Can You Give It So They Get It?

1. Can You Give It So They Get It? Attending to Different Learning Styles in the Classroom The College of the Albemarle Professional Development March, 2007

2. Topics • Learning Style Defined • Factors Affecting Learning Styles • Different Learning Styles Models • Teaching to Styles • Developing MY Plan Objectives • Define learning style. • Determine your preferred learning style. • Discuss benefits of attending to different learning styles. • Identify different learning style models. • Select learning style activities appropriate for your style of teaching and your students’ needs. • Design learning strategies to create a learning environment in which all can possibly succeed. Your Expectations 1. 2. 3.

3. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ What Are Learning Styles? Way in which a person perceives, organizes, uses and retains new and /or difficult information. What Factors Influence Learning Styles? • Learning Styles Models • Learning styles are determined by how students take in information and how students process information. • VARK : Perceptual Modality Preference • Hemispheric Models ( e.g. Left Brain / Right Brain) • Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences • McCarthy’s 4MAT System

4. Visual Auditory Reading/Writing VARKLearning StylesModel Refers to the way learners take in information Kinesthetic How Do You Prefer to Learn?

5. Characteristics of the VARK Learners Auditory Learners • Like verbal instructions • Enjoy dialogue, plays • Remember names, forget faces • Rehearse information orally • Use mnemonics, rhymes, jingles, and auditory repetition through tape recording to improve memory. • Use tape recorders to document lectures and for reading materials • Are easily distracted by noise Visual Learners • Watch demonstrations • Sit in the front of the room to avoid distraction • Use visual association, visual imagery, written repetition, flash cards, and clustering strategies for improved memory • Use note pads, Post-Its, to-do lists, and other forms of reminders. • Remember faces, forget names • Have a vivid imagination Read and Write Learners • Write many drafts • Take notes and outline their reading assignments • Turn charts and diagrams into words • Make lists and organize them into categories. • Make use of extra information such as manuals, dictionaries, and glossaries. Kinesthetic Learners • Learn by doing • Actively participate in discussions. • Use all of the senses - sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing. • Remember best what was done, not heard • Organize information into the steps that were used to physically complete a task • Need movement and seek out courses that have laboratories, field trips, etc. and lecturers who give real life examples. • Enjoy teaching the material to someone else

6. Strategies for Applying the VARK • Strategies for Teaching Auditory Learners • Provide tapes of previous lectures • Utilize group discussion • Ask students to verbally state the main ideas • Give oral instructions • Allow soft music in classroom • Encourage Auditory Students to . . . • Listen to tapes • Discuss topics with classmates • Recite the main ideas • Use memory rhymes or songs to remember fact • Strategies for Teaching Visual Learners • Add pictures, illustrations, and comics to handouts and charts • Write problems on blackboard, overhead or worksheet • Organize new terms into columns by category • Use different colors for emphasis in presentations • Encourage Visual Students to... • Use highlighters • Write instructions on paper • Take notes as they listen • Create outlines of new material • Sit away from doors and windows Strategies for Teaching Kinesthetic Learners • Create task cards • Have students role play • Provide puzzles for new terms • Have students design and play games to review material • Incorporate hands-on projects • Encourage Kinesthetic Students to. . . • Use highlighters when taking notes • Listen to a tape as they jog • Use exercise bike when studying • Play games to learn content

7. LeftBrain RightBrain The two sides of the brain, right and left hemispheres, control two different "modes" of thinking. Each of us prefers one mode over the other. Recognizing oneself in the categories helps to identify both our teaching and learning practices. The following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking: • Implications for Teaching • Left-brain dominated • prefers verbal instructions and explanations • prefers closed tasks where one can discover the "right" answer • Right-brained dominated • prefers written instructions as well as verbal • understands best when viewing demonstrations • enjoys and learns from open-ended tasks for which there is no "right" answer • comprehends better when manipulating real objects and models while learning • often communicates and “thinks” by drawing and doodling

8. Howard Garner’s Multiple Intelligences Your Turn

9. Learning Tools for the Multiple Intelligences Sample of How to Use the 7 Intelligences in a Lesson:

10. The 4MAT Model McCarthy is interested in “educating the whole brain”. She proposes that teachers design curriculum using all styles, in order that all student learning styles are addressed. This means that students not only find the mode of greatest comfort for themselves, but are challenged to adapt to other, less comfortable but equally valuable modes. According to Bernice McCarthy, developer of the 4MAT system, there are four major learning styles, each of which asks different questions and displays different strengths during the learning process. Citation: Huitt, W. (2000). Individual differences: The 4MAT system. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Types of Learners • Innovative Learners • need to have reasons for learning that connect new information. They like to connect learning with personal experience and establish that information's usefulness in daily life. • enjoy cooperative learning, brainstorming, and integration of content areas (e.g., math with economics, writing with engineering, etc.) • Analytic Learners • are interested in acquiring facts to deepen their understanding of concepts and processes. • are capable of learning effectively from lectures, and enjoy independent research, analysis of data, and hearing what "the experts" have to say. • Common Sense Learners • are primarily interested in how things work; they want to "get in and try it". • like approaches such as experiential learning activities, labs, and manipulating objects or tools Dynamic Learners • are interested in self-directed discovery, rely heavily on their own intuition, and seek to teach both themselves and others. • like independent study, simulations, role play, and games. • Center for Teaching and Learning- Georgian College http://staff.georgianc.on.ca/ctl/teaching/learningstyles_learning.htm

11. The 4 MAT Model YOUR Turn What if? Why? What? How?

12. 4MAT Model: Implication for Teaching • Learning Styles and Online Learning • Learning Styles and the Online Environment:http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/tutorials/id/learningStyles.asp • Learning Online: Models and Styles: • http://otis.scotcit.ac.uk/onlinebook/otisT102.htm • Online Learning Styles:http://www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/Features/lngstyle/style04.htm • Successful Online Learners are Active Learners:http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/accdit/SSOlearn.htm

13. General Hints and Teaching Strategies • First Present Problems: Describe the problems associated with the content. Avoid jumping directly into diagrams, statistics, or formulas. For example, have students exert pressure on a door at different distances from the hinges before teaching the relations between torque, moments, and angular motion. • Balance Information: Blend conceptual information with concrete information. (mix theories, models, or concepts with demonstrations or research experiments). Students embrace theoretical knowledge when they see how it makes sense in their world. • Show Me: Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words! Make extensive use of sketches, plots, schematics, diagrams, graphics, and physical demonstrations. • Use Numbers: Break concepts and theories into manageable numerical listings.“While Freud has three (3) parts of the personality being developed over four (4) psychosexual stages, Erikson develops eight (8) psychosocial stages . . .” • Make it Relevant: Point out connections of current material to other material in the course, in the same discipline, and in everyday life. • Give Reflection Time: Provide time in class for students to think about the material and for participation. Used by permission from Dr. Terry Whisnant – Horizons Seminars “L earning Styles and Teaching Strategies”

14. Tools for Assessing Teaching and Learning Online Tests: • Learning Style Tests Online Go to www.cas.lsu.edu Click on “Test Your Learning Style” on left of page Click on the “Guest” button on the left of the page Take the three tests, and list your results next to each test below. Brain Dominance Personality Sensory Preference • Index of Learning Styles, developed by Barabara Soloman and Richard Felder at North Carolina State University.  An online assessment tool that will provide you with immediate feedback:http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/ilsweb.html • Indiana State University provides a brief overview of learning styles models: http://web.indstate.edu/ctl/styles/model2.html.  • How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and Schoolhttp://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/The National Academy of Science's research provides a deep understanding of complex reasoning and performance on problem-solving tasks and how skill and understanding in key subjects are acquired. • Multiple Intelligences Tests: • The three sites below will give you feedback on your M. I. http://www.careerccc.org/products/cp_99_e/section1/quiz.cfm http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=56724 http://flexways.flexiblelearning.net.au/learning/multiple.asp • VARK Style Questionnaire http://www.vark-earn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire • “Teaching Perspectives Inventory” http://www.teachingperspectives.com/html/tpi_frames.htmdeveloped by Daniel Pratt and John Collins.

15. Teaching with Styles Awareness– The more you are aware of your teaching style the better you can detect aspects of the styles of your students. Intervention -- If you recognize a student is having problems you can intervene and steer him/her in a different direction or implement Design – You can design courses and work interactively with students to help them become more effective learners. Empowerment – awareness of, attention to and direct changes can empower both the student and the teacher to a greater understanding. Consider the Brain and how students learn

16. Remember… “Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.” (Chickering and Gamson, 1987)

17. My Plan As a result of this workshop I plan to: To accomplish this I plan to … One idea I can integrate immediately is: Page 6