Learning styles and teaching

Article

Learning styles and teaching

ID # 3797

Hi readers!

So the Carolina Navigators class I’m participating in at UNC has covered a wide range of education theory – from types of classrooms to policy. One interesting topic we discussed a few weeks ago was learning styles. Although the effectiveness of learning style inventories and their utility is contested, it is undeniable that different people learn in different ways and variety is the spice of teaching. By examining my own personal learning style through the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, I was better able to see how my preferences can influence my presentations and how I can increase the variety of activities in my lessons to appeal to a wide range of students.

According to the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, I have an accommodating learning style. People with an accommodating style like to learn from hands on experiences and thrive on challenges and planning. These individuals are practical, like to get things done, are adaptable, and are leaders. I was not at all surprised by this identification. My learning style is very balanced and I pull upon a lot of different techniques. This sort of adaptability is fitting with the accommodating learning style. Additionally, I have always assumed leadership positions in group projects and am the planner in my group of friends. I enjoy having large projects that I can sink my teeth into and am easily annoyed by people who arrive to group projects unprepared. I was homeschooled for a year when I was younger, which I feel made me a very self-aware learner. For that reason, I do not feel like I learned that much about my own personal learning style. However, it was interesting to identify other types of learning styles and connect those to other people I have been around.

Although I am not a classroom teacher, I do have experience teaching through my job here on campus and my sum mer job as a camp counselor. I teach belay technique classes at the climbing wall in Rams Head Recreation Center and what I have learned through that experience of teaching is that variety is the key to communicating concepts to a wide range of skills and learning styles. In my lesson plan, I tried to mix up the activities that students do in order to keep them engaged. I naturally plan for the accommodating style and this is seen by the small group discussions and opportunities to volunteer, which accommodating learners and their natural leadership abilities enjoy. During my presentation, students have the opportunity to develop theories about why we have the cultural stereotypes we do. This fits in with the assimilating learning style. The diverging learning style also fits in well with my presentation. These learners are open-minded and good at understanding people, which is perfect for this presentation on cultural stereotypes.

The one learning style I have trouble incorporating is the convergent style. These learners are analytical and enjoy logic and solving problems. My presentation is not black and white. Rather students explore the grey areas in Latin America – both their own cultural perceptions and the diverse economic and social situations within Central America. However, converging learners also like to make decisions. In the small groups, students must decide whether they think the pictures or facts fit in their stereotype of Latin America or not. Converging learners would be good at this sort of decision making. Although this might not be their strongest sort of learning experience, I still think they can find relevance to their learning style within the presentation. This challenge just demonstrates the type of situations teachers must think of every day in their classrooms. Once again, I am continually impressed with the work that goes behind education and the variety inside every classroom.

My host sister (Tiffany) and I in Monteverde, Costa Rica