Learning Styles

Jamaica Ann L. Santos

What do you see?
Learning Styles
refers to the preferential way in which the
students absorb, process, comprehend and retain
information.

One of the most important factors that control the

pupils’ learning
Learning Styles
1. Flemming’s VARK Learning Styles

2. Kolb’s Experiential Learning

3. Honey and Mumford Learning Styles

Fleming’s VARK Learning Style
•We process information in three
ways: seeing, hearing and doing
•Your preferred learning style is
the one you use the most.
•Visual Learners
•Auditory Learners
•Reading/Writing
•Tactile Learners
 Visual Learners
• Learners who have a preference for viewing
information in terms of graphic images.

They rely on:

• Maps (traditional, GPS)
• Outlines
• Diagrams
• Charts & graphs
• Designs & patterns
 Visual Learners
• Does NOT include:
• movies, videos or PowerPoint.

• Strategies/ Tips:
• Practice transferring words into...
(Ex): times-lines, Venn-Diagrams,
character charts.
• Use color in your notes… (Ex): highlighter
 Auditory Learners
• Prefer information "heard or spoken”

Learn best from:

• listening to lectures and presentations,
• watching tutorials,
• Debates
• tapes,
• group discussion,
• Discussing concepts and talking things
through (includes talking out loud to
yourself!)
Auditory Learners
Strategies/ tips:
• Study out loud with others,
verbally quiz
• write down own thoughts
Read/Write
• Prefer information displayed as words;
• Reading and writing of all forms (academic skills)

Drawn to:
• PowerPoint,
• the internet,
• lists,
• books, magazines, journals
• dictionaries and thesauri
• Quotations and words, words, words...
Read/Write
Strategies/ tips:
• Re-write your notes longhand without symbols
and abbreviations.
• Write out the main point of diagrams in words.
• Make flash cards with lots of info and vocab.
 Tactile or Kinesthetic Learners
• Preference to experience, move, touch,
and do (5-senses)

Includes:
• Connect through personal experiences,
real-life examples, practice and hand-on.
• demonstrations,
• simulations,
• videos and movies of "real" things,
• Role-play.
• Field Trips
Kolb's Experiential Learning
Theory
Two Level’s of Kolb’s Experiential Learning

• 4-stage learning cycle

• 4 learning styles

Kolb’s theory is concerned with the learner’s

internal cognitive process
The Experiential Learning Cycle

a four-stage learning
cycle in which the
learner 'touches all the
bases‘
The Experiential Learning Cycle

a four-stage learning
cycle in which the
learner 'touches all the
bases‘
The Experiential Learning Cycle

a four-stage learning
cycle in which the
learner 'touches all the
bases‘
The Experiential Learning Cycle

a four-stage learning
cycle in which the
learner 'touches all the
bases‘
 The Experiential Learning Cycle
1. Concrete Experience - a new experience or situation is
encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing
experience.

2. Reflective Observation of the New Experience - the

learner reflects on their experience personally. They
use the lens of their experience and understanding to
reflect on what this experience means.
 The Experiential Learning Cycle
3. Abstract Conceptualization - the learner forms new
ideas or adjusts their thinking based on the experience
and their reflection about it.

4. Active Experimentation - the learner applies the new

ideas to the world around them, to see if there are any
modifications to be made. This process can happen
over a short period of time, or over a long span of
time.
 The Experiential Learning Cycle

Effective learning is
seen when a
person progresses
through a cycle of
four stages.
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
the four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
 Kolb’s Learning Styles

Four distinct
learning styles,
which are based on
a four-stage
learning cycle
Kolb’s Learning Styles
Kolb’s Learning Styles
 Kolb’s Learning Styles
Diverging (feeling and watching - CE/RO)
• View concrete information from different perspectives.
• Perform better in situations that require ideas-generation–
brainstorming.
• Observer- rather watch than doing.
• Tend to gather information and use imagination to solve
problems.
• Imaginative and emotional
• Like to work in groups, to listen with an open mind and to
receive personal feedback.
Kolb’s Learning Styles
 Kolb’s Learning Styles
Assimilating (watching and thinking - AC/RO)
• Most cognitive approach
• Involves concise and logical approach
• Excel at understanding wide-ranging information
and organizing it in a clear, logical manner
• More attracted to logically sound theories than
approaches based on practical values
Kolb’s Learning Styles
 Kolb’s Learning Styles
Converging (doing and thinking - AC/AE)
• Think about things and then try out their ideas to
see if they work in practice
• Will use their learning to find solution to practical
issues.
• Work by themselves; think carefully and act
independently
Kolb’s Learning Styles
 Kolb’s Learning Styles
Accommodating (doing and feeling - CE/AE)
• The most hands-on, practical approach
• Enjoy doing rather than thinking
• Do not like routines or lectures
• Take creative risks to see what happens
 Benefits of experiential learning
• Opportunity to immediately apply knowledge.
• Promotion of teamwork.
• Improved motivation.
• Opportunity for reflection.
• Real world practice.
 Experiential learning activities to
include in the classroom.
• Field trips
• Art projects
• Science experiments
• Mock recitations
• Role playing
• Reflection and journaling
• Internship opportunities
• Interactive classroom games
Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles

Activists

Pragmatists
Honey & Reflectors
Mumford

Theorists
Activist
Reflectors
Theorists
Pragmatists
All Rounder
Reflector - Theorists
Activist - Pragmatist
Theorist - Activist
Activist - Reflectors
Matching activities to learning styles
Matching activities to learning styles
 Matching activities to learning styles
• Students more likely to learn when their learning
styles and the nature of the activity match
• Associated the different learning styles to Kolb’s
experiential learning cycle.
Matching activities to learning styles
Putting it all together
When learning, use learning styles to:
• Complement your preference style
• Use methods to boost weaker areas

Teachers use them to:

• Design courses to appeal to a set of different learning styles
• Learning styles can be used to achieve a balance of skill mix
within a team/group
Multi-modality learning
We remember:
•10% of what we read
•20% of what we hear
•30% of what we see
•50% of what we see and hear
•80% of what we say
•90% of what we say, hear and do
 Resources
Hopper, Carolyn H. "7." Practicing College Learning Strategies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. N. Print.

Marks-Beale, Abby. "2." Success Skills: Strategies for Study and Lifelong Learning. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western,
2007. N.

McWhorter, Kathleen T. "2." College Reading and Study Skills. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. N. pag.

McLeod, S. A. (2017, October 24). Kolb - learning styles and experiential learning cycle. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/629607/mod_resource/content/1/t175_4_3.pdf

https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/doctoralcollege/training/eresources/teaching/theories/honey-mumford

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/experiential-learning-theory2006.html
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