Teaching and Learning Styles

Every person has a different way of taking in and of presenting information. Students have different ways of learning, and teachers have different ways of teaching. By understanding the way you best teach and the way your students best learn, you can improve the atomosphere and the learning capacity in the classroom.


Knowing yourself and your learners can help you determine:

  • What makes you excited about teaching

  • What helps you maintain your enthusiasm

  • Why learners are not paying attention

  • What will make the class more exciting and engaging for learners’

  • What bores or disinterests the learners

  • What challenges the learners

  • What strengthens the relationship between you and your learners

  • What builds self-esteem in your learners

There are some attributes of teachers that students prefer. Teachers should consider these things when deciding how to manage the classroom:[1]

  • Fair
  • Sense of humor
  • Respectful
  • Courteous
  • Open
  • Active listening

It is important to understand your own strengths and weaknesses. But teachers must also understand the strengths and weaknesses of their learners. Each group of learners is different. They have different physical and mental needs. They have different skills and interests. Some students may like to talk in class, while others would prefer to listen. Some students like to read a book while others would rather look at a picture. It is important for teachers to recognize the dynamics and needs of their classroom. By knowing about their learners, they can adapt the classroom to create an exciting and engaging learning environment.


LEARNING STYLES:


What is learning style?

Learning style is the way a person “perceives, conceptualizes, organizes and recalls information.”[2]

Here are two common methods of determining learning style:

  1. McCarthy's Four Learning Styles
  2. Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory

McCarthy's Four Learning Styles:

McCarthy (1980) classified students in four different categories:



Student Characteristics

Role of Teacher

Innovative

- Search for personal meaning

- Reflect upon own values

- Cooperate with others

- Use socialization to learn

- Ask students about the ideas and feelings

Analytic

- Drawn to facts

- Seek intellectual challenges/improvement

- Methodical and reflective

- Give students facts, numbers, and statistics

Common Sense

- Want to take action

- Honest and direct

- Value information that is practical and applicable

- Kinesthetic learners

- Provide problem-solving opportunities

- Give students practical and applicable information

Dynamic

- Enthusiastic

- Look obscure possibilities

- Identify multiple ways to solve problem

- Trust their “gut”


- Ask students about their ideas and feelings


Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory:

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory can give teachers insight into how their students will learn best. Gardner’s Theory provides eight different learning styles. These styles describe how people most effectively take in and process information. By determining how children in your classroom learn and what interests them, you can create lessons and activities that engaged all different types of learners. [3]


Intelligence Style

Description

Linguistic

Skilled at words and language

Logical-mathematical

Skilled at logic, numbers, and facts

Spatial

Skilled at obtaining information from maps and pictures

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Skilled at moving, touching, hands-on projects

Musical

Skilled at appreciating and producing sound and music

Interpersonal

Skilled at talking and listening with others

Intrapersonal

Skilled at self-reflection

Naturalist

Skilled at identifying, classifying, and appreciating the nature


Establishing a Classroom For Different Intelligences:

Since you will have children will varying levels of each type of intelligence, it is very important to include all types of learning into a curriculum. Here are some simple things that each type of learner might enjoy:


Intelligence

Skills

Ways to Teach Them

Linguistic

Reading, writing, listening, languages, spelling, recalling names

Reading books, providing writing exercises like journals and reports

Logical-mathematical

Math, science, experiments, brainteasers, finding patterns

Using models/manipulatives, encouraging critical thinking , posing new ideas for them to consider

Spatial

Drawing, imaging, jigsaw puzzles, remembering visual images

Using maps, charts, colors, and pictures

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Body language, coordination, using tools

Role-playing, acting, sports, hands-on projects

Musical

Singing, identifying sounds and melodies

Using melodies and rhythm to remember information, physical movements

Interpersonal

Talking to people, making friends, resolving conflicts

Group projects, group discussions

Intrapersonal

Originality, understanding self, working for personal goals and dreams

Providing quiet time and space, individual projects, encouraging them to set goals

Naturalist

Sorting and classifying nature, understanding natural science

Bringing nature items to the classroom, class pets and plants, gardening



TEACHING STYLES:

Students learn best when teaching styles and learning styles mesh. It is important for teachers to understand they interact with their students, deal with stress, organize information, and plan. By recognizing teaching style, teachers can adjust it to students’ needs. [3]


Formal Authority:

  • Focuses on subject material

  • Less interested in establishing relationship with students

  • Tries to enlighten students through their teaching

Demonstrator/Personal Model:

  • Models skills for children to observe and learn from

  • Focuses on student participation

  • Emphasize students figuring out material for themselves

  • When students cannot understand for themselves, can ask for help

Delegator:

  • Place responsibility of learning upon students

  • Assigns work then expects students to discover information for themselves

  • Acts as a consultant

  • Expects students to maintain the work and motivate themselves

Facilitator:

  • Provides opportunities for students to pursue their own learning

  • Works with independent, highly motivated students

  • Encourages group activities and problem-solving projects

Different Teaching Perspectives: [4]

  1. Transmission: Teachers focus on presenting the material to the students. Teachers develop a plan of what and how to teach with little input from the students.

  2. Developmental: Teachers teach students by building from basic information students already know to develop more complicated reasoning and problem solving skills.

  3. Apprenticeship: Teachers teach by giving students applicable, hands on projects--demonstrating how information is used in the "real world."

  4. Nurturing: Teachers focus on the building interpersonal relationships to assist students to grow emotionally and intellectually.

  5. Social Reform: Teachers show students exactly how information applies to the learners, lives.

Applying Personality to Teaching and Learning: [5]

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) on Teaching and Learning

Background on the MBTI type test

  • The MBTI provides preferences in different temperament and styles . Preferences have a huge impact on the way in which people think and act. Theses preferences not only influence a child’s personality, it also determines the way they best learn. By understanding different types of temperament, teachers can more easily understand the likes, dislikes, abilities, disabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of the learners in their classrooms. When a teacher can recognizes these characteristics in their learners, they can accommodate the different styles of their learners.


To successfully present information to all different types of learners, they must incorporate and alternate between different styles of teaching:


Preference 1: Extroversion v. Introversion

(For an explanation of Extroverts and Introverts: http://www.personalitypathways.com/article/step2.html)

Teaching Extroverts:

  • To Engage Extroverts Try:

- Group exercises and projects within the classroom and as homework

- Aloud discussions and problem-solving

  • To Avoid Difficulties with Extroverts:

- Organize group discussions so that everyone gets a turn

- Allow students to process information before asking for input or an explanation

Teaching Introverts:

- Allow quiet time to think

- Help children understand the big picture

- Allow students to do individual work at their own pace


Preference 2: Sensing v. Intuitive

(For an explanation of Sensing and Intuitive: http://www.personalitypathways.com/article/step2.html)

Teaching Sensors:

  • Organize and structure classes through outlines and diagrams

  • Explain the practical use of the material: When/Why does a child need to learn this?

  • Take the “A-T-A” Approach: Give examples first, to show how a concept can be applied, then introduce the concept itself. For example, working through example long division problems before trying to teach the concept and the steps of long division.

  • Use “Mental Scaffolding”: build new information off of ideas learners already know. For instance, teaching a group of Xhosa students about the liberation movements in South America by comparing it to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. This uses information they already know which can be applied to new materials.

Teaching Intuitive Students

  • Use the “T-A-T” Approach: Just opposite of “A-T-A,” introduce theories, then apply examples to the subject material.

  • Structure lessons around the question “Why:” Why did the war take place? Why did trade increase? Why did he invent this contraption?

  • Give the big picture first, then the small picture.


Preference 3: Thinking v. Feeling

(For an explanation of Thinking and Feeling: http://www.personalitypathways.com/article/step2.html)

  • Teaching Thinkers:

- Provide an explanation of why they are learning the material.

- Clearly define expectations by providing a course outline that gives specific learning objectives.

  • Teaching Feelers:

- Be gentle.

- Do not allow for harsh words or demeaning language.

- Use humor.

- Give recognition and praise.


Judging v. Perceiving

(For an explanation of Judging and Perceiving: http://www.personalitypathways.com/article/step2.html)

Teaching Judgers:

  • Help them feel effective.

  • Mention their progress.

  • Teach them how to speed write for when they are taking notes. This means excluding all or most of the vowels when taking notes. The message can still be understood. Lrnrs lke ths mthd becse it is fst.

  • Teach them the “OAR” Method for writing a paper: Organize the material, Analyze the content, Respond by writing the essay.

  • In their haste to reach a conclusion, judgers often end their attempts too quickly. Help them reassess their work to determine if they have reached an adequate solution.

Teaching Perceivers:

  • Perceivers often take too long with working on a project. This does not mean that they are lazy, it often means they are trying to obtain as much information as possible. Help them by breaking big projects into small segments with clearly defined objectives and deadlines along the way.








[1] “Embracing Diversity: Toolkit for Creating Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Environments Specialized Booklet 1.” Positive Discipline in the Inclusive, Learning Friendly Classroom: A Guide for Teachers and Educators. Bangkok: UNESCO, Bangkok. 2006.

[2] Verster, Cheron. “Learning Styles and Teaching.” BBC World Service. <http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/learning_style.shtml#four>.

[3] Verster, Cheron. <http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/learning_style.shtml#four>.

[4] “Categories.” Teaching Styles. 2001. Online Teaching. 10 Oct. 2007. <http://members.shaw.ca/mdde615/tchstycats.htm#facilitator>.

[5] Brightman, Harvey. GSU Master Teacher Program: On Learning Styles. Georgia State University. 10 Oct. 2007. <http://www2.gsu.edu/~dschjb/wwwmbti.html>.