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AEB1101. Learning in a Changing WorldAssessment 2: Essay, “How Do I Learn Best?”

Student Name: K. Joseph BuckleyStudent #: 3880875

Tutor: Coral CaraTutorial: Monday 1:00 PM, Room 502A

The analysis of how an individual learns best is a vast endeavour. It can be expounded upon at length and, therefore, it seems prudent to limit the scope of the inquiry to a manageable and logical subset of the total possible field of discussion. In this essay, I will examine my preferred learning styles and how they have affected me and my learning in the past and speculate on how they will affect my future learning and my effectiveness as a future teacher.

There are a huge array of theories of learning styles and a myriad of tests to determine where a particular individual fits into each of those learning styles. However, no student is a tabula rasa and each taker of a learning style test already has ideas about who they are and how they learn best. Before I had taken any such tests, I knew that I was introverted and extremely shy*. This led me to favour learning activities that did not require interaction with others – at least, with others I did not know well – such as quiet reading and private contemplation.

In slight contrast to this was a process that I first discovered (or had been led to discover) in Primary School, but which has become extremely important to me. I had always been a strong mathematics student and, in Grade Six, my teacher, Ms U-, asked me to help another boy struggling with maths. The process of teaching him caused me to learn the subject matter more thoroughly than I had known it before. Throughout the subsequent years of my formal education, I was known among my friends and classmates as being good at maths and, hence, was a frequent target of questions when the teacher was too busy (or too intimidating). This produced a virtuous circle where my presumed competence contributed to my actual competence, which, in turn, contributed to the perception of my competence. This is one of the most powerful learning techniques I have at my disposal. Even today, when I want to learn something, I consider how I would explain it to another person, although in the vast majority of cases, not actually involving another individual in the process. Perhaps, my introversion has led me to dispose of the other person in this process and to substitute a hypothetical being in its place; thus, allowing to preserve both of these deeply-ingrained character learning traits.

I call those personality traits “deeply-ingrained” not just because I feel its truth anecdotally, but because they were confirmed in tests that I have taken. One of the first personality tests I had ever taken was the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS-II)1. In it, I was classified as a Healer (INFP). Although the KTS-II is a general personality test, its result influences, not only, my learning style, but also the kind of teacher I will become. As Hagger and McIntyre (2006) have said:

Most teachers find that their individual humanity and the totality of their human experience are essential resources on which they draw as classroom teachers. 2

According to one source, in the workplace:

Because of their deep-seated reserve … [Healers] can work quite happily alone.3

* [Eighteen months working as a Teacher's Aide has somewhat changed this aspect of my personality, but I still remain more introverted than extroverted.]1 http://www.keirsey.com/sorter/instruments2.aspx 2 Hagger, H, and McIntyre, D, Learning teaching from teachers: Realizing the potential of school-based

teacher education, p. 553 http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/healer.asp

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Another source, states that:

INFPs are usually talented writers. They may be awkward and uncomfortable with expressing themselves verbally, but have a wonderful ability to define and express what they're feeling on paper.4

This, I feel, is an accurate representation of me. As a Pre-Service teacher, I understand the extreme importance that verbal communication plays, not only in the classroom, but, also in the interactions that I may have with other stakeholders in my teaching, eg, principals, other teachers, parents, etc. However, I still feel more comfortable expressing myself in writing than I do in speaking. This, I think, stems partly from my introversion and shyness as well as my love of reading.

Healers are also “adaptable [and] welcome to new ideas5”. This characterisation fits Kolb's definition of one of his four necessary abilities for effective learners, viz, Reflective Observation Abilities (RO). He writes that effective learners “must be able to reflect on and observe their experiences from many perspectives6”.

At this juncture, however, we run into a snag because I believe that although I scored more highly in “Feeling” than “Thinking” on the Keirsey Scale, I favour the “Abstract Conceptualization” (or Thinking) part of the learning process more than I do the “Concrete Experience” (or Feeling) part. Part of this disparity is due to nomenclature: “Concrete Experience” and “Feeling” are not always synonymous, and one can use the terms to signify completely different concepts, even though David Kolb chose to equate them. But another component in this discrepancy is that human beings are complex creatures and no one theoretical model can encapsulate that idiosyncrasies of any one individual. [This is an extremely important concept for (pre-service) teachers to learn because of the dangers of classifying students into different groups and then trying to teach them based on the characteristics of the group.]

According to Kolb, my preference for Abstract Conceptualisation and Reflective Observation make me an Assimilator7. Assimilators “respond to information presented in an organized, logical fashion and benefit if they are given time for reflection8”. They also, in formal educational settings, “prefer readings, lectures, [and] exploring analytical models9”. I have already addressed the importance of personal reflection in my learning style. The desire for assimilators to have information arranged into a structured system and to have that information presented in lectures, readings and analytical models is encapsulated in another theory of learning styles – the Left Brain-Right Brain dichotomy.

According to the Right Brain – Left Brain Inventory10, I am a Left Brain Thinker. A Left-Brain thinker “processes information in a linear manner11” and “in sequence – in order12”. They also “have little trouble expressing themselves in words13” and because they “[have] no trouble processing symbols … [T]he left-brained person tends to be comfortable with linguistic and mathematical endeavors14 [sic].” These are all characteristics that are applicable to me. Although they fall under the Left-Brain umbrella in this system of learning, it is possible to deal

4 http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html 5 http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/healer.asp 6 Kolb, D. Experiential learning. Experience as the source of learning and development, p. 617 http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm 8 Felder, R, & Brent, R, Understanding Student Differences, p. 609 http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm 10 http://www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/univ1011/Modules/05_YouLearn/05_YouLearn.html#Inventories 11 http://frank.mtsu.edu/~studskl/hd/learn.html 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid.

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with them on an individual basis. This is what Howard Gardner did.

According to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory, I most closely fit into the Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Spatial, and Intra-personal Intelligences15. Linguistic Intelligence is “the ability to use words and language in many different forms16” and Logical/Mathematical Intelligence is “the ability to discern patterns and approach situations logically17” - both of which I have discussed elsewhere under different learning theories.

Spatial Intelligence involves “having the ability to form a mental model and to be able to manoeuvre and operate using that model18.” I was surprised when I scored highly in this Intelligence because I never considered myself “artistic” (at least insofar as the visual arts are concerned); but another name for this form of Intelligence could be “Conceptual”, which I believe I am. I am capable of, and even enjoy, dealing with abstract concepts and ideas.

Intra-personal Intelligence is “being sensitive to one's inner feelings, knowing one's own strengths and weaknesses19”. I have always felt myself to be introspective, and, sometimes even self-conscious (which is just an overly critical form of introspection); but, ironically enough, I had never seriously considered how this impacted my learning, in particular, or my personality, in general.

The English poet and painter, William Blake, once wrote, “I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man's20”. The purpose of analysing one's learning styles, as an adult learner, is to determine how one can best learn the material in question, drawing upon personal preferences, personal history, and individual character traits. If one does not do this, one is at the mercy of the learning style that one's instructor or peers prefer, which could be at odds with one's own. However, as a Pre-Service Teacher, this exercise is also important because it forces one to consider the other learning styles that exist and allows one to modify one's teaching to include other styles of learner. It allows, in other words, for us to avoid being “enslav'd” by another's learning style, while at the same time avoiding enslaving others with ours.

15 http://surfaquarium.com/MI/inventory.htm 16 Hoerr, T, The Multiple Intelligences: Implementing MI into the Classroom, p. 1117 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Blake, W. (1804), Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Great Albion, Plate 10.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blake, W 1804. Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Great AlbionAccessed from <http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/copy.xq?copyid=jerusalem.e&java=yes> on April 1st, 2011

BSM Consulting 2010Portrait of an INFP – Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving (Introverted Feeling with Extraverted Intuition): The Idealist<http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html>Accessed: March 31st, 2011

Chapman, A. 2010Kolb Learning Styles<http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm>Accessed: April 1st, 2011

Felder, R & Brent, R 2005“Understanding Student Differences”,Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), pp. 57 – 72

Hagger, H., and McIntyre, D. 2006. Learning teaching from teachers: Realizing the potential of school-based teacher educationMaidenhead: Open University Press

Hoerr, T 1996“Implementing MI into the Classroom”, in Hoerr, T (Ed.), Multiple Intelligences: Teaching for Success.St Louis, Missouri. The New York City School, Inc.

Hopper, C 2011. Left vs Right. Which side are you on?<http://frank.mtsu.edu/~studskl/hd/learn.html>Accessed: March 31st, 2011

Keirsey.com 2011The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS-II)<http://www.keirsey.com/sorter/instruments2.aspx>Accessed: March 4, 2011

-------------- IdealistTM Portrait of the Healer (INFP)<http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/healer.asp>Accessed: March 31st, 2011

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Kolb, D 1984. Experiential learning. Experience as the source of learning and developmentEnglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

McKenzie, W 1999. Multiple Intelligences Survey<http://surfaquarium.com/MI/inventory.htm>Accessed: March 22nd, 2011

Nipissing University 2007Right Brain – Left Brain Inventory<http://www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/univ1011/Modules/05_YouLearn/05_YouLearn.html#Inventories>Accessed: March 22nd, 2011