Learning Styles and Strategies

1. Varying instructional methods to get the most out of learning opportunities Learning Styles and Strategies

2. Getting to know Learning Styles 8 learning styles paired based on scale: Active/Reflective Learners Sensing/Intuitive Learners Visual/Verbal Learners Sequential/Global Learners A focus on these 4 although there are many facets/definitions of Learning StylesA focus on these 4 although there are many facets/definitions of Learning Styles

4. What to Remember: Most of your students will learn different than you do Each of your students learns differently from other students No one teaching method will reach everyone

5. Active/Reflective Learners Active Retain and understand information through doing: discussing it, applying it, and/or explaining it to others Reflective Prefer to think about material quietly before working with it in any way Prefer to work alone

6. How to Help Active/Reflective Learners Allow time for discussion and problem-solving Allow time for reflective thinking Encourage students to work in groups or pairs Ask students to consider applications for the material being covered Have students put material in �their own words� Offer class activities that require a combination of reflection and hands on work

7. Learning Exercise One

8. Modify a current lesson Making a lesson active/reflective Best Practice: Do you have an active/reflective lesson? Working with the person next to you, consider a particular lesson/objective within one of your classes that could be more active/reflective. What would you change? What would stay the same? Working with the person next to you, consider your best active/reflective approach to teaching. What do you do? How is this teaching style received by students?

9. Classroom Techniques 10 + 2 and repeat 3-2-1: 3 key terms, 2 ideas for discussion, 1 concept to master Activating Prior Knowledge Autobiographies Affinity: group work with one organizer

10. Sensing/Intuitive Learners Sensing Like learning facts Solve problems with established methods and dislike complications Patient with details, good at memorization Practical and careful learners Need to connect material to the �real world� Intuitive Like discovering possibilities, relationships, connections Prefer innovation and dislike repetition Grasp concepts quickly and are comfortable with abstract material Work fast and like to suggest new solutions to problems Work fast and do not like classes with calculations/memorization

11. How to Help Sensing/Intuitive Learners Provide examples of concepts and procedures Place examples in real world context Give specifics Provide interpretations of facts/theories for students to read to make connections Encourage and remind to read all directions carefully and to understand the material before focusing on innovation/problem solving

12. Classroom Techniques Action Projects Analysis of Interactive Decision Areas Application cards Associations Backward Forward Planning Case Study Cause and Effect Circles of Knowledge AIDA: Looking at decision making through the real world implications/ramifications of that decision Application cards: writing a card with a real world application for the topic covered Backward Forward Planning: Write down the short version of the problem, preferably starting with "How to�" If you were to solve the problem in statement 1, what higher level problem would it also solve? Write this down. Continue asking what higher level problem it solves and writing them down. Try to obtain at least 3 statements. Going back to statement 1, ask what other benefits would flow from it, if it were a solution. Make sure these are different from those in stage 2. Basadur Simplex: problem finding, fact finding, problem defining, idea finding, evaluating and selecting, action planning, gaining acceptance, taking action. Circles of Knowledge: 3 Facts I Know, 3 Questions I Want Answered, and Answers to My Questions. AIDA: Looking at decision making through the real world implications/ramifications of that decision Application cards: writing a card with a real world application for the topic covered Backward Forward Planning: Write down the short version of the problem, preferably starting with "How to�" If you were to solve the problem in statement 1, what higher level problem would it also solve? Write this down. Continue asking what higher level problem it solves and writing them down. Try to obtain at least 3 statements. Going back to statement 1, ask what other benefits would flow from it, if it were a solution. Make sure these are different from those in stage 2. Basadur Simplex: problem finding, fact finding, problem defining, idea finding, evaluating and selecting, action planning, gaining acceptance, taking action. Circles of Knowledge: 3 Facts I Know, 3 Questions I Want Answered, and Answers to My Questions.

13. Visual/Verbal Learners Visual Remember what they see Written words on blackboard/power points do not count as visual Prefer pictures, diagrams, charts, films, and demonstrations Verbal Remember written/spoken explanation Many verbal learners prefer both the written word and spoken explanation rather than one or the other

14. Example: Verbal Base Common noun: names a person, place or thing Proper nouns: names a person, place, or thing with two distinctions It will specify a specific thing It will have a capital letter no matter where it is in the sentence. Examples of Proper Nouns: Person: Mary Place: New York Thing: Statue of Liberty

15. Visual

16. How to Help Visual/Verbal Learners Provide visual representation for material that is primarily verbal and verbal information for material that is primarily visual. Maintain lists of resources that provide alternative visual/verbal presentations of materials (i.e. a CD-ROM/website for a text book) Prepare a concept map for each class and color code coordinating information

17. Classroom Techniques Reverse Assignments Multidimensional Assignments Summarization Dramatization Manipulatives Video/Demonstration Reverse Assignments: Have students turn visual information into verbal and verbal information into visual Multidimensional assignments: require that assignments have both a verbal and visual element Summarization: Ask students to summarize the day�s class and their takeaways either visually or verbally Manipulatives: Learning through sight and touch Reverse Assignments: Have students turn visual information into verbal and verbal information into visual Multidimensional assignments: require that assignments have both a verbal and visual element Summarization: Ask students to summarize the day�s class and their takeaways either visually or verbally Manipulatives: Learning through sight and touch

18. Sequential/Global Learners Sequential Understand information in linear steps, logically following one after another Need solutions to problems that follow steps, methodical Global Learn in �jumps� absorbing material randomly, without connections and then eventually �getting it� Can solve complex problems quickly, but have trouble explaining their process

19. How to Help Sequential/Global Learners Teach sequentially Provide outlines to students Introduce the �big picture� first Spend more time on individual subjects or ideas to establish a clear understanding of how it relates to the �big picture� Don�t cover too much in too short of a time frame

20. Learning Exercise 3

21. Design a Rubric What are rubrics? Build a rubric Lesson or exam rubrics help students better understand what is expected of them and serve as a grading outline for instructors. Each rubric should contain a description of the assignment and the points/percentage associated with each portion of the assignment. Working with the person next to you, create a rubric for a short assignment. Highlight the criteria of the assignment, the point/percentage value, and definition of what will be required to earn each grade.

22. Classroom Techniques Most Important Word Negative Brainstorming Lesson Objectives Exit requirements Pattern Forming Problem Based Learning Roadmap Rubrics Most important word: what from today is most important and most relevant to objective Negative Brainstorming: Identify what doesn�t fit or work Lesson Objectives: Break bigger picture into pieces Exit requirements: define both a big picture and methodical way to assess what knowledge was gained by the class Pattern Forming: Find and recognize patterns Problem Based Learning: Students are given one problem with multiple dimensions to work over the course of the class Roadmap: Start with big picture and create a clear map as to how to get thereMost important word: what from today is most important and most relevant to objective Negative Brainstorming: Identify what doesn�t fit or work Lesson Objectives: Break bigger picture into pieces Exit requirements: define both a big picture and methodical way to assess what knowledge was gained by the class Pattern Forming: Find and recognize patterns Problem Based Learning: Students are given one problem with multiple dimensions to work over the course of the class Roadmap: Start with big picture and create a clear map as to how to get there

23. What are the consequences of mismatched learning styles? Students Become bored and are inattentive in class Do poorly on exams or assessments Lose confidence in the instructor's ability to teach them Become discouraged in course and may drop course or in extreme cases may drop out of school

24. Instructor Frustrated by low test/assessment scores Have unresponsive or even hostile classes Poor attendance Increased dropped class rate Poor rating on student based rating systems Become overcritical of students and student work

25. Did you know� 67%of the students learn best actively, yet lectures are typically passive 57%of the students are sensors, yet we teach them intuitively 69%of the students are visual, yet lectures are primarily verbal 28%of the students are global, yet we seldom focus on the ``big picture''

26. Resources Felder-Silverman Learning Style Models, NCSU R.M. Felder and J.E. Spurlin, "Applications, Reliability, and Validity of the Index of Learning Styles," Intl. Journal of Engineering Education, 21(1), 103-112 (2005) R.M. Felder and R. Brent, "Understanding Student Differences." J. Engr. Education, 94(1), 57-72 (2005) R.M. Felder, "Matters of Style." ASEE Prism, 6(4), 18-23 (December 1996) T.A. Litzinger, S.H. Lee, J.C. Wise, and R.M. Felder, "A Psychometric Study of the Index of Learning Styles," J. Engr. Education, 96(4), 309-319 (2007) http://ctl.csudh.edu/SpeakerSeries/Felder.htm (video of Felder) Learning Styles Descriptions: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm Adjusting teaching styles: http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/adjust/ http://www.willamette.edu/cla/tec/styles.htm http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/CRLT_no10.pdf Other Reading: So Each May Learn:�Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligencesby Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, and Matthew J. PeriniAssociation for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2000