Paste yDiscuss the role that an individual’s personal learning style plays in his/her learning.
Learning is like breathing. It is something we do from the minute, throughout our lifetime, until the end. It is a continuous cycle that never stops and changes in many ways. The way we learn and the things we learn when we are a small child are different to the things we learn and the way we learn when we are much older. Although we may not know it we are always learning new things. We are all different human beings and therefore have different learning styles. With various types of personalities we all perceive things, learn things and take things in, in different ways. It is a vital part of life not only for the individual’s well being but so that we can grow as a society. Therefore it is important that we understand that an individual’s learning style plays a crucial role in their learning.
Learning is defined as a process in which an individual acquires and assimilates new knowledge and skills that result in relatively permanent behaviour changes. It is also the “process of creating knowledge” (Armstrong and Fukami 2009)
An individual’s learning style plays a significant role in their learning. Every day people learn new things and their specific learning style is used to further their understanding and develop their learning. There are many different types of learning styles and index of learning styles but I will be discussing Honey and Mumford’s learning styles, Kolb’s learning cycle and vark learning styles.
Honey and Mumford had four learning styles;
• Activist
• Reflector
• Pragmatist
• Theorist
An activist has a more hands on approach. They like to physically do things themselves and that aids with their learning. It is much more beneficial for an activist to do something rather than observe someone else doing it or read about it.
A reflector would be the opposite of an activist. They would like to sit back, observe others completing it and then reflect. They learn by observing first and thinking a lot about the action. They consider everything and think about all the different solutions.
A pragmatist is like an activist as they like to try things out and complete the action themselves. They look at the problem and tend co come up with a new practical solution.
A theorist likes to understand the theory before they do the action. They learn best with the use of theories, models, facts and statistics.
Kolb’s learning cycles has a different perspective on learning. His intention was to “describe a theoretical perspective on the individual learning process that applied to all situations and arenas of life”
Our learning styles have modernised and we now have websites and questionnaires to find out exactly what type of learner we are. This is a huge development in the way we learn as we are now more aware than ever before on what learning style suits us best. This aids us with our learning and strengthens our learning abilities. VARK (Visual, aural, read, kinaesthetic) is a common one in which it informs the individual what activity suits their learning needs.
With many new ways to learn and take in new information it is clear that the individual’s personal learning style plays an important role in their learning. To enhance our learning one must adapt to their environment and make use of their preferred learning style (Fürnkranz and Hüllermeier 2010).
Many students excel with traditional based methods of teaching and learning, however the majority do not (Minotti, 2005). In 2005 Jennifer Lauria Minotti carried out an experiment on unique learning styles vs traditional based learning styles. Minotti had an experimental group and a control group of middle school students in New York. Each student was assigned homework in mathematics, science and reading. The experimental group exercised their own unique learning style whereas the control group used their traditional based learning style to complete the tasks. One of the learning styles tested was the Dunn and Dunn Learning style model. Environment was an element in this model. It tested the learners preferences to light, sound, temperature and location. It took into account how each student reacted to their environment and the impact that it had on their learning. Results showed that students from the experimental group who used their own unique learning style increased their levels of learning and achievement. The control group’s mathematic achievement score went from 81.85 to 82.45. In comparison the experimental group’s mathematic achievement score went from 82 to 88.87. Minotti’s study and findings indicate that learning styles and applying our preferred learning styles influence our learning hugely.
Using the wrong type of learning style also has a negative impact or influence on our learning (Guild, 2001). Minotti mirrored Guild’s thoughts and added that teachers hinder their student’s learning experience by failing to explore their different learning styles. If an individual is forced to learn something in a way that does not suit their learning preferences, they will more than likely take less in as they struggle with the method of learning. We learn more efficiently when the information is presented to us in a way that best matches our learning style (Heraty et al 1998). Once an individual engages and becomes aware of their learning style, they become a more active learner. In turn they retain more information.
I have taken many tests in both my educational institutions and online and have been told I’m an activist. I find the best way for me to learn something is to do it myself. An experience I had last year showed me how much learning styles affect students. My class had the same biology teacher for years. We were used to her teaching methods and she knew our learning styles. When we started our final year of secondary school we had a new teacher for biology. It was only his second year of teaching so he was not as familiar with all the different learning styles. Within the first week it was clear that his learning style was completely different to what the class was used to. We struggled with the way he was presenting the information to us and the way he expected us to learn contrasted with the way we had been learning for the last five years.
This incident taught me that if people are not used to a certain method it has an impact on their learning and their self belief. It was only then I realised the important role learning styles play in individual’s learning. We approached the biology teacher and suggested that he use similar teaching methods to what we had been doing all along. We advised him to use plenty of diagrams, graphs, videos and pictures instead of reading aloud from the book, as the majority of our class were visual learners rather than aural learners. Once he changed his methodology, the class’s ability to learn increased. In August the results confirmed that using our preferred learning styles played a role in our learning as the majority of the class received fantastic results in the leaving cert biology exam.
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