Your Learning Style...Learning styles are Characteristic cognitive, affective and psychological BEHAVIORS Indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the environment

Your Learning Style Explaining your learning style in terms of strengths

and weaknesses

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses

Today, we are going to learn how you best learn…

To understand the learning style that fits you best, please take this learning styles test from North Carolina State University:

http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html .

Print out your results or write them down.

Let’s look at the big picture of your education

In engineering education, we greatly emphasize

But there are other parts of KNOWING, such as Understanding the different

levels of knowing

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and

We can define four different levels of knowing

Level General Theory Students’ Perception All knowledge is certain.

Authorities have Truth and the responsibility to communicate it. Student’s must memorize and repeat Truth.

Some knowledge is certain and some knowledge is not.

Authorities have the responsibility to communicate the certainties. The students are responsible for making their own judgments regarding the uncertainties.

Most knowledge is uncertain.

Students take responsibility for their own learning rather than relying on authorities or personal feelings. They collect and use evidence to support judgments, but often superficially, and believe that when knowledge is uncertain all conclusions regarding it are equally good if the right procedure is used to reach them.

All truths are contextual.

Students take responsibility for making judgments, acknowledging the need to do so in the face of uncertainty. They use all possible sources of evidence in the process – and they remain open to changing their decisions if new evidence is forthcoming.

SUCCESS

Knowing both your strengths & weaknesses can lead to success and fulfillment

Resentfulness Frustration

Anger

Boredom Insecureness Sense of loss

Lack of fulfillment

Discouragement

Knowing only strengths can lead to …

Knowing only weaknesses can lead to …

Strengths Weaknesses

Purpose

Let’s look at the basics – the Index of Learning Styles

“Students whose learning styles fall in any of the given

categories have the potential to be excellent scientists.” –

Richard M. Felder

Learning styles are

Characteristic cognitive, affective and psychological BEHAVIORS

Indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the environment

The Index of Learning Styles is a Learning Style Model designed to capture the most important learning style differences among ENGINEERING students!

Index of Learning Styles What are it’s uses and misuses?

If your learning style preference differs from the instrument, DO NOT discount your judgment Your preferences can be affected by your educational experiences

Learning style profiles… are CONTINUOUS They are NOT either/or categories

suggest behavioral TENDENCIES They are NOT infallible predictors of behavior

suggest that you have MORE strengths associated with one learning style THAN the other They are NOT an accurate measure of your skill at tasks associated with your profiles

You may be weak at both acting and reflecting, but you might be less weak at acting!

They are NOT 100% accurate

Index of Learning Styles Active or Reflective Learner – Processing

  Work well in groups   Tend to be good

experimentalists   Evaluate ideas   Design and carry out

experiments   Find solutions that work

  Work well alone   Tend to be good

theoretician   Observe well   Define problems   Propose possible

solutions

  Do not learn much in passive situations (most lectures)

  Do not learn much in situations where they don’t have time to reflect (most lectures)

Index of Learning Styles Sensing or Intuitive Learner – Perception

  Like facts and data   Solve problems by standard

methods   Are patient with detail   Memorize facts   Are practical and careful   Are concrete

experimentalists

  Like principles & theories   Tend to be innovative   Welcome complications   Grasp new concepts   Work fast   Are comfortable with symbols   Conceptualize in the abstract

  Lack problem solving purpose

  Have difficulty in dealing with complications

  Tend to be slow workers

  Are bored with repetition & detail

  Are often careless

Index of Learning Styles Visual or Verbal Learner – Input

  Tend to be excellent readers & writers

  Understand charts, graphs   Have a good directional sense   Interpret & manipulate images   Create visual metaphors and

analogies   Construct practical objects

  Tend to be excellent listeners & speakers

  Like to story-tell, explain, teach

  Are good at using humor   Remember information   Argue their point of view   Analyze language usage

  Tend to be poor at listening & speaking

  Tend to be poor at reading & writing

Index of Learning Styles Sequential or Global Learner - Understanding

Type Sequential Learners Global Learners

Strengths

  Work with material when only partially understood

  Display convergent thinking and analysis

  Tend to be good organizers   Are focused   Tend to be consistent   Are often objective

  Display divergent thinking and synthesis

  See the big picture   Cooperate in group efforts   Paraphrase   Multitask   Read body language   See relationships   Have a sense of fairness

Potential Weaknesses

  Have problems with generalities   Show difficulty in multitasking   Often don’t recognize the main

idea

  Often skip steps and details   Have difficulty in explaining

themselves analytically

Minimizing Weaknesses Where/what do you need to adapt in the current engineering/math classroom to be more successful?

1.  What are the weaknesses of your learning style?

2.  Where are your weaknesses apparent in the engineering/math classroom? In the workplace? In the job search?

3.  Pick one weakness. What compensation strategy are you going to use to minimize that weakness?

In small groups (3 to 4), discuss the following and write down your individual answers in your lab notebook.

SUCCESS

Purpose