Bob Leamnson (RLEAMNSON@umassd.edu)
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 10:31:58 -0500 (EST)
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 10:31:58 -0500 (EST) From: Bob Leamnson <RLEAMNSON@umassd.edu> Subject: [ifets] Styles
Whenever differences among students comes up, particularly in
their response to various pedagogies, learning styles will inevitably
follow. The problem with learning style preferences is the same
one I suggested earlier regarding differences in general; we don't
know what to do with that information.
There is no consensus on how many learning styles there are.
And if instructors were aware of, and used, one of the several
devices for identifying learning styles, the question remains as to
what to do with that information. How does one cope with seven,
nine, or thirteen learning style preferences in a class of fifty?
Those who believe that learning styles are biological
phenomena (Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn), physiological, or
perhaps genetic, would have us believe that one's preferential
learning style is fixed and immutable. Along more hopeful lines
are those who suggest (Joseph Katz, Mildred Henry) that learning
styles are themselves learned. What the latter suggest ( and I
would agree) is that learning styles really correlate with content.
One uses different mental processes, learning styles, to cope with
different kinds of material.
Should it turn out that learning styles are indeed better mapped
onto content than onto people, the consequences for teaching will
be significant. We would need to teach not only our discipline,
but the way that discipline must be learned.
Bob Leamnson
UMass Darmouth
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