Learning Styles Revelation

Psychology and learning,a debate

Having studied aspects of both Psychology and Economics I tend to think there are similaritires between them in that you can get 100 different views form 100 economists and so with Psychologists.

The body of work in the slide show is great and some of it is familiar but the weight of evidence would seem no more that that in favour of learning styles. The presentation is a very good way to reflect on and enlighten my practice which is to use anything that seems to helps my learners.

Manyy many academics in colleges support the idea of learning styles and advocate their use, Solomon and Felder to name two (North Carolina state University) who are activley researching the impact so I am sure the the debate will go on.

Although not scientific I have many examples of situations where learning styles seem to have had a positive impact on learners and espacially in schools and colleges where I have taught and mentored.

One example comes to mind of a 15 year old GCSE student who was very upset with his performance in Geography. I asked about the teaching style for this subject and it was very old school, verbal and detailed notes written on a board to be copied. The mentoring group he was part of used to meet in the library and I noticed a set of national geographic videos and suggested he watch those to supplement the classes. Not only did his grades improve but he organised student-run sessions for others who were having similar difficulties and they all saw improvements as well, they were all boys for the record and eventsaully all passed with B's and A's.

I do not get too hung up on scpecific models and theories, they are only theories, but teachers/trainers can be too mono-method and this can be a big issue for learners.

Thanks Garry, always engaging.

3 Responses

russlater says:

July 1, 2015 at 5:43 am

excellent stuff Garry thanks

and timely too
JohnRTomlinson says:

July 2, 2015 at 8:36 am

Thanks for the link

Thanks for the link, really interesting
perspec1 says:

July 22, 2015 at 2:56 pm

Psychology and learning,a debate

Having studied aspects of both Psychology and Economics I tend to think there are similaritires between them in that you can get 100 different views form 100 economists and so with Psychologists.

The body of work in the slide show is great and some of it is familiar but the weight of evidence would seem no more that that in favour of learning styles. The presentation is a very good way to reflect on and enlighten my practice which is to use anything that seems to helps my learners.

Manyy many academics in colleges support the idea of learning styles and advocate their use, Solomon and Felder to name two (North Carolina state University) who are activley researching the impact so I am sure the the debate will go on.

Although not scientific I have many examples of situations where learning styles seem to have had a positive impact on learners and espacially in schools and colleges where I have taught and mentored.

One example comes to mind of a 15 year old GCSE student who was very upset with his performance in Geography. I asked about the teaching style for this subject and it was very old school, verbal and detailed notes written on a board to be copied. The mentoring group he was part of used to meet in the library and I noticed a set of national geographic videos and suggested he watch those to supplement the classes. Not only did his grades improve but he organised student-run sessions for others who were having similar difficulties and they all saw improvements as well, they were all boys for the record and eventsaully all passed with B's and A's.

I do not get too hung up on scpecific models and theories, they are only theories, but teachers/trainers can be too mono-method and this can be a big issue for learners.

Thanks Garry, always engaging.