Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius School Partnerships INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING 30 September – 7 October May 2012 IASY, ROMANIA

I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand. old Chinese proverb

There are different researches and methods on learning. Here, we do not intend to give a detailed presentation of any scientific or methodological researches. We have simply tried to collect what our teachers and our schoolmates told us about „learning” in a general context, not forgetting about some important aspects that we should consider such as different learning techniques and styles.

First let us have a look at the learning techniques we collected: Reading the material loudly Reading the material silently Reciting the read text Silent re-reading Reciting to someone else Recording and listening Repetition Peer-talking about the topic Underlining or highlighting the key words Taking notes

And the styles which are the various approaches or ways of learning: Auditive Visual Impulsive Reflective Kinesthetic Social Individual

Our Survey We asked our classmates (10 boys and 17 girls ) the following questions W here do you usually learn? A re you interested in what you learn? W hich time of day do you like learning? H ow much time do you spend on learning? D o you try to find a context between two subjects? D o you relax before you begin studying? D o you check what you have learnt? D o you learn alone, with friends or somebody else? I s it easier for you to learn with someone or on your own? W hich subject/s is/are the hardest for you?

The result Most of the respondent students usually need to relax before they start learning. 80 % can not learn in a noisy environment and they prefer learning alone. About half of the group do not like studying with background music. The girls are more hard-working than the boys. Most of the students use the internet on daily basis but unfortunately do not like going to the library or to museums. 70% like eating snacks while learning or do some easy exercises or drinking a cup of tea or coffee. 40% of the respondents attend private teachers or tutorial classes.

We asked our classmates where do they think one can learn. Here are the ideas : At schools, of course, they said and also At home In study circles In libraries In museums In parks In courses In community centres At private teacher’s

We did another survey in September questionnaires were handed out to the students (including 12 boys and 30 girls) in order to find out how they think they can learn efficiently. We gave them 15 definitions and wanted to know how many of these are typical of each student. The students could choose to answer from 5 response categories given. Then we collected the sheets and evaluated them which you will see in a diagram.

Learning style questionnaire 1. I can remember people’s voices quite well. 2. If I have a lot to do I make a list of dos. 3. I like working with tools or instruments. 4. I prefer listening to a good lecture rather than reading about the topic. 5. I like making/creating things. 6. I rarely forget people’s face I have once met. 7. I become restless if I have to sit for long. 8. I can learn a lot by listening from those who discuss a topic. 9. I need to have things in writing so that I can have a look at them later on. 10. Good ideas or solutions for problems occur to me while running, walking or just having a shower. 11. I can recall the position of words or pictures on the pages of books. 12. I can recall what things feel like; their warmness, softness, dryness or wetness. 13.To make a decision it helps me to talk about the problem. 14. I underline or highlight words or phrases while studying. 15. I study more efficiently if I can read out loud or can repeat the hardest parts.

Response categories 1- not at all true 2- rather not true 3- somewhat true 4- quite true 5- absolutely true

In this diagram we can see the girl respondents and the boy respondents preferred learning styles.

We can see that the girls are more visual than the boys and the boys are more auditive than the girls, however both the girls and boys are equally kinesthetic.

Teaching style questionnaire We have asked the head of each teaching team ( such as foreign languages, science, humanities, profession and IT) to rate from 1 to 5 how much the following definitions match their team’s teaching styles. 1. I support understanding with images, diagrams, pictures. 2. I bring in class tactile, touchable things. 3. I tell my students what they have to learn. 4. I like discussions, debates in my class. 5. I put down either on board or project the essential parts of the lesson. 6. Everything can be taught by touching. 7. The best is when I explain the material. 8. Sometimes students have to explain the material to each other. 9. I like explaining with the help of images 10. Students can try what they learn since they can learn by movements. 11. What I tell tem during the class that is what they have to learn 12. I often use role-plays.

Teaching styles Characteristics: Visual, imaginative = builds on images Kinesthetic, tactile = builds on movements Auditive = builds on hearing, listening Interpersonal, oral = builds on social competencies, speaking Analysis of data: Visual, imaginative = 1,5,9 Kinesthetic, tactile = 2,6,10 Auditive = 3,7,11 Interpersonal, Oral = 4,8,12

The diagram shows that the different teaching teams have different teaching styles. While e.g.the foreign language teachers prefer the interpersonal style, the science teachers like using the visual style better and the interpersonal one the less.

This diagram shows the results in the view of teaching styles. Interestingly, the biggest division can be seen in the interpersonal style.

Source: University lecture notes Internet images – (slides 11-12) Students and teachers’ ideas

Tünde Laki, student, year 13 Orsolya Pércsy, student, year 13 Szilvia Vásár, teacher, deputy head teacher Andrea Szobotin, teacher Vásárhelyi Pál Secondary Trade School, Budapest MMXII