Learning Styles

1
Learning Styles

• EDU 330 Educational Psychology
• Daniel Moos, PhD

2
Opening Thought Question, part I

• Please respond to this comment from a not-so
  hypothetical teacher
• Why would I completely adapt to my students
  learning styles? When they get out into the real
  world, they are not going to be in a situation
  where they are able to choose how to demonstrate
  what they know and what they have done. They are
  going to have to learn how to get things done in
  whatever context they are in. So, wont I just be
  setting up my students for failure if I always
  adapt to their learning style?

3
Opening Thought Question, part II

• The next claim is that learners have preferences
  about how to learn that are independent of both
  ability and content and have meaningful
  implications for their learning. These
  preferences are not better or faster,
  according to learning-styles proponents, but
  merely styles. In other words, just as our
  social selves have personalities, so do our
  memories.
• (1) How might a self-fulfilling prophecy explain
  styles (or preferences)?
• (2) To what extent should teachers take
  preferences into account?

4
Learning Styles

• A learning style is a consistent preference over
  time for dealing with intellectual tasks in a
  particular way
• Three types of styles
• ? Field-Dependence and Field-Independence
• ? Reflectivity and Impulsivity
• ? Mental Self-Government Styles

5
Field-Dependence vs.Field-Independence

• Field-Dependence
• Unable to separate figures from background
• Excel at remembering faces
• Prefers
• well-structured learning environment
• positive feedback
• social aspects of learning
• Field-Independence
• Able to break up an organized visual
• Excel at remembering names
• Understand visual cues and are better at math
• Prefer
• learning environments that require minimal
  interaction.
• Discovery learning individualized self-paced
  learning.

6
Reflectivity vs. Impulsivity

• Reflectivity
• ? More time collecting information and analyzing
  (problem solving)
• Impulsivity
• Responds quickly with little collection or
  analysis of information (problem solving)
• Instructional practice to support reflectivity?
• Wait Time
• Writing questions on note-cards
• Journaling

7
Gender Differences?

• Males tend to outscore females on the following
  tests
• ? Visual-spatial ability
• ? Mathematical reasoning
• ? College entrance
• Females tend to outscore males on the following
  tests
• ? Memory
• ? Language use

• Possible reasons why gender differences in
  cognition and achievement exist
• ? Differences in brain structure
• ? Peer pressure to exhibit gender-typed behaviors

8
What is Gender Bias?

• Gender bias is
• ? Responding differently to male and female
  students without having sound educational reasons
  for doing so.

• Likely sources of gender bias include
• ? Gender-role stereotypes of teachers
• ? School curricula that reward gender stereotyped
  behavior
• Gender-role stereotypes of classmates