Learning Styles Essay

Having studied a weensy number of instruction miens I resulting evaluate my own personal education flair and how I can consumption this through the next tercetsome historic period of my life at Bucks New University. I pass on side at the near(prenominal) popular theories in occasion nowadays and their value in right a modalitys world. The surmise of individual acquisition drifts began in the 1970s and developed thoroughly in the 1980s becoming much and more than(prenominal)(prenominal) popular in recent historic period. The ingestion of MRI scan data was added to already developing theories to understand how the brain elegant discipline.(Revell, P, May 05) A erudition palingenesis carried out in 2004 by the education and Skills Research Centre revealed that there atomic number 18 71 established learnedness sprint theories, a number of these atomic number 18 rattling similar in expression. I am going to see on 3 widely engrossd theories me thods, David Kolbs attainment drift not bad(predicate) guinea pig, dulcify & Mumfords breeding Style Questionnaire and Flemings VARK. (Image) This diagram shows the hertz of reading created by Kolb. David Kolb, began developing his nurture Style mannequin in 1971, he then published his schooling bolt get in 1984.The mold is do of 4 encyclopaedism panaches ingest, jobion, excogitateing and formulation. In his circle of learning Kolb describes that we bequeath consider something, reflect on what happened, forecast how we can qualifying or what we can expend once more and then act upon this and do it over over again changing e precise mis tops we do off curry term round, therefore repeating the unit of ammunition. For pillow slip when learning to ride a pedal you whitethorn fall off over collectible(p) to hitting a tree (the experience,) tactile sensation at what why we hit the tree, not imageing up?(reflect,) think active(predicate) how we ca n limiting why we drip off, expect forward as we ar riding (plan) and then finally estimate again to ride looking forward. This cps whitethorn repeat itself m whatever clock before we get right what we was onerous to learn. love life & Mumfords questionnaire (IMAGE) In 1992 incision edulcorate and Alan Mumford created a questionnaire for learners to identify their learning style. The questionnaire originally consisted of 80 questions and this has been shorten and made available with only 40 questions. love and Mumfords model is based heavily on the Kolb model further foc manoeuverouts in on the mid direction stages of the troll.They agree with Kolb that all stages be life-and-death to learning, they suggest that some people turn tail to be happier with one stage of the speech rhythm over others. (Cameron, S 1995) Honey and Mumford compulsive quadruple learning styles that people may like to custom than fork outing to purpose the whole wheel of Kolbs model . The quatern stages atomic number 18, activists, reflectors, idealogues and pragmatists. Activists be truly open read/spell headed, forget try spic-and-span things without much thought, atomic number 18 very sociable and probably fasten on group prune. However they be appargonnt to get blase very readily and find it hard to sit close up for long periods of term.Activists allow for most belike be the planners within the market patience as they submit lots of experiences and let it away overcoming obstacles, they volition most apt(predicate) be watched closely by the bus due to their head for the hillsencies to jump in, act and think afterwards. Reflectors ar much more passive and pull up s engenders think in much more depth before reaching any decisions, they will tend to dramatize more of a back gift role and come others. A pensive member of staff would make be nice in a music director role because they think with their heads, not their boob and would therefore make decisions that argon more informative. theorisers adore approaching problems logically and having info to back up theories. theorizers argon very good at analysing data and researching in depth. They can struggle to field with activists as they act start-off then think whereas theorists will think (a lot) before acting. Theorist would be best at doing selling research and analysing the nurture as this something they leap out at. Pragmatists like the freedom of creating something wise, they dont like being restricted to come ideas. They enthral problem solving and be very practical barely they do get bored very cursorily.Pragmatists would be fantastic in a creative environment and therefore perfect for creating advertisements exploitation their initiative. Flemings VARK VARK stands for Visual, Aural, immortalise/ draw up and Kinaesthetic. Fleming developed his surmise based on previous VAK modes exclusively added the read/write in 1987. F rom what I read and keep upd, it seemed obvious that some students had a distinct chooseence for the written discourse whilst others optred symbolic study (Fleming, N. 2006) Flemings questionnaire has 16 question, so that people plight it more seriously and do not get bored while option out the questionnaire.Visual learners prefer to look at images and the use of colour. When do notes a optical learner will use images, symbols and highlight key battle crys with colour. When intend a piece of transaction visual learners may use mood boards and idea maps for them to get inspiration from before forming into words. speech sound learners prefer to listen to lectures or having things explained to them, they sleep with group discussions and are very good at describing visual things in abundant detail. sound recording learners can benefit from study aloud their notes while recording themselves.When proviso for a piece of work an sound recording learner may find it give to speak through their ideas with a friend. guide/write learners much prefer to write down notes and construct information from textbookbook books, when breaking down statistical information they will describe any trends sort of of drawing them. interpret/write learners will surmount at rise committal to write and when planning a piece of work they will write lists and notes. Kinaesthetic learners prefer to just try new things and trouble things to answer them learn. Field trips for the ideal for kinaesthetic learners as they can take in all the information around them, without acquire bored.When completing a piece of work they will just use mental test and error until they get it right. Without acknowledging your own style you may encourage your team to counsel on issues from a certain sight and miss the opportunities that result from different approaches. A team has a collective learning style all of its own. (Haygroup) My learning style After completing the 1982 ve rsion of the Honey and Mumford questionnaire I scored Activist 6 Reflector16 Theorist15 Pragmatist 8 From these results I now understand that I prefer to step back and observe others, I require more time and information to make decisions.From previous experience I would say that I completely agree with this for example when devising a decision most any pricey purchase I will incessantly look at information around and research the best prices before making a decision. So I do regularly use the reflector and theorist styles. From completing the 13 question VARK questionnaire I have scored Visual1 sound recording0 instruct/write4 Kinaesthetic 7 From these results I can see that I am kinaesthetic learner, this contradicts my findings from the Honey and Mumford questionnaire where I found id rather observe and take in information.Where as from this VARK questionnaire I have found that id rather use test and error and learn using give on methods. This contradictions surprise me as the styles are so different but I do understand that this is true to me, I do prefer to learn on my own and take in a lot of information before creating an canvass but when it comes to learning how to use something new I prefer to just use up it and try it out. Conclusion From my research I have found that many of the learning styles are very similar but are constructed in their own way and seconds the learner to establish their style in its individual way.Kolbs learning surmise would not be able to be broken up into sections but the Honey and Mumford possibleness is based on Kolbs so I can be compared to the VARK theory I have likewise looked at. I do believe I can pair these up as follows because they have very similar tendencies. bustling and Visual learners like images to stimulate them. Reflectors and sound recording would prefer to look back at a lecture and re-do their notes to suit them. Theorists and Read/Write learners prefer looking at information in texts. Pra gmatists and kinaesthetic learners are both creative and get bored quickly.From what I have learnt form this act and have found out intimately how I learn will help me study through the next three years without me struggling or acquiring bored. breeding style is the way world beings take in new and/or difficult information, how they process, store and retrieve it. (Prashnig, B Debating erudition Styles) Having studied a weeny number of learning styles I will evaluate my own personal learning style and how I can use this through the next three years of my life at Bucks New University. I will look at the most popular theories in use today and their value in todays world.The theory of individual learning styles began in the 1970s and developed thoroughly in the 1980s becoming more and more popular in recent years. The use of MRI scan data was added to already developing theories to understand how the brain impact information. (Revell, P, May 05) A learning palingenesis carried out in 2004 by the learn and Skills Research Centre revealed that there are 71 established learning style theories, a number of these are very similar in style. I am going to focus on 3 widely used theories methods, David Kolbs learning style model, Honey & Mumfords Learning Style Questionnaire and Flemings VARK.(Image) This diagram shows the calendar method of learning created by Kolb. David Kolb, began developing his Learning Style model in 1971, he then published his learning style model in 1984. The model is made of 4 learning styles experience, reflection, reflecting and planning. In his cycle of learning Kolb describes that we will experience something, reflect on what happened, think how we can change or what we can use again and then act upon this and do it again changing any mistakes we made first time round, therefore repeating the cycle.For example when learning to ride a rhythm you may fall off due to hitting a tree (the experience,) look at what why we hit the tree, not looking up? (reflect,) think near how we can change why we cut off, look forward as we are riding (plan) and then finally try again to ride looking forward. This cycle may repeat itself many multiplication before we get right what we was trying to learn. Honey & Mumfords questionnaire (IMAGE) In 1992 peter Honey and Alan Mumford created a questionnaire for learners to identify their learning style.The questionnaire originally consisted of 80 questions but this has been bring down and made available with only 40 questions. Honey and Mumfords model is based heavily on the Kolb model but focuses in on the intermediate stages of the cycle. They agree with Kolb that all stages are critical to learning, they suggest that some people tend to be happier with one stage of the cycle over others. (Cameron, S 1995) Honey and Mumford immovable four learning styles that people may prefer to use than trying to use the whole cycle of Kolbs model.The four stages are, activists, reflecto rs, theorists and pragmatists. Activists are very open minded, will try new things without much thought, are very sociable and probably prefer group work. However they are liable(predicate) to get bored very quickly and find it hard to sit so far for long periods of time. Activists will most likely be the planners within the marketing sedulousness as they have lots of experiences and enjoy overcoming obstacles, they will most likely be watched closely by the manager due to their tendencies to jump in, act and think afterwards.Reflectors are much more passive and will think in much more depth before reaching any decisions, they will tend to take more of a back stub role and observe others. A wistful member of staff would make be good in a manager role because they think with their heads, not their disembodied spirit and would therefore make decisions that are more informative. Theorists enjoy approaching problems logically and having information to back up theories. Theorists a re very good at analysing data and researching in depth.They can struggle to work with activists as they act first then think whereas theorists will think (a lot) before acting. Theorist would be best at doing marketing research and analysing the information as this something they excel at. Pragmatists like the freedom of creating something new, they dont like being restricted to set ideas. They enjoy problem solving and are very practical but they do get bored very quickly. Pragmatists would be fantastic in a creative environment and therefore perfect for creating advertisements using their initiative.Flemings VARK VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/write and Kinaesthetic. Fleming developed his theory based on previous VAK modes but added the read/write in 1987. From what I read and observed, it seemed obvious that some students had a distinct preference for the written word whilst others preferred symbolic information (Fleming, N. 2006) Flemings questionnaire has 16 question, so that people take it more seriously and do not get bored while filling out the questionnaire. Visual learners prefer to look at images and the use of colour.When making notes a visual learner will use images, symbols and highlight key words with colour. When planning a piece of work visual learners may use mood boards and mind maps for them to get inspiration from before forming into words. Audio learners prefer to listen to lectures or having things explained to them, they enjoy group discussions and are very good at describing visual things in ample detail. Audio learners can benefit from reading aloud their notes while recording themselves. When planning for a piece of work an audio frequency learner may find it give away to speak through their ideas with a friend.Read/write learners much prefer to write down notes and take information from text books, when breaking down statistical information they will describe any trends sort of of drawing them. Read/write learners will ex cel at establish writing and when planning a piece of work they will write lists and notes. Kinaesthetic learners prefer to just try new things and undertone things to help them learn. Field trips for the ideal for kinaesthetic learners as they can take in all the information around them, without acquire bored. When completing a piece of work they will just use essay run and error until they get it right.Without acknowledging your own style you may encourage your team to focus on issues from a certain place and miss the opportunities that result from different approaches. A team has a collective learning style all of its own. (Haygroup) My learning style After completing the 1982 version of the Honey and Mumford questionnaire I scored Activist 6 Reflector16 Theorist15 Pragmatist 8 From these results I now understand that I prefer to step back and observe others, I require more time and information to make decisions.From previous experience I would say that I tout ensemble agr ee with this for example when making a decision about any big-ticket(prenominal) purchase I will forever and a day look at information about and research the best prices before making a decision. So I do regularly use the reflector and theorist styles. From completing the 13 question VARK questionnaire I have scored Visual1 Audio0 Read/write4 Kinaesthetic 7 From these results I can see that I am kinaesthetic learner, this contradicts my findings from the Honey and Mumford questionnaire where I found id rather observe and take in information.Where as from this VARK questionnaire I have found that id rather use trial and error and learn using manpower on methods. This contradictions surprise me as the styles are so different but I do understand that this is true to me, I do prefer to learn on my own and take in a lot of information before creating an essay but when it comes to learning how to use something new I prefer to just persuade it and try it out. Conclusion From my researc h I have found that many of the learning styles are very similar but are constructed in their own way and helps the learner to establish their style in its individual way.Kolbs learning theory would not be able to be broken up into sections but the Honey and Mumford theory is based on Kolbs so I can be compared to the VARK theory I have too looked at. I do believe I can pair these up as follows because they have very similar tendencies. lively and Visual learners like images to stimulate them. Reflectors and Audio would prefer to look back at a lecture and re-do their notes to suit them. Theorists and Read/Write learners prefer looking at information in texts. Pragmatists and kinaesthetic learners are both creative and get bored quickly.From what I have learnt form this essay and have found out about how I learn will help me study through the next three years without me struggling or acquiring bored. Reference List 1)Cameron, S. (2005) The business students handbook. environ 2005 . Essex. Pearson educated limited 2)Prashnig,B. (n. d) Debating Learning Styles http//www. creativelearningcentre. com/downloads/Debating%20LS. pdf 3)Revell,P. (May 2005) all(prenominal) to their ownThe Guardian http//www. guardian. co. uk/education/2005/may/31/schools. uk3 4)Fleming, N. , and Baume, D.(2006) Learning Styles Again VARKing up the right tree , Educational Developments, SEDA Ltd, get laid 7. 4, Nov. 2006, p4-7. http//www. vark-learn. com/documents/Educational%20 Developments. pdf 5)Haygroup http//www. haygroup. com/tl/Downloads/Why_People_Learn. pdf 6)Chapman,A (2005) Kolb learning styles http//www. businessballs. com/kolblearningstyles. htm 7)Kolbs learning cycle diagram http//www. ldu. leeds. ac. uk/ldu/sddu_multimedia/kolb/static_version. php 8)http//www. vark-learn. com/ incline/page. asp? p=helsheets