1. Understanding Your Learning Style II
Personal Knowledge
Intermediate Level
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

2. Acknowledgment of Support
The material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. DUE : “Implementing the BESTEAMS model of team development across the curriculum.”
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Additional support was provided by the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Morgan State University, the United States Naval Academy, and Howard University.
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

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Warm-Up
Reflect on a time when you had a lot of trouble learning a particular subject.
What made it so difficult for you?
What steps did you take to learn the material?
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4. Knowing Yourself: Learning Styles in Engineering
What is a learning style?
Characteristic ways of receiving and processing information in order to learn.
Examples include:
Preferring to learn by doing versus by listening or reading
Preferring to learn by first seeing the “big picture” or by going step by step
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

5. Models of Learning Styles
The Kolb Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) is widely used to describe:
Preferences for perceiving as a continuum from reflective observation to active experimentation
Preferences for judging information as abstract conceptualization to concrete experience
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Review of Kolb
Characteristic ways of perceiving and judging knowledge:
Assimilators -high reflective observation and active experimentation
Divergers - high concrete experience and reflective observation
Accommodators - high active experimentation and concrete experimentation
Convergers - high active experimentation and abstract conceptualization
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7. Index of Learning Styles (ILS)
Created by Dr. Richard Felder, a chemical engineer and leading engineering education professor at North Carolina State University
Uses concepts from the Kolb LSI, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and other learning theories
The ILS is designed to be particularly relevant to engineering education
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8. Learning Style Preference Notes
Learning Styles are “lenses” for understanding your own and others preferences for learning and contributing to teams
They are never right or wrong
Individuals have preferences or strengths, but everyone can (and probably should) use all styles at some point in their learning or work in teams
Individuals have strength of preferences: some may be strong, others may be weak
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9. Key Dimensions of ILS Learning Preferences
Active versus Reflective preference (similar to Kolb LSI)
Sensing versus Intuitive preference (similar to the MBTI)
Visual versus Verbal preference
Sequential versus Global preference
Inductive versus Deductive preference
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Your own ILS Profile
Look at your own profile:
Are you strong in some areas?
Weak in others?
Balanced throughout?
How can you use your learning style preferences and strengths to maximize your learning?
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11. Active vs. Reflective Preference
Active preference: prefers to learn by trying new things out, improving experiments, working with others
Reflective preference: prefers to learn by thinking things through, working alone
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12. Maximizing Your Learning
Active Learners
Study in groups and take turns explaining topics to each other
Anticipate what will be asked on tests and brainstorm the answers
Try and study alone and then report or discuss w/ others; in teams, allow time for reflection, write down your ideas, then speak up
STRETCH YOURSELF
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13. Maximizing Your Learning
Reflective Learners
Summarize material you are studying
Make a list of “key points”
Think of possible test questions based on the material
Think of applications of the material to things you are interested in
Discuss your work w/ a fellow student or be a tutor
STRETCH YOURSELF
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Sensing vs. Intuitive
Sensing preference: prefers to focus on facts, procedures, preferring the practical and concrete
Intuitive preference: prefers to focus on innovation, concepts, preferring the theoretical and hypothetical
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15. Exercise: Sensing/Intuitive Learners
Imagine you are a part of an engineering society effort to reach out to talented high school students in the community and teach them about the field of engineering.
Design an experience for 9th graders so that they can understand the concept “conservation of energy.”
Divide into S/I groups and design a plan.
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16. Maximizing Your Learning
Sensing Learners
Ask instructors for specific examples
Ask for how the material can be applied in engineering practice
Ask yourself ‘what if’ questions. For example, “what if I changed this parameter?” “What if, I used this concept in a different context?”
Make friends with symbols by creating a symbol dictionary and learn them like a foreign language
STRETCH YOURSELF
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

17. Maximizing Your Learning
Intuitive Learners:
Avoid careless mistakes: read the entire question or assignment before you take action
Check your solutions: make sure the question you answered was the one that was asked
Link the specifics of the course or task to the big picture: Why is your instructor presenting this material? How is it important now, to practicing engineers, to research scientists?
Make one note card per week with specific formula, equations, etc. then memorize it.
STRETCH YOURSELF
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Visual vs. Verbal
Visual preference: prefers to learn by visual representations, e.g., flow charts, diagrams, pictures
Verbal preference: prefers to learn by reading or listening
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19. Maximizing Your Learning
Visual Learners:
Find or create visualizations of the concepts you are learning (flow charts, schematics, photographs, diagrams)
Plan a concept map: list key points/concepts and link w/ arrows showing the relationships between them
Color code your notes w/ highlighters so that related concepts are in the same color
Explain your concept map to a classmate in order to enhance your understanding
STRETCH YOURSELF
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20. Maximizing Your Learning
Verbal Learners:
Write summaries of the class material in your own words
Work in groups where you can take turns explaining concepts and problem solutions to one another
Develop a concept map that represents the material presented in class; add symbols as the class continues
STRETCH YOURSELF
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Sequential vs. Global
Sequential preference: prefers to learn in small increments, linear, orderly progression
Global preference: prefers to learn holistically, large leaps of understanding, “systems” thinking
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22. Maximizing Your Learning
Sequential Learners:
Ask your instructor to “fill in” any steps you find missing (“How did you get from here to there?”)
Try and outline your notes or the material in logical order
Relate the new material to other concepts and information you know. Ask: “Where else would this apply?”
STRETCH YOURSELF
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23. Maximizing Your Learning
Global Learners:
Get the “big picture” by skimming the material (read the titles, then subtitles, then graphs, section headings, finally, the first sentence in each paragraph).
Link the new material to concepts you already know (Ask: “Why is this important?” “Who uses this information?” “How is it applied?”)
Create a concept map identifying links between individual concepts, explain the relationships to a class or team mate.
STRETCH YOURSELF
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

24. Inductive vs. Deductive
Inductive preference: prefers to learn from specifics and generalize to the “big picture” or concept
Deductive preference: prefers to learn from the general/theory/concept and then move to specifics or application
NOTE: This dimension is not assessed in the Felder Index
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

25. Exercise: YOUR Learning Style
Remember when you reflected on a time when you had a lot of trouble learning a particular subject...
“What if” you had known your ILS?
How might that have made a difference in how they approached learning the material?
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Take Home Points
Learning preferences are not “right” or “wrong”
Knowing your own preferences can help you understand your own strengths in terms of learning and related tasks such as working on teams
Differences in terms of how people look at the world, prefer to work and interact, are all positives when it comes to teamwork and accomplishing complex projects
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27. Learning Styles in Teams: Part II
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Learning in a Mixed Learning Style Group/Team: Maximizing EVERYONE’s Learning
In an ideal class, everyone’s learning style is appreciated and accomodated.
Considering your own learning preferences, ask: “Does what the instructor is doing now match my learning style?” If not, what can you do to make the material more meaningful?
STRETCH YOURSELF
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

29. Helping Everyone Learn in a Team Context
In order to help everyone contribute to the team, try the following:
Start with real world examples and problems that show why the theoretical/technical material will be useful or important (helps sensing & global learners)
Balance concrete information with conceptual information: do hands-on experiments or demonstrations to illustrate Laws and principles (helps sensing & intuitive learners)
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Learning in Teams, cont.
Draw and Talk: use schematics, computer graphics, plots, vector diagrams, etc. to support verbal explanations provided in lectures or readings (helps both visual and verbal learners)
Illustrate using BOTH numeric and algebraic examples (helps both sensors and intuitives)
Use physical analogies/demonstrations to make the abstract more real (e.g. “100 microns is about the thickness of a sheet of paper”)
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Learning in Teams, cont.
Work in small groups or sub-teams to solve problems inductively (starting with empirical data work out solutions and then generalize to principles and laws)
Allow time to think and ask questions: “What is the most confusing point?” write it down and hand in or discuss with neighbor (helps reflective learners)
Ask the “So what?”: where can the information being learned be applied? Brainstorm all possible applications (helps global learners)
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32. Learning Styles in Team: Stuck?
When your team is at an impasse, ask each member:
What is the learning style preference of each member of your team?
How do you define the problem/issue from your perspective?
How would you solve a problem such as this?
What information is missing that would help solve the problem?
If not all learning styles are represented on your team, ask “What would a ‘global’ learner want to know? How would they approach this?”
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33. Exercise: Active/Reflective Learners
Active and Reflective Preference Learners split into groups:
What is your favorite aspect of working on a team project and why?
Think of engineering teams you have worked on before.
Project design
Team work
Testing and experimentation
Report writing and presentation
Is there a connection between your preferences in teams and your preferred learning style?
Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004