Chapter 2: Learning Styles Building and Using Self-Knowledge Habit for Success featured in this chapter: Keep Learning BRIEF CHAPTER OVERVIEW This sixth edition returns an exclusive learning styles focus to this chapter. The coverage begins with learning styles, newly streamlined to further clarify the difference between the two assessments. The chapter then focuses extensively on how students can apply what they learn about themselves. Finally, information about learning disabilities moves here from its former position in Chapter 1. Learning styles and learning disabilities are a logical pairing because both topics focus on how to manage and benefit from learning differences. This segment is fun to teach because students want to know why they do what they do. “Learning how you learn” is a valuable tool for college and for life. It helps students play to their strengths and build weaker areas. It also helps them cope with instructors whose delivery methods do not complement their learning styles. One assessment is based on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and the other – the Personality Spectrum – is based on the Myers-Briggs Assessment. For a 3-credit course, we recommend that you have students do both assessments. For a 1-credit course, you may want to focus on one. Then the chapter moves into identifying and managing a learning disability. This time also can be one of your strongest opportunities to bring in a guest speaker – someone who will talk about experiences related to his or her learning style, cultural background, life choices, and so on. The main chapter headings are as follows:
Why understand how you learn?
What can assessments teach you about yourself?
How can you use your self-knowledge?
How can you identify and manage learning disabilities?
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CHAPTER TWO OUTLINE Why Understand How You Learn?
Your Abilities Can Change and Develop
Self-Knowledge Gives You the Power of Choice
What Can Assessments Teach You About Yourself? Assess Your Multiple Intelligences with Pathways to Learning
Assess your Style of Interaction with the Personality Spectrum
How Can You Use Your Self-Knowledge?
Classroom Choices
Study Choices
Technology Choices
Workplace Choices
How Can You Identify and Manage Learning Disabilities?
Identifying a Learning Disability
Managing a Learning Disability
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CHAPTER WALKTHROUGH to assist you with lecture notes and student participation Icebreaker: Map a Learning Path Show students several examples of maps--a campus map, a topographic map or globe, an aerial map (Google Earth), a precinct voting map, a hiking map, and so on. All these maps show different aspects of the same location, preferably your campus (if you have access to an Internet screen, you can just do a search on map images). Draw the analogy to self-assessments. Various learning assessments give students different views of themselves that can guide them through the learning process. What they’ll be doing with the learning material is to begin mapping their learning path. This will be easily done if the maps are accessible via the internet and shown on a screen in the classroom. Use the maps to open dialogue about assessments: Are you interested in knowing how you learn? Have you had bad experiences with assessments in the past? Do you feel that they put you in a box, and you can’t get out, or do you feel like they help you understand your perceptions better? Do you ever complete the simple personality tests in tabloid magazines? Do you take them seriously or not? Why should we take the MI and PS tests seriously?
[To encourage students to read the chapter thoroughly and thoughtfully, assign the Guided Notes – pp. 105-106 of this IM chapter -- along with the chapter reading.]
Topic 1: Why Understand How You Learn? [To highlight the chapter’s Habit for Success: See PowerPoint slide 2] [For this topic: See PowerPoint slides 3-5] The main point of this section is to challenge students to consider themselves seriously as a learner. Address other labels they have given themselves or how others have labeled them during their educational careers. It is always great to share personal stories if you have been labeled in the past. Be open and honest with your students – they will value your transparency. Emphasize how self-awareness informs educational and career choices. It also means students can take more responsibility for their own education. The first two sections address the changing uniqueness of individuals. Your unique intelligence can change and develop. The focus of this section is a key point: Students, and all people, CAN and DO grow and develop in their abilities, skills, and strengths. Everyone is born with a unique set of abilities, but change is always possible. Highlight the rubberband metaphor in the text to drive this point home.
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Assessments help you learn about yourself. The introduction on assessments is meant to encourage students to give them a chance. Assessment tools are valuable! It is good to address misconceptions students may have about assessment tools? Ask them: Do you like to take these types of tests? What do you think about them? Do others make fun of them? What is the general public opinion about them? Idea: Perhaps you could bring in some magazines that contain assessments, such as Glamour, Men’s Health, or Allure. Show them to the class and ask them to compare and contrast these assessments and the ones in the text. (Listen for points such as “created by a professional,” “results can be practically applied,” “assessing an important skill,” and so on.) Habit for success integration: The idea of learning for life can be an eye-roller for some. Ask students about what they love to learn more about – nearly everyone has something that they can’t get enough of, whether it’s baseball stats, recipes, celebrity gossip, or computer operating systems. Thinking about that feeling of wanting to know more can help students understand how continuing to learn can be an essential part of life.
Topic 2: What Can Assessments Teach You About Yourself? [For this topic: See PowerPoint slides 6-14] Preplanning: First, take the assessments yourself. It is essential that instructors teaching these assessments have experienced them ahead of time. Then, decide whether you want students to complete one or both assessments, and whether you want students to complete them in- or outof-class. If done out-of-class, review scoring procedures for the assessments before the assignment. To start, define “learning style” (a particular way in which the mind receives and processes information) and ask why assessing learning style might improve students’ chances of success. List the responses, if you wish. As a prompt, you may want to remind students that not everyone is good at everything. Success in one area doesn’t mean there won’t be struggle in another. Have students consider the following examples and provide examples of their own to add to the list:
Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade Louis Pasteur received poor grades in chemistry Walt Disney was fired from a job and told he had no good ideas
Overview of Learning Style Assessments: The chapter covers two learning style assessments, but many others exist. The two in this chapter focus on different aspects of learning styles:
Learning preferences—assesses potential and strength in areas of ability (Multiple Pathways to Learning) Personality traits—helps you understand how you respond to information, thoughts, and feelings, as well as to people and events (Personality Spectrum)
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Important Note: How to differentiate these two assessments from each other is one of the most important things for you as an instructor to understand and communicate to your students. Note the distinction between these two assessments. Please be sure to emphasize it several times in class. It is the only way students will understand the difference in these assessments! Write, in very large letters, MI and PS at the front of the room to represent the two assessments. Emphasize that the assessments are scored differently (more on this under each assessment description that follows). Also, remind students that assessments are only a tool to help them understand themselves better. Make important points: There are no right or wrong answers. It is not a test. A high score is not “better,” it just reflects an area of strength; a low score is not “bad,” it simply reflects a less dominant area. Scores can change over time as they change and develop new skills. Assure students who are intimidated by personality type tests that these are well-written and you will be available to answer questions as students complete the assessments. (Consider reviewing the learning-styles teacher training video if this is your first time teaching learning styles. The PH Video Library also has a Learning Styles video for students.) Multiple Intelligences Assessment: The MI information, which comes first in this chapter, includes an assessment by author Joyce Bishop based on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences. His theory changed the way people perceive intelligence and learning. Review some of Gardner’s biographical information from the text. Have a student read the first paragraph under the topic question aloud to the class. Before you have the class begin the assessment, review the icons located on Key 2.1. Ask students to brainstorm together why the editors chose the specific icons and how they are related to the MI characteristics listed in the columns. Be sure to highlight that the assessment evaluates the levels to which each of your student’s eight intelligences are developed. EVERYONE has some of each of the intelligences listed. Review Key 2.2, which shows skills that correspond to each intelligence area. Begin the assessment in class, carefully explaining how to score each item. Be sure to point out that each item should be rated individually on a scale of 1 to 4. In other words, it is OK to rate all of the items a 4 if they fit you. (Through the remainder of your coverage of this material, consider enhancing learning styles experience using any of the MI-based handout exercises found on pp. 107-124 of this IM chapter.) Personality Spectrum: Also by Joyce Bishop, this assessment is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and on the related Keirsey Sorter. Have the students complete the assessment in class, making sure to highlight the differences as noted above. Mapping the Personality Spectrum on the scoring diagram will help students see how they are balanced or skewed in one or two directions. Highlight Key 2.3 with students: Ask a specific student who tested high in each area to read the characteristics of their personality type aloud, then ask them whether they
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think that the list of traits suits them. Encourage students to read the trait lists to parents and close friends and ask them if they agree with the assessment outcomes. Heads up! The Personality Spectrum assessment differs in how it is scored. Items in each section of the Personality Spectrum are given a 1 to 4, but each number can only be used one time. Several students will do this wrong, so be prepared with blank copies of the Personality Spectrum so students can try again. The PowerPoint slides can help you demonstrate scoring. (Consider using the Corners Cooperative Learning exercise, a variation on the Team Building exercise in the text, found on p. 103 of this IM chapter. Also, consider putting together Personality Spectrum Teams to continue through the term, starting after students complete this assessment. Description is found on p. 104 of this IM chapter.) Habit for success integration: Point out to students that as we keep learning, our learning styles can change. So repeating assessments about learning styles every year can help students adapt to the acquisition of new knowledge during their college career.
Topic 3: How Can You Use Your Self-Knowledge? [For this topic: See PowerPoint slides 15-18] The focus of this section in the textbook is to show students how to apply, in different contexts, the self-knowledge they have gained through the self-assessments in the text. Self-knowledge is most effective when it is applied to specific situations in the classroom, with technology and in the workplace. It is easy, and common, for students to take an assessment like this, think “oh that was fun/boring/useless,” and forget about it. Taking this information past the scoring point is the key to making sure that they put what they’ve learned to good use. Discuss the significance their learning styles have for classroom, studying, and workplace situations (see corresponding text sections). •
Classroom Choices – Encourage dialogue in the classroom about assessing instructor’s dominant teaching styles (see Key 2.4). Make every effort to maintain a positive classroom environment. Don’t allow students to criticize other instructors unless they are able to follow-up with a learning style adaptation that they are willing to employ in the classroom. Consider using your own style – and any experience you’ve had where your style didn’t suit some students – as an example. There are three specific suggestions mentioned in the text – play to your strengths, work to strengthen weaker areas, and ask your instructor for additional help.
Study Choices – talk about how students can choose study techniques that work with their styles, and that particular choices can help them with material that is especially tough for
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them. Focus their attention on Keys 2.5 and 2.6, which detail study techniques that correspond with each intelligence and Personality Spectrum dimension. (Consider using the Multiple Intelligences and Study Success exercise on p. 102 of this IM chapter.) • Technology Choices – this new section shows students that understanding learning style can inform effective decisions about how to approach technology. For example, an interpersonal learner can sign up for a session with a computer lab tech, or a thinker can find an online tutorial. Non-traditionally aged students often struggle with the new technology requirements in academic settings. School has changed over the years. Students need to be able to communicate effectively via email with their instructors. They should also be comfortable with a variety of web browsers and be able to search and find helpful technological tools on the Internet. •
Workplace Choices – Better performance, better teamwork, and better career planning – all in all, more wise choices for the future – are potential outcomes of comprehensive selfknowledge. Point out Key 2.7 to students. This table links majors and internships to the eight intelligences. Being a forward thinking student requires students to strategically plan for future internships. Knowing your learning styles and personality spectrum will help students select future macros, courses, and internships effectively.
Habit for success integration: The value of continuing to learn can become more clear if you discuss the changing nature of today’s workplace. What job can a person hold if their knowledge freezes at a certain point in time? We have to keep up. The more you know how you learn, the more you will be able to learn through life in a way that will keep you both energized and employable.
Topic 4: How Can You Identify and Manage Learning Disabilities? [For this topic: See PowerPoint slides 19-21] It is a great idea to begin the school term with an open discussion of learning disabilities. Be very careful to set an open, accepting environment. Enforce an understanding and acceptance for those who are different. This section of the text presents a great opportunity for instructors to talk about their own encounters with learning disabilities or those of their own children. Being open with your students will foster an accepting environment. Another great idea is to invite the tutoring center on campus to come to the classroom and talk about services that are available to students. Be sure to review the several definitions of learning disabilities listed in the text. You may want to plan your coverage of this topic with your particular class in mind – more need might require more time, less need might mean more cursory coverage. Some coverage is useful no matter what, because there’s always a chance that someone has problems that have gone undiagnosed, and this material may make them think and even encourage them to explore the situation further. Try reviewing Joyce Bishop’s struggle with learning disability as outlined in this chapter’s Real People feature, and discuss it in class.
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Managing a Learning Disability – This section covers highlights several ideas: securing information about your disability, seeking assistant from the school, dedicating yourself as a student and building a positive self-esteem. Review the sub-topics with students and ask students to identify one area they need the most help in and ask other students to share ways that they have solved problems in those areas. [Quote for discussion: See PowerPoint slide 23] ****************************
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THIS CHAPTER’S HABIT FOR SUCCESS
Keep Learning First, reflect on the following from Habits creator Art Costa: `
“Intelligent people are in a continuous learning mode. Their confidence, in combination with their inquisitiveness, allows them to constantly search for new and better ways. People with this habit of mind are always striving for improvement, always growing, always learning, always modifying and improving themselves. They seize problems, situations, tensions, conflicts, and circumstances as valuable opportunities to learn. A great mystery about humans is that we often confront learning opportunities with fear instead of enthusiasm and curiosity. We seem to feel better when we know than when we learn. We tend to defend our biases, beliefs, and storehouses of knowledge, rather than inviting the unknown, the creative, and the inspirational. From an early age, following traditional, fragmented, reactive curricula, students have been trained to believe that deep learning means figuring out the truth rather than developing capabilities for effective and thoughtful action. They have been taught to value certainty rather than doubt, to give answers rather than to inquire, to know which choice is correct rather than to explore alternatives. Our wish is for creative students who are eager to learn and humble enough to realize they don’t have all the answers.” Suggestions for integrating the habit for success with this chapter’s topics: On the board or a projector at the beginning of class, write: “Intelligent people seize problems, situations, tensions, conflicts, and circumstances as valuable opportunities to learn.” Have students read it, write their own reaction or comment on a piece of paper, and then share with the class if they would like. Ask questions like these. “Think about some older people in your life. Who keeps learning? How do they do it? How does it make them different from others around them?” “How might saying ‘I don’t know’ bring you more benefit than claiming ‘I know’?” “How can you learn from some of the things mentioned in the last part of the quote – problems, tensions, conflicts and circumstances? “ Complete and discuss, during class, the Habit-focused exercises in the chapter – i.e., Powerful Questions, Real People, the Habit summary, or Test Prep: Start it Now in the end-of-chapter exercise set. Use the “Real People Listen Actively” profile of Dr. Joyce Bishop, as well as Tiki Barber (in the text), to inspire comment and conversation about how these individuals used this habit. Refer to the Stop and Think questions. [See PowerPoint slide 22] Ask for examples of what happened when students locked in instead of continuing to learn. “Have you ever…shut out a new perspective by sticking to your tried-and-true idea? …tried to succeed in class by finding the one “right” answer? …refused a new opportunity to learn something because you would have been too inexperienced or uninformed? If so, what happened?”
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QUOTATIONS FOR REFLECTION To generate discussion, start class, or use as a short exercise, have students reflect on what any or all of the following quotes mean to them in a few lines, a short essay, or presentation. You may also want to use the “By the way…” facts, appearing periodically in the chapter, to inspire discussion or writing. Do not go where the path may lead; instead go where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson It’s amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions. Charles Kettering Know thyself. Inscription at Delphi What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. Eartha Kitt Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. Chinese proverb
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