1. Teaching and Learning Styles/Preferences Merilee A
Teaching and Learning Styles/Preferences Merilee A. Krueger Associate Teaching Professor Department of Psychological Science

2. Teaching
Missouri, traditional route to earn “certificate of license to teach” K-12 requires:
four-year, college-recommended course of study
student teaching
passing designated assessment tests
graduating with bachelor’s degree in field of education

3. Teaching
Preparation for teaching at university varies - no comprehensive guidelines.
For many faculty members it comprises 1/3 of the job!

4. Teaching
Important to make educated decisions regarding teaching. Formulate a toolkit…

5. Teaching

6. Teaching
Some ideas:
Provide/Communicate Clear Expectations – students need to be aware of how information will be taught AND assessed

7. Teaching
Check for Understanding – assess periodically and adjust. Teach students to do same as study

8. Teaching
Motivation/Engagement – complicated – educate yourself - make tasks authentic, relevant – ultimately requires student involvement

9. Learning Style
Learning Style – how learners gather, interpret, organize, come to conclusions about, and “store” information for further use. Proposed -part of personality.

10. Learning Style
Despite popularity of learning styles and inventories to assess, important to note research produced mixed results.
No evidence to support matching activities to learning style improves learning.

11. Learning Style
Krätzig & Arbuthnott (2006) – College students self-assessed learning style (auditory, visual, kinesthetic). Students then taught using identified style.

12. Learning Style
Results - No improvement in learning. Identified style was preference.
No superior performance in identified preferred style

13. Learning Style
Students may not be best judge of own style – especially younger ones
Students may prefer “easy” approach, but - not always effective

14. Learning Style
Goal - teachers want students to understand and know meaning of content. Does not depend on learning style – can be accomplished with all types – not necessarily auditory, visual, kinesthetic

15. Learning Style
Illusion of Understanding - surface learning from animated presentations. Students “think” have learned - overly optimistic and may reduce studying. Problematic for lower ability learners

16. Learning Style
Presenting instruction in multiple modalities can be useful - if enhances meaning. Do not do just to say you did!
Research reveals hundreds of preferences and intellectual styles of learning.

17. Learning Style
Beneficial students to understand learning preference/style and how information will be taught and assessed.
Teachers will not accommodate all styles

18. Learning Style
Zhang and Sternberg (2005) proposes 3 basic intellectual styles to make the number more manageable:

19. Learning Style Sternberg elaborated on learning:
Styles are preferences, not abilities.
Styles not “good” or “bad” - goodness of fit more important

20. Learning Style Styles can change depending on task
Styles can change across lifespan
Learners capable of adopting and changing styles.

21. Learning Style Value of considering learning styles –
Helps develop appreciation for student differences
Can assist students in developing thoughtful self-monitoring and self-awareness.

22. Learning Style
Learning preference/style emphasizes student’s active role in education.
Learner must engage. Student needs to adapt and find ways to re-interpret information to suit them.

23. Learning Learning complicated. Active process with multiple factors.
Passive learning – misnomer.

24. Learning
Learning styles only one factor in learning. Research shows specific teaching strategies and social connections have huge impact ~

25. Other Considerations Multiple intelligences Emotional intelligence
Motivation
Engaging students…

26. To Summarize
Teaching multi-faceted - more than simply disseminating information. Guidance too.
As faculty, more can inform teaching, more can help students succeed!
Questions?