Planning a Course: Teaching and Learning Styles: the Academic Culture

Adapted with permission, from “Teaching for Inclusion: Your Diversity and the College Classroom,” by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Teaching and Learning.

Table by K. Friedrich.

Learning Styles

In recent decades, studies have shown that students have varying learning styles, and that no single teaching style fulfills all students' needs. Learning styles have very little to do with the students' motivation or attitude toward the class or the material. Often, professors and TAs complain that some students do not apply themselves to their studies, and therefore do not learn well. However, it may be that the teacher simply has not yet addressed these students' particular needs in class, and that new approaches will reach the students more effectively. A student's learning style has to do with the way he or she processes information in order to learn it and then apply it

Professor Richard Felder of North Carolina State University (Felder and Porter, 1994) has described some of these varied learning preferences:

From R. M. Felder, personal communication, September 2007.

Some students may be visual learners, and prefer to study graphs, look at models and pictures, and take notes to review later. Such students react well to extensive blackboard use, (especially drawings, models, etc.) and handouts with illustrations.

Verbal learners are likely to absorb reading materials and lectures more easily than other students are. They seem to learn best from written materials, rather than from visual materials such as graphs and illustrations. Most university teachers are verbal learners, and thus find it easiest to relate to and teach such students.

Both tactile and kinesthetic learners prefer "real-life" connections to the topic, rather than theoretical approaches. They are "active learners" who learn best by physically doing things, rather than reflecting about them by themselves, and thus they react well to group work. They may also often learn by induction rather than deduction.

Sensing learners are tactile learners who favor subjects that allow them to work with their hands. These students learn best by handling objects as they apply their knowledge: they enjoy using objects of interest to the topic, such as original documents, photos, magazines or natural objects. Sensing learners may be kinesthetic learners who learn and remember by moving around physically. Moving students into small groups or pairs for discussion, having them participate actively in an experiment, or getting them to "act out" a debate by placing them on opposite sides of the room will help this type of student to remember the content of the discussion.

Most instructors and students find deductive methods - starting with abstractions or principles, rather than beginning with experience or hard data - to be easier to use in a course setting; however, they are not as effective in teaching as inductive methods are.

These different learning styles explain why, in most classes, the student evaluations show that some students see group work as the most important part of their learning experience, while others from the same class complain that they dislike group work and find it unhelpful. Providing a variety of approaches to the material can keep most of the students engaged in the class throughout the semester.

Global learners seem more likely than others to see a project as a whole and have trouble breaking it down into its component parts. Teachers who expect them to start analysis from abstract concepts in order to reach a conclusion may find themselves as frustrated with the result as the students are. Abstractions may be difficult for this kind of learner, because they grasp information in large chunks and have a hard time analyzing a topic from incomplete information. This type of student is excellent at synthesis, and by the end of a class may even outpace his or her peers in coming to appropriate conclusions quickly; however, he or she often has trouble understanding material when first faced with a variety of pieces of information that make an incomplete picture.

Sequential learners, on the other hand, are good at analysis of concepts because they learn linearly. When doing a project, they can take partial information and organize it into a logical order, and they can see what must be done first, next and last. They are patient with the fact that a typical class gives them information in a certain order, and that they must wait until the end of the semester to get the full picture the teacher is trying to present. Since most classes are organized sequentially, this kind of learner excels in the typical college class.

No teacher can make all students happy all the time; partly because of the diversity of learning styles in any class, and partly because each person uses a particular mix of the learning styles discussed above. No student is 100 percent a global learner or 100 percent a tactile learner. Preference for one style over another may be strong, moderate, or balanced. However, it is important to recognize that learning styles differ, and that your students may not learn well if you use only your style.

In order to teach everyone most effectively, a teacher cannot consistently ignore a whole sector of the class simply because their learning styles do not correspond to the teacher's preferred teaching habits. To reach as many students as possible, the teacher must incorporate varying teaching techniques and strategies into the classroom. Lectures may be appropriate for verbal learners, and group work may be appropriate for kinesthetic learners, but using any teaching style to the exclusion of the others will also exclude those students who do not learn best by that style.

Felder (1993) has devised a useful list of five questions teachers can ask themselves as they get to know their students:

Dimensions of Learning Style

Adapted with permission, from “Teaching for Inclusion: Your Diversity and the College Classroom,” by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Teaching and Learning.

A student's learning style may be defined in part by the answers to five
questions:

1. What type of information does the student preferentially perceive:
   sensory sights, sounds, and physical sensations, or intuitive memories, ideas, and insights?
2. Through which modality is sensory information most effectively perceived:
   visual pictures, diagrams, graphs, and demonstrations, or verbal sounds, written and spoken words, and formulas?
3. How does the student prefer to process information:
   actively, through engagement in physical activity or discussion, or reflectively, through introspection?
4. How does the student progress toward understanding:
   sequentially, in a logical progression of small incremental steps, or globally, in large jumps, and holistically

Such questions will provide the basis for choosing a balance of teaching methods and techniques that are the most effective. Any teacher must eventually decide which mix works best for the subject matter and for the kinds of students in a class. The questions themselves suggest that a teacher should begin with a variety of approaches, and, after deciding which are the most effective for the students, select techniques to add to his or her repertoire.

Teaching Techniques to Address All Learning Styles

Adapted with permission, from “Teaching for Inclusion: Your Diversity and the College Classroom,” by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Teaching and Learning.

Adapted with permission, from “Teaching and Learning Styles in Engineering Education,” by R. M. Felder and L. K. Silverman, 1988, Engineering Education, 78 (7), p. 680.

* Motivate learning. As much as possible, relate the material being presented to what has come before and what is still to come in the same course; relate it to material in other courses, and connect it to the student's personal experience (global).

* Provide a balance of concrete, sensing information (such as facts, data, real or hypothetical experiments and their results) and abstract, intuitive concepts (such as principles, theories and models).

* Balance material that emphasizes practical problem-solving methods (sensing/active) with material that emphasizes fundamental understanding (intuitive/reflective).

* Provide explicit illustrations of intuitive patterns (such as logical inference, pattern recognition and generalization) and sensing patterns (such as observation of surroundings, empirical experimentation, and attention to detail). Encourage students to exercise both patterns (sensing and intuitive). Do not expect either group to be able to exercise the other group's processes immediately.

* Follow the scientific method in presenting theoretical material: provide concrete examples of the phenomena the theory describes or predicts (sensing), then develop the theory or formulate the model (intuitive/sequential).

* Use pictures, schematics, graphs and simple sketches liberally before, during and after the presentation of verbal material (sensing/visual). Show films (sensing/visual), and provide demonstrations (sensing/visual), hands-on if possible (active).

* Use computer-assisted instruction when possible; sensors respond very well to it (sensing/active).

* Do not fill every minute of class time with lecturing and writing on the board. Provide intervals, however brief, for students to think about what they have been told (reflective).

* Provide opportunities for students to do something active besides transcribing notes. Small-group brainstorming activities that take no more than five minutes are extremely effective for this purpose (active).

* Assign some drill exercises to provide practice in the basic methods being taught (sensing/active/sequential), but do not overdo them. Also, provide some open-ended problems and exercises that call for analysis and synthesis (intuitive/reflective/global).

* Give students the option of cooperating on homework and class assignments to the greatest possible extent (active). Active learners generally learn best when they interact with others; if they are denied the opportunity to do so, they are deprived of their most effective learning tool.

* Applaud creative solutions, even incorrect ones (intuitive/global).

* Talk to students about learning styles, both in advising and in classes. Students are reassured to find their academic difficulties may not all be due to personal inadequacies. Explaining to struggling sensors or active or global learners how they learn most effectively may be an important step in helping them reshape their learning experiences so that they can be successful (all types).

The Academic Culture and Teaching Styles

As you saw in the previous section, students' learning styles vary, and a teacher might have a complex mixture of students in a single class. However, the average college teacher is much more likely to be sequential, verbal and reflective than his or her students are.

Traditionally, college teachers prefer to organize their class in a "logical" order during the semester, starting with simple premises and working up to a more complex view of the field in question. They use lectures and discussions as the primary means of transmitting information to the students, and classes are usually conducted in a deductive manner, with principles clearly laid out, and with the expectation that the students can draw consequences and come up with applications.

Students are encouraged to work individually, and achievement is measured by their ability to produce "original" materials or answers. Instructors generally emphasize individual accomplishment, verbal assertiveness in class discussion, and competition for grades instead of collaboration. As a matter of fact, the academic community often discourages or even punishes collaboration, because it fears the heightened potential for plagiarism in a collaborative effort. Such a teaching method encourages learners who already share the teacher's learning style, but it slows down learners who must adapt to conditions of learning that do not come naturally to them.

Thus, a dominant "academic culture" exists in college classrooms, which enables sequential, verbal, and reflective learners to progress quickly to advanced positions in a field. This leaves behind equally intelligent and resourceful students who must wonder if there is a place for them to excel in the academic world.

Learning Styles

Adapted with permission from “Science Teaching Reconsidered: A Handbook” (© 1997) by the National Academy of Sciences, with permission from the National Academies Press, Washington, DC.

Whatever the similarities and differences in learning styles and intelligence among our students, we can help all of them by employing a range of active learning approaches (talking and listening, writing, reading, reflecting) and varying teaching techniques and strategies (lectures, videos, demonstrations, discovery labs, collaborative groups, independent projects). Moreover, by using a variety of teaching techniques, we can help students make sense of the world in different ways, increasing the likelihood that they will develop conceptual understanding.

Active Learning

Those who have studied the learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) have concluded that students learn best if they are engaged in active learning, if they are forced to deal with observations and concepts before terms and facts, and if they have the sense that they are part of a community of learners in a classroom environment that is very supportive of their learning.

When the focus is on meaning, rather than solely on facts, students develop their conceptual abilities. They assimilate information by incorporating new concepts or by using information to differentiate among already existing concepts. This is not necessarily at the expense of their development of algorithmic abilities, because conceptual understanding gives a context for the application of problem-solving methods.

The ways in which your objectives are carried out will either facilitate or hinder what you are trying to accomplish with students. This is why it is important to "fit" your teaching techniques to both your course objectives and to your students' varied learning styles.

Interactive Teaching Techniques

Used with permission from Campus Instructional Consulting, Indiana University, adapted from Povlacs, 1986.

The following are some interactive teaching techniques you might try in your class:

* Have students write a question on a piece of paper before or during class and turn it in for you to answer in a "press conference" format.
* Put students into pairs or "learning cells" to quiz each other about the subject matter.
* Have students apply the subject matter by solving real-life problems.
* Give students red, yellow, and green paper cards representing different answers, and periodically call for a vote on a question by asking for a simultaneous showing of the cards.
* Roam the aisles of large classrooms and carry on running conversations with students as they work on problems (a portable microphone helps in a large hall).
* Ask a question directed to one student and wait for an answer.
* Place a suggestion box in the rear of the room, and encourage students to make written comments every time the class meets.
* Do oral, show-of-hands, or multiple-choice tests for summary, review, and instant feedback.
* Grade quizzes and exercises in class as a learning tool.
* Have students keep three-week, three-times-a-week journals in which they comment, ask questions, or respond to course topics.
* Make collaborative assignments for several students to work on together.
* Assign written paraphrases and summaries of difficult reading.
* Give students a take-home problem relating to the day's lecture.

Asking Questions

Reprinted with permission from “Science Teaching Reconsidered: A Handbook” (© 1997) by the National Academy of Sciences, courtesy of the National Academies Press, Washington, DC.

Instructors can help students become active learners by motivating them with open-ended questions , puzzles, and paradoxes. What happens when. . . ? Why does that happen? But how can that be, when we know that. . . ?

Full integration of new knowledge is enhanced by time to reflect. Reflection is especially beneficial immediately following the presentation of new, challenging material. One effective method (Rowe, 1974) is to provide, after ten minutes of lecturing, short periods (a minute or two) for students to think. The necessary structure can be provided by a pertinent question.

An alternative to asking questions is to ask students to summarize some important ideas from a previous discussion or the reading assignment. This focuses their attention and gives the teacher an opportunity to assess their level of understanding. Because students' disposition to learn can be influenced by the knowledge or mental frameworks they bring to class, assessing for prior knowledge is an essential component of teaching for active learning. Students often approach learning situations with misconceptions or with prior knowledge that actually impedes learning. Students are most likely to change their beliefs if they first develop dissatisfaction with those beliefs and recognize possible alternatives as they prepare themselves to adopt a new, more acceptable view.

The following is an example of how a Harvard physics professor used active learning in his large lecture.

Introduction to Physics at Harvard University

Professor: Eric Mazur

Enrollment: Approximately 250 students

In 1989, I read an article in the American Journal of Physics that contained a test to assess understanding of Newtonian mechanics. I gave the test to my students at Harvard and was shocked by the results - the students had merely memorized equations and problem-solving procedures, and were unable to answer basic questions, indicating a substantial lack of understanding of the material. I began to rethink how I was teaching, and realized that students were deriving little benefit from my lectures, even though they generally gave me high marks as a lecturer. So I decided to stop preaching and instead of teaching by telling, I switched to teaching by questioning using a teaching technique I have named "peer instruction."

My students now read the material before class. To get them to do the reading, I begin each class with a short reading quiz. The lecture periods are then broken down into a series of digestible snippets of 10 to 15 minutes. Rather than regurgitating the text, I concentrate on the basic concepts, and every 10 or 15 minutes I project a "Concept Test" on the screen. These short conceptual questions generally require qualitative rather than quantitative answers. The students get one minute to think and choose an answer. They are also expected to record their confidence in their answer. After they record their answers, I ask the students to turn to their neighbors and to convince them of their logic. Chaos erupts as students engage in lively and usually uninhibited discussions of the question. I run up and down the aisles to participate in some of the discussions - to find out how students explain the correct answer in their own words and to find out what mistakes they make.

After one or two minutes, I call time and ask students to record a revised answer and a revised confidence level. A show of hands then quickly reveals the percentage of correct answers. After the discussion, the number of correct answers and the confidence level typically rise dramatically. If I am not satisfied, I repeat the cycle with another question on the same subject.

I have been lecturing like this now for more than four years. During this time the students have taught me how best to teach them. As for the students, nothing clarifies their ideas as much as explaining them to others. As one student said in a recent interview: "There is this ‘Ah-hah!' kind of feeling. It's not that someone just told me; I actually figured it out. And because I can figure it out now, that means I can figure it out on the exam. And I can figure it out for the rest of my life."