4 - How You Learn

How People Learn

• Neuroscientists and psychologists have developed many theories about how and why people learn differently
• Many theories about learning are relevant for college students

Learning Theories

Abraham Maslow, “hierarchy of needs”:

• For students to learn, needs must be met
• Basic needs are food, water, and shelter; safety and security; love and belonging; self-esteem through achievement; and self-actualization through purpose and meeting potential

Albert Bandura, social learning theory:

• People learn by observing others’ actions and the results of those actions
• Observations help them repeat or avoid certain behaviors

Nancy Schlossberg, theory of transition:

• Adults learn new roles when they experience change in their lives
• Change helps growth and learning
• Instructors have their own teaching and communicating styles
• Your preferred style of learning may not match your instructor’s teaching methods
• Everyone has different learning styles and preferences

Learning Preferences

Learning preferences are particular ways of learning that are unique to each individual

• Learning frameworks will help you meet the expectations of each course and instructor

Three common ways to think about your personal approach to learning:

VARK Learning-Styles Inventory

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

VARK Learning-Styles Inventory

The VARK focuses on how learners prefer to use their senses

There are four types:

• Visual learners
• Aural learners
• Read/write learners
• Kinesthetic learners

You may be multimodal and prefer multiple learning styles

The Kolb Inventory of Learning Styles

Effective learners need four kinds of abilities:

• Concrete experience
• Reflective observation
• Abstract conceptualization
• Active experimentation
• Opposite styles of learning: abstract-concrete and active-reflective

Four discrete groups of learners: divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodators

To do well in college, you will need to adopt some characteristics of each of the four learning styles

Divergers:

• Imaginative, people-oriented, sometimes emotional
• Sometimes have difficulty making decisions
• Often major in the humanities or social sciences

Assimilators:

• Like to think about abstract concepts
• Often major in math, physics, or chemistry

Convergers:

• Like the world of ideas and theories
• Good at thinking about how to apply theories to the real world
• Prefer tasks and problems over social and interpersonal issues
• Tend to choose health-related and engineering majors

Accommodators:

• Prefer hands-on learning
• Skilled at making things happen and rely on intuition
• Often major in business

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• Investigates personality characteristics and the ways they relate to human interaction and learning styles
• Identifies and measures a “psychological type” as developed by Carl Jung
• Often used by employers

Four MBTI types:

Extraversion (E) versus introversion (I): the inner or outer world

• Indicates where you direct energy and attention

Sensing (S) versus intuition (N): facts or ideas

• Indicates how you perceive the world and take in information

Thinking (T) versus feeling (F): logic or values

• Indicates how you prefer to make your decisions

Judging (J) versus perceiving (P): organization or adaptability

• Indicates how you characteristically approach the outside world

Multiple Intelligences Theory

Multiple intelligences theory was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner

It proposes eight different intelligences to describe how humans learn:

• Verbal/linguistic
• Logical/mathematical
• Visual/spatial
• Bodily/kinesthetic
• Musical/rhythmic
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Naturalistic

When Learning Styles and Teaching Styles Conflict

Instructors tend to teach in ways that conform to their own learning preferences

When you recognize a mismatch between how you prefer to learn and how you are being taught:

• Take control of your learning process
• Don’t depend on your instructor or the classroom environment to give you everything you need
• Employ your own preferences, talents, and abilities to study and retain information

Tech Tip: Navigate Online Learning with Your College LMS

A learning management system (LMS) offers lots of ways to connect with your instructors, classmates, and material

• Auditory learners can create or use audio recordings
• Visual learners can create or use videos, pictures, maps, and graphs
• Hands-on learners can create or use labs, group projects, and fieldwork

Learning with a Learning Disability

Learning disability is a general term

• It covers a wide variety of specific learning problems resulting from neurological disorders
• It is usually recognized and diagnosed in grade school
• Some affected students reach college without being properly diagnosed or assisted
• It can impede the ability to read, write, or do math

Attention disorders:

• Common in children, adolescents, and adults
• Include attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Diagnosis requires evaluation

Cognitive learning disabilities:

• Dyslexia
• Developmental writing disorder
• Developmental arithmetic disorder
• The office of student disability services can provide reasonable accommodations to students with learning disabilities
• A learning disability is a learning difference; it is not related to intelligence
• Campus learning centers can provide diagnostic assessments and help students develop successful coping strategies