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Learning Styles

A problem that all levels of education run into is the differences that appear between different learning styles of the students as well as variation in teaching styles that may not go along with a student's individual learning style. In creating a curriculum for Bryn Mawr or another college, it would be important to take this into account so that there could be a balance between courses that work well with each type of learner. A good deal of college courses are lecture courses in which the professors stand in front of the class and verbally go over the information for the class; oftentimes, students find that they are unable to absorb the most material this way, and thus the class can be much more of a struggle for them. Incorporating a greater amount of visuals will allow students to absorb the information for themselves rather than being left behind. While creating such classes may not be as much of an issue at Bryn Mawr which has smaller classes, there could still be classes in which having such hands-on activities would be impossible. This does not mean that all classes must be transformed so that everything is hands-on, it just means that attention should be directed towards deciding the requirements and set up of the courses. A combination of verbal (which includes both written and spoken language) and visual assignments would help achieve this goal.

 

Felder, Richard M. "Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering   Education." 1998 www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS-1988.pdf

This source outlines the types of learners that appear in college and the connections between the different categories of learners. It acknowledges that in many cases, there is a gap between the teaching of the course and the way in which the students learn that can often lead them to feel inadequate. While most classes are taught lecture style, students often learn the material better if they have some sort of visual representation or demonstration. At the same time, some students work better when given the big picture idea rather than the details and other are much better at focusing on the details. The example used here is about Engineering professors who are big picture types while the students in their classes tend to be data based learners and because of that there is a disconnect between the two groups.

Santo, Susan A. "Learning Styles and Personalities." University of South Dakota

people.usd.edu/~ssanto/styles.html

This source outlines the three ways in which professors can accommodate the fact that there are different types of learners in their classes. The first way is to look at each individual's learning style and then change the curriculum to match that. The second way to deal with this is to acknowledge a person's ideal style of learning and then turn them in the opposite direction so that they can learn how to strengthen their weaknesses. The third and final way is to ignore all learning differences and use all different types of teaching styles so that everyone is able to benefit and relate the class. 

Felder, Richard M. and Jodi Sperlin. "Applications, Reliability, and Validity of the Index of Learning Styles." North Carolina State University. 2004. www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/ILS_Validation(IJEE).pdf

This source outlines the difference that have been shown between the groups of learns that exist. It says that sequential learners (who learn through increasingly difficult steps in material) tend to be "left-brain dominant, atomistic, analytic, serialist." While those that are global learners (they learn holistically and in big chunks at a time rather than in small pieces) are "right-brain dominant, holistic, hierarchical, and visual-spatial." This source also acknowledges that by simply figuring out someone's leaning style, you are unable to predict their strengths and weaknesses per-se. 

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