allowed or encouraged to watch/think/ponder on activities • Have time to think before acting • Can carry out careful, detailed research • Have time to review their learning • Don’t have pressure and tight deadlines

6. Honey and Mumford model (1.3) Theorists learn best from activities where: • What is offered is part of a system, model, concept or theory • They can explore the interrelationships between ideas, events and situations • They are asked to analyse and evaluate, then generalise • They can question basic assumptions or logic

7. Honey and Mumford model (1.4) Pragmatists learn best from activities if: • There’s an obvious link between the subject matter and a ‘real life’ problem • They are shown techniques for doing things with practical advantages • They see a model they can emulate, or can concentrate on practical issues • They are given immediate opportunities to implement what they have learned

8. Range of models (2) Pask (1988) distinguished between: • Holist learners, who prefer to form a global view of what is learned and make relations between its parts • Serialist learners, who prefer to take a step-by-step approach

9. Range of models Broader distinction made between: • Visual/holist learners • Verbal-sequential learners

10. Range of models Common distinction between: • Visual learners, who prefer to learn through seeing • Auditory learners, who prefer to learn through hearing • Kinaesthetic learners, who prefer to learn through ‘hands on’ physical activity

11. Tips for visual learners • Use visual materials such as pictures, charts and maps • Use colour coding and highlighting • Look carefully at headings/patterns of topics; take notes and use handouts • Brainstorm using illustrations, mind maps; skim read to get an overview • Visualise information in picture form

12. Tips for auditory learners • Participate frequently in discussions nd debates • Make speeches and presentations • Use a tape recorder as well as notes • Read text aloud • Create musical jingles to aid memory • Speak to a tape and listen to yourself expressing ideas

13. Tactile/kinaesthetic learners • Take frequent study breaks • Move around to learn new things (e.g. read while on exercise bike; model clay to learn a new concept) • Stand up to work • Use bright colours and turn reading material into posters/models • Skim read before reading in detail

14. Finally… • Remember that we’re all different – you don’t have to fit one mould • If you’re not learning well, or bored by learning, try out new strategies that suit you better • The more types of learning activity you engage in, the more you’re likely to cover your preferred styles