Teaching for effective learning - difference

What we know

Human beings have very different characteristics and these can affect the way we behave, the way we relate to others, the way we think and therefore the way we learn.

Research over many years demonstrates that people have different learning styles - characteristic strengths and preferences in the ways they take in and process information. Some learners, for example, tend to focus heavily on facts or information, whilst others are more comfortable with theories and models. Some learners respond strongly to visual forms of information such as pictures and diagrams, whilst others prefer written and spoken explanations. Some people prefer to learn actively and interactively, whilst others function better introspectively and individually.

It is important that Howard Gardner’s model of MI (Multiple Intelligences) is not confused with learning styles. Learning Styles can be defined as the way human beings prefer to take in and process new and/or difficult information. MI is a theoretical framework for understanding and developing people’s different abilities or intelligences.

A number of models have been developed which claim to identify different learning styles or preferences and to help individuals determine which approaches are most effective for them, some of which are featured below:

VAK

One of the most popular learning style theories in recent years has been VAK - a model which gained prominence as a practical method for identifying styles by perceptual sense - Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic.

Visual learners learn best when they are able to see or read information. They prefer information to be in the form of text, symbols, charts, diagrams and pictures. Visual learners enjoy:

• writing their own notes showing important words and ideas
• making graphs and diagrams
• making mind maps or spider diagrams to show the connections between things
• learning from videos or TV programmes
• reading books and magazines or looking at the Internet
• learning from pictures, diagrams, posters and wall charts.

Auditory learners are most effective when they can hear information. They prefer group work and learn well through listening and talking. Auditory learners enjoy:

• talking out loud and repeating things - even to themselves
• making up little stories and rhymes to remember how things are connected
• using mnemonics and other tricks for improving memory
• talking about what they have learned or what they don’t understand
• teaching parents or friends while learning themselves
• listening to an audio recording.

Kinaesthetic learners prefer to learn by touching or doing. This type of learner likes activity-based, practical, investigative learning. Kinaesthetic learners enjoy:

• moving around when they are studying
• practising problems and examples
• making models
• carrying out experiments and practical activities
• practising skills such as arts and crafts
• showing other people how something is done.

The more senses children use when learning, the more likely they are to acquire new knowledge and skills. It is important, therefore, to encourage the use of all senses by promoting reading, hearing, speaking, seeing and touching as part of their learning.

The influence of the VAK models, however, has diminished in recent years largely due to the emergence of alternative theories of learning style for example:

Learning styles pyramid model

Barbara Prashnig, Emeritus Professor and founder of the Creative Learning Company, has further refined the concept of learning styles. In her LSA (Learning Styles Analysis) approach, she identifies the six key elements that determine our unique learning styles as:

• Left/right brain dominance - the way in which our brains process information
• Senses - identifying which of our senses by which we prefer to receive information (sight, hearing, touch, movement)
• Body needs - linking into the physiology of learning (mobility, food intake, hydration, time of day)
• Environment - providing a receptive climate for learning (sound, temperature, light, nature of work area)
• Social preferences - i.e., for independent or group working
• Emotional - attitudes to learning including self-motivation, persistence, structure, conformity, need for variety.

Prashnig maintains that 'Children can learn virtually anything if allowed to do it through their personal strengths.'

Kolb's learning style model

This model explores the way in which learners take in and then process information. The four types of learners in Kolb’s classification are as follows:

• Type 1 Learners (Concrete, Reflective). A characteristic question of this learning type is 'Why?' Such learners respond well to explanations about "why things" and any links with prior knowledge and understanding.

• Type 2 Learners (Abstract, Reflective). A characteristic question of this learning type is 'What?' Such learners respond to information presented in an organised, logical fashion and benefit if they have time for reflection.

• Type 3 Learners (Abstract, Active). A characteristic question of this learning type is 'How?' Such learners respond well to having opportunities to work actively on clearly defined tasks and to learning by trial and error.

• Type 4 Learners (Concrete, Active). A characteristic question of this learning type is 'What if?' Such learners enjoy applying prior knowledge to new situations in order to solve real life problems and discover things for themselves.

Felder-Silverman learning style

This approach which has gained prominence in recent years, contrasts different learning characteristics or orientations. Learners may be to a greater or lesser extent:

• Sensing learners - concrete, practical, oriented toward facts and procedures; or Intuitive learners - conceptual, innovative, oriented toward theories and meanings

• Visual learners - who prefer visual representations of presented material, eg pictures, diagrams, flow charts; or Verbal learners - who prefer written and spoken explanations)

• Inductive learners - who prefer presentations that proceed from the specific to the general; or Deductive learners - who prefer presentations that go from the general to the specific

• Active learners - who learn by trying things out, working with others; or Reflective learners - who learn by thinking things through, working alone

• Sequential learners - who learn best in small, linear, incremental steps; or Global learners - holistic, systems thinkers, learn in large leaps.

The Myers-Briggs type indicator

This model, which has become very influential in the world of business, increasingly informs educational thinking. It classifies students according to their preferences on scales derived from psychologist Carl Jung's theory of psychological types. Learners may be:

• Extroverts - who like to try things out and focus on the outer world of people; or Introverts - who prefer to think things through and focus on the inner world of ideas

• Sensors - who are practical, detail-oriented, focusing on facts and procedures; or Intuitors - who are imaginative, concept-oriented, focusing on meanings and possibilities

• Thinkers - who tend to make decisions based on logic and rules; or Feelers - who tend to make decisions based on personal and humanistic considerations

• Judgers - who set and follow agendas and seek closure even with incomplete data; or Perceivers - who adapt to changing circumstances and resist closure to obtain more data.

Although there is no single, prevailing theory of learning styles, each of the aforementioned models can help schools to understand differences in the way that young people learn best and the implications for the day to day work of teachers.

Gender differences

There is a growing recognition that boys and girls, men and women are not only physically different, but that there are also psychological differences between the genders which affect the way we tend to think, communicate and behave. These differences manifest themselves in the playground, in the school, in the home and in the office.

Girls are gradually doing better than boys in school examinations. Twenty years ago, according to national statistics, there was no great difference between the attainment of boys and girls in examinations. In recent years, evidence shows that both boys and girls have been doing better but girls have been doing even better than boys. They now outperform boys in examinations in Scotland and England and Wales at all levels and in virtually in all subjects - even subjects felt to be male preserves such as physical education, maths and physics.

Boys develop communication skills more slowly than girls and boys have double the number of learning difficulties. In a system, which focuses heavily on literacy at an early age, this can mean boys are heavily disadvantaged.

Recent brain research has suggested that there are physical differences between male and female brains and that there tends to be differences in the way men and women use their brains. This might well go some way to explaining why boys and girls tend to have different strengths at school.

There appear to be two main differences in the physical make up of boys and girls, men and women’s brains. Firstly the corpus callosum, which links the left and right hemispheres of the brain is relatively larger in women than in men. Secondly, the left side of the cortex grows more slowly in boys than in girls. This may explain why boys tend to develop formal language and communication skills later than girls and find it less easy to work collaboratively. 

This may also explain why females seem to be more able to talk about their emotions than males. The emotionally sensitive right brain is able to pass more information to the analytical linguistically talented left brain and to allow the emotions to be incorporated more easily into the speech and thought processes.

Language and expression are two specifically weak areas of male performance. They need additional help to master written language, to express themselves verbally and to learn to enjoy reading. Many schools make use of strategies to increase reading levels for boys in both early primary and early secondary. This can involve, for example, developing reading programmes that use more ‘boy-friendly books’ and introducing father and son paired reading schemes.

Peer pressure also plays an important role in the relatively poorer performance of boys because, across male peer groups, academic success is typically regarded as ‘uncool’. Research suggests that countering peer pressure by encouraging boys to examine their own attitudes and take control of their own lives, (through discussion), can be very effective.

In Australia where the issue of male underachievement in school has been on the political agenda for over 10 years, extensive use has been made of single-gender classes and this strategy has also been used in classrooms throughout the UK in recent years.

Implications for learning

Teachers’ own preferred ways of learning tend to influence the ways in which they teach. This affects how they relate to young people; the way they structure lessons, devise activities and manage the classroom. It also affects the way that teachers present information and provide explanations for learners.

Research supports the view that most teachers teach the way they prefer to learn. It is often argued that since many teachers have experienced academic success in learning environments that relied heavily on lectures, it is understandable that their preferred style of teaching, at least initially, would be to use more formal teaching methods, favoring less learner involvement and more structured class activities. This style works well for young people who want to be told what they should learn and be given the resources to acquire the specified body of knowledge or skills.

Teachers, however, who are aware of their preferred teaching styles and the preferred learning styles of each of their learners, are more likely to adopt student-centred learning experiences, even if it is not the way they learned or prefer to learn. Such teachers are typically more aware of the need to engage learners in the learning process, of the changing demographics of classrooms and the influence of technology on the way that young people learn. They are more likely to provide opportunities for independent and discovery learning, and create interactive learning environments and varied resources that engage young people in meaningful educational experiences.

Learning more about their own preferred ways of working and relating to young people does not mean teachers should change their styles. Teachers tend to be more effective when they teach to their own preferred style, but do so in a way that takes account of and respects different learning preferences. It is, however, important to recognise that where a teacher uses one preferred teaching style almost exclusively and does not adjust to the varied learning styles of his or her learners, the motivation, engagement and, ultimately, the learning of some of these young people will suffer.

It is important to recognise that there is no single learning style theory that is universally accepted, nor is there a right way to study or best way to teach. Teachers should also avoid the temptation to try to categorise or confine individual pupils to one learning style. Age, educational level, and motivation influence each pupil's learning so that what was once preferred may no longer be that pupil's current preferred learning style. 

Nevertheless, greater awareness of learning preferences and styles helps teachers to be more flexible in their teaching and to utilise a wider range of classroom methodologies. The aim is not to match teaching style to learner preferences, but to help young people build their skills and capacities to learn well in both preferred and less preferred modes of learning.