Do you prefer A, B or aspects of both?
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A:
It’s early morning.
You’re sitting on a hard plastic chair.
The lights are dim.
It’s warm.
You last ate an hour ago.
A 30 minute talk about toenail trimming is just about to begin.
You know you have to keep still, listen, watch and take detailed notes.
It’s very quiet.
After the talk you know you’re going to have to do a presentation with three other people.
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B:
It’s early afternoon.
You’re sitting on the arm of a soft sofa.
The lights are bright.
It’s cool.
You’ve just had a bag of dried fruit and a glass of apple juice.
A 10 minute video about toenail trimming is just about to begin.
You know you can move to the sofa or floor or a chair if you wish
You have to make notes as bullet points or a mind-map.
Quiet music is playing (goes off when the video begins).
After the video you know you’re going to have to do individual research and prepare an on-line presentation or leaflet |
Learning styles is NOT about choosing between A or B.
It’s about choosing which aspects like those in A and B will make learning more enjoyable AND more effective for you.
What are Learning Styles?
You unique preferences for learning - your where, when, how and with whom.
For example:
What? by Getting the big picture first? Getting the detail first?
How? by Seeing? Hearing? Touching? Imagining? Reading? Moving?
Where Warm? Cool? Bright? Dim? Noisy? Quiet? Formal? Informal?
Who Friends? Groups? Teams? Alone?
More How? Well-motivated? Need support? Keep going? Maverick? Conformist?
- Everyone learns in a different way
- But if everyone is taught in the same way, who loses out?
- Learning regularly in a way that doesn’t suit your preferences is like wearing shoes a couple of sizes too small or too big – uncomfortable and frustrating.
- Do you work with anyone right now who’s having to learn in a way not matched to their preferences?
Assessing Learning Styles
Here’s a single page questionnaire to download and use with your learners.
Learning Styles Questionnaire (opens in a new window 
)
Use it as the first step to discovering, valuing and using unique learning styles. Remember that any questionnaire is best used to describe a profile of strengths and not to produce 'learning labels' - and therefore limits.
Finally, this interactive profile is a lot of fun and will tell you how your brain likes to process information - whether you have an auditory or visual preference; or analytic/holistic tendencies. Thinking Classroom has tried and failed to find the source of this activity - if it's yours, please get in touch and let us know if you're happy for it to be on the site.