Integrating Learning Style Theory with Tutor and Mentor Training Preston VanLoon, Ed.D.

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” ~ Albert Einstein

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” ~Confucius

What have you learned and how have you learned it in the past two days? What did you learn about how your partner learns compared to how you learn? How would you describe your learning style?

Learning Styles/Brain Dominance/ Multiple Intelligences Learning style theory focuses on the process (input) or how a person internalizes and takes in new information. Brain dominance theory (Sperry) focuses on our preference, or dominant side of the brain we use when learning new information. Multiple intelligence theory (Gardner) focuses on the content, or the product (output) and method by which a person shows what he knows.

What is a Learning Style? The “composite of characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment.” (Keefe, 1979) Those “educational conditions under which a student is most likely to learn.” (Stewart and Felicetti,1992) “The way each person perceives, sorts, absorbs, processes, and retains information. The central concept of this definition is that learners perceive and process information differently.” (Gregorc, 1982) The “complex manner in which, and conditions under which, learners most efficiently and most effectively perceive, process, store, and recall what they are attempting to learn.” (Gardner, 1995) “A predisposition on the part of some learners to adopt a particular learning strategy regardless of the specific demands of the learning task.”(Schmeck, 1977)

Why integrate learning style theory with tutor training? Poor course performance could be misinterpreted as a lack of knowledge when it might be an issue with learning style. Tutors who understand a learner’s learning style are better able to adapt their tutoring strategies. Incorporating a variety of tutoring strategies will most likely increase motivation and engage the tutee in the tutoring experience. Knowing about different learning styles can serve as a guide when designing learning experiences that match a students learning style. Students who tend to learn about their own style will become better learners and have more positive attitudes toward their education.

Learning style theory implies that how much individuals learn has more to do with whether the educational experience is geared toward their particular style of learning than whether or not they are “smart.”

What are some ways that we take in information when we are learning?

Brain Dominance Theory Left Brain Functions Uses logic, facts Detail Oriented Words and Language Present and Past Math and Science Order/pattern perception Knows object name Language Critical Thinking Numbers Reasoning Right Brain Functions Uses feeling, imagination “Big-picture oriented Symbols and images Present and future Philosophy and religion Spatial perception Knows object function Recognizes faces Music Color Intuition Creativity

Gardner’s Nine Multiple Intelligences “It is not how smart you are, it is “how you are smart.” Verbal/Linguistic: Word smart Logical/Mathematical: Number smart Visual/Spatial: Picture smart Bodily/Kinesthetic: Body smart Musical/Rhythmic: Music smart Interpersonal: People smart Intrapersonal: Self smart Naturalistic: Nature smart Existential: Big picture smart

Approaches to Learning Style Theory Over the past three decades, educators have offered several different approaches to learning styles, with over 71 different types of learning styles identified (Holden and Westfall, 2010).

The various Learning Style Models fit into four categories (Claxton and Murrell, 1987): Personality Models – Look at personality characteristics such as introvert and extrovert. (i.e. Myers Briggs) Information Processing Models – Look at how a person takes in and processes information. (i.e. Four Dimensional Learning Style Model) Social Interaction Models – Look at how a student reacts and behaves in a learning situation. (i.e. Instructional and Environmental Model) Instructional Preferences Models – Differentiate students by the way they acquire information. (i.e. VARK)

Approaches to Learning Style Theory Kolb’s (1985) Experiential Learning Theory Model which has four different learning styles. Felder and Silverman’s (1988) Four Dimensional Learning Style Model; four learning styles. James and Galbraith (1985) Perceptual Learning Styles Model focuses on seven different pathways to learning. Dunn, Dunn, and Price (1979) Instructional and Environmental Learning Style Model consists of five learning factors with 21 elements that affect each individual's learning ability. Fleming and Mills (1992) suggests learners acquire information through visual, auditory, reading and writing and kinesthetic means.

Why the VARK Learning Style Model? 1. It offers a positive affirmation of the learning ability of all students. 2. It encourages the belief that everyone can learn if their learning preferences are addressed. 3.The VARK inventory is short and simple to use. 4.The questionnaire alerts students and teachers to the variety of different approaches to learning. 5. It supports students who have been having difficulties with learning and supports teachers who would like to develop additional learning strategies for their classrooms. 6. It can be used with a group, class, or in a one-to-one setting. 7. It can be used to help educators to better understand how students process information.

The Training Activity 1.Ask participants to share about a time when they learned something really well, then write 3-4 sentences about it. Discuss in pairs. 2.In pairs list the instructional strategies participants described above under the headings of visual, auditory, read/write, kinesthetic. Discuss together.

3. Instruct trainees to go to the VARK link ( on their computers and complete the VARK questionnaire to see if their learning experience is consistent with their preferred learning styles. 4. Lead a discussion with the group and ask about other learning experiences when the trainees might have learned something well using an approach different from their preferred or dominant learning style.

5. Instruct trainees to move into small groups of three to four with others who have the same learning style and make a list of different strategies that can be used to tutor someone with the same learning preference. 6. Conclude by asking trainees to complete and share with the group their responses to the following “Something I learned today about myself as a learner is ___________. Strategies I can use with someone who learns visually are ______, auditory are _____, through reading and writing are _____, and kinesthetically are _____.”

Dunn, Beaudry, and Klavas (1995) urged educators to provide responsive instruction to the learning styles of diverse student populations. How does responsive instruction relate to learning style theory and tutor training?

VARK Strategies What are some strategies that tutors can use with learners for each of the VARK learning styles?

TUTOR STRATEGIES FOR VISUAL LEARNERS ? Ask learners to: Picture their notes or textbook information. Draw diagrams when appropriate. Write exam answers. Turn tables into graphs. Practice turning visuals back into words. Recreate content into charts, acronyms, pictures. Replace words with symbols, pictures, or initials.

TUTOR STRATEGIES FOR AURAL LEARNERS ? Ask learners to: Talk with the test administrator. Read summaries or notes out-loud. Spend time in quiet places recalling the ideas studied. Read written paper drafts out-loud to edit and make improvements. Ask others to “hear” your understanding of a topic. Explain notes to the tutor. Put summarized notes on tapes and listen to them.

TUTOR STRATEGIES FOR READING and WRITING LEARNERS ? Ask learners to: Reduce lecture notes into learnable packages. Write out key words again and again. Rewrite ideas, formulas, and principles into other words. Organize diagrams, graphs, and charts into words. Write your notes into lists. Practice writing short answers and essays. Do extra readings or re-read chapter headings and summaries.

TUTOR STRATEGIES FOR KINESTHETIC LEARNERS ? Ask learners to: Write practice answers and paragraphs. Role play the exam situation in the tutoring center. Go for a walk and discuss the material. Recall and visit the lab environment. Create gestures to remember material. Write examples into your notes. Recall previous exams, especially those on which you did well.

“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think— rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men.” ~John Dewey “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” ~Peter Drucker Thank you!