the intuitive appeal of

learning styles Classroom perceptions

and strategies in addressing different

learning patterns

Luis Manuel Pinto MSc in Educational Sciences

Master Thesis Proposal

Promotor Prof Dr. Katrien Struyven

the growing challenge of

diversity •  Common agreement about

existence of individual learning difference (e.g. pacing and timing)

•  Push for strategies to address learner variance in the classroom

•  Differentiated instruction on the basis of readiness, interest and learning profile

the Beast… •  “solutions” for improving attainment,

motivation, attitudes and attendance of students paired with a culture of increased benchmarking

•  Explanation as to why traditional methods of schooling, based on teacher-to-student transmission are failing

“Teachers are usually those who have succeeded in the system so their preferred styles can often be justified as generically preferable because they facilitate learning in current institutions and systems”

(Ritter, 2007)

…and the Beauty

•  helping professionals to notice and focus on how students learn (or fail to learn

•  a re-categorization of students previously considered uneducable, now teacher fail to teach adequately

•  a “lexicon” for talking about learning and improving meta-cognition of students.

•  Instrument bound

•  “Balkanisation” of style research

•  Discrepancies of theory and practice (including commercial)

•  Confusion of terminology

•  Criticism of “style” based mainly on achievement and testing

Style research:

Divide & Conquer?

convergers VS divergers

verbalisers VS imagers

holists VS serialists

deep VS surface learning

activists VS reflectors

pragmatists VS theorists

adaptors VS innovators

assimilators VS explorers

field dependent VS field independent

globalists VS analysts

assimilators VS accommodators

imaginative VS analytic learners

non-committers VS plungers

common-sense VS dynamic learners

concrete VS abstract learners

random VS sequential learners

initiators VS reasoners

intuitionists VS analysts

extroverts VS introverts

sensing VS intuition

thinking VS feeling

judging VS perceiving

left brainers VS right brainers

meaning-directed VS undirected

theorists VS humanitarians

activists VS theorists

pragmatists VS reflectors

organisers VS innovators

lefts/analytics/inductives/successive processors VS rights/globals/

deductives/simultaneous processorsexecutive, hierarchic,

conservative VS legislative, anarchic, liberal.

Coffield, 2004  

two sides…   …one coin.  

•  what differences do they notice in students?

•  what teachers know about "learning style”

•  what strategies do they adopt, supported or not by a framework of "style”

•  what works or doesn't work when differentiating instruction on the basis of style

•  what outcomes do they perceive, other than achievement?

 

two sides…   …same coin.  

•  children disregarded

•  how aware are they of their differences?

•  how they interact with metacognition and self-regulation?

•  what strategies do they adopt in relation to their learning pattern?  

We need… A reinterpretation in terms of conceptions of learning style to encompass the interrelations among cognitive, affective and regulative learning activities, mental models of learning and learning orientations. A more holistic understanding and "a stronger experiential underpinning to the notion of learning styles” to render it “more attractive to practitioners and to students themselves"

Richardson, 2011

Purpose Describe the perceptions of teachers and students in primary school classrooms of student's individual learning differences and patterns, and how according to their subjective experience, they affect their learning process and outcomes.

General Question How do teachers and students in primary school classrooms address student’s individual learning patterns (learning

styles)?

Learning style construct comprehends innumerous dimensions that are not necessarily observable in students' nonverbal behavior but have to be inferred from their self-reports in either interviews or questionnaire surveys.

•  What outcomes do teachers and students experience from instruction that addresses individual learning patterns?

•  What strategies do teachers and students use to address learning styles and how do they support learning outcomes?

•  What are the differences in perception of teachers and students between classroom experiences which adopt a specific approach to addressing learning styles and those who do not?

Specific Questions

Methods The units of study in this research proposal are primary school classrooms in Belgium using French or English as instruction language. The proposal is to conduct case studies of classrooms in different grades of primary schools, accompanied by semi-structured interviews (to teachers and students) and classroom observations.

Timeline Preparation: •  Screening and recruitment of primary school teachers willing to participate in

research (September-January 2014) •  Sending instructions to participant teachers (January 2014) •  Sending invitation and consent forms to legal guardians of students taught by

participating teachers (January-March 2015) •  Information session for guardians of participating children (March 2015)

Data Collection: •  Classroom observations; ice-breaking activities with participant classrooms

(March-April 2014) •  Pilot interviews with teachers and students (March-April 2015) •  Interviews to teachers and students (April-May 2015) •  Data analysis and interpretation of data (May-June 2015)

Presentation: •  Presentation of Results (June 2015)

Results and significance Unique, detailed, personal accounts of teacher and student perceptions, strategies and outcomes connected with addressing learning styles in the classroom.

•  Perceptions of individual learning differences / learning patterns and how they relate to current models of learning style

•  Personal and professional strategies of addressing learning style

•  Identify some of the reasons why teachers may adopt or not a particular model or approach to learning style

•  Explore children's metacognitive abilities in describing own learning patterns and how these may influence their self-regulation

•  Holistic perspective on learning style and explore possible connections, from the subjective perspective of the teacher and the student

Limitations

•  Recruitment of children requires for parental support

•  Recruitment of teacher criteria is wide

•  Interview is somewhat an “intervention”

•  Metacognition in earlier years is less developed

•  Rapport between interviewer and subject will strongly influence the outcome

•  Low interrater reliability

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

― Albert Einstein