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Module 2
Section 4: Learning Styles Models
What's my motivation?
Learning styles provide a key approach to facilitating differentiated instruction in the classroom, by
using a model of learning styles which identifies different categories of learners within your classroom
it will be possible to develop instruction material to scaffold that broad range of learners.
Learning style instruments are widely used. But are they reliable and valid? Do they have an impact on
pedagogy? These were the questions asked by the Learning & Skills Research Centre which examined 13
models of learning style. Are learning styles reliable, do they measure the learning styles of students
consistently, are they really a test of learning styles or some other quality such as intelligence or
personality. The report concluded that it matters fundamentally which model is chosen. Student and
teachers can develop more effective learning strategies if they are knowledgeable about their strengths
and weaknesses. Teachers are fully aware that all students have varying learning styles but how do they
accommodate these variations within their classroom practice. It can be highly complex and indeed difficult
within the structures of today's large classes and within the constraints of the curriculum.
Within this module we are covering the following four learning styles models:
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Kiersey Temperament Sorter
The Dunn & Dunn Model
The V.A.R.K. Model
We have selected these learning styles models considering their development from a historical perspective
as well as their impact on pedagogy.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
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Currently, the MBTI is one of the most widely utilized instruments for measuring personality differences. It
has been used for many different purposes including self-development, career development, problem
solving, management, education and curriculum development. The MBTI measures four separate
preferences or 'indices', each of which is based on Jung's theories concerning perception and judgment. The
preferences have implications for 'not only what people attend to in any given situation, but also how they
draw conclusions about what they perceive.' The scales producing a possible 16 personality types based on
combinations of the following
Extroversion-Introversion (EI ). This index assesses the extent to which an individual tends to be
either an extrovert or an introvert. Extroverts tend to focus on external reality (the outer world) and
direct their attention toward people and objects. By contrast, introverts attend more to internal
reality (the inner world) and concentrate more on concepts and ideas.
Sensing-Intuition (SN). The SN index directly measures an individual's preference in the area of
cognitive perception. A person who relies more on sensing tends to rely on one or more of the five
senses to interpret facts or events. Someone who relies more on intuition to assign meaning uses a
more abstract, intuitive process, relying more on internal sources of information to interpret reality.
Thinking-Feeling. This index directly measures a person's preference in the area of judging. One may
rely more on thinking to make decisions on the basis of objective, logical reasoning, or one may rely
more on feeling to make decisions more subjectively on the basis of internal or external value
systems.
Judgment-Perception . This index assesses the process an individual uses predominantly in
interacting with the `outer world'. One individual may tend to prefer using a judgment process when
dealing with the external environment, while another may tend to prefer using a perceptive process.
Who's who: Katharine Cook Briggs & Isabel Briggs Myers
Katharine Cook Briggs (1875 - 1968) was a student of the work of Carl Jung, and in particular of his
book "Psychological Types" and began to formulate her own model of personality types. Her
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daughter Isabel Briggs Myers (1897 - 1980) worked with her in close concert, particularly with the
onset of World War II, they recognized that a psychological instrument that has as its foundation the
understanding and appreciation of human differences would be invaluable. Together they undertook
a wide range of research into psychological types and together they developed the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator (MBTI).
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is a personality test which attempts to identify which of four
temperaments, and which of sixteen types, a person prefers. Hippocrates, a Greek philosopher who lived
from 460-377 B.C., proposed four temperaments, which are related to the four humours. These were
sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic. Dr. David West Keirsey is an internationally renowned
psychologist, a professor at California State University, and the author of several books. The Keirsey
Temperament Sorter links human behaviour to 16 archetypes.
Who's who: Who’s Who: David Kiersey
Dr. David West Keirsey (1921 -) is an internationally renowned psychologist, a professor emeritus at
California State University, Fullerton, and the author of several books. In his most popular
publications Please Understand Me (1978, co-authored by Marilyn Bates) and the revised and
expanded second volume Please Understand Me II (1998), he lays out a self-assessed personality
questionnaire, known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which links human behavioural patterns to
four temperaments and sixteen character types. Both volumes of Please Understand Me contain the
questionnaire for type evaluation and detailed descriptions of temperament traits and personality
characteristics. With a focus on conflict management and cooperation, Dr. Keirsey specialises in family
and partnership counselling and the coaching children and adults.
THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS
RATIONALS
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IDEALISTS
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Albert Einstein
Marie Curie
ARTISANS
Ernest
Hemmingway
Ella Fitzgerald
Mahatma Ghandi
Mary Robinson
GUARDIANS
George
Washington
Aung San Suu Kyi
While Keirsey's main strength may be his insightful accuracy regarding temperament types, perhaps his
most important theoretical contribution was his variation on the Myers' system for grouping archetypes.
Kiersey believes that people are different from each other, and that no amount of getting after them is
going to change them. Nor is there any reason to change them, because the differences are probably good,
not bad. People are different in fundamental ways. They want different things; they have different motives,
purposes, aims, values, needs, drives, impulses, urges. Nothing is more fundamental than that. They
believe differently: they think, cognise, conceptualise, perceive, understand, comprehend, and cogitate
differently. And of course, manners of acting and emoting, governed as they are by wants and beliefs,
follow suit and differ radically among people.
From the Horse's mouth...
Differences abound and are not at all difficult to see, if one looks. And it is precisely these variations in
behaviour and attitude that trigger in each of us a common response: Seeing others around us differing
from us, we conclude that these differences in individual behaviours are but temporary manifestations of
madness, badness, stupidity, or sickness. In other words, we rather naturally account for variations in the
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behaviour of others in terms of flaw and afflictions. Our job, at least for those near us, would seem to be
to correct these flaws. Our Pygmalion project, then, is to make all those near us just like us
- David Keirsey 1998
The Dunn and Dunn Model
The Dunn and Dunn Model has a great deal of history and research behind it. It was developed by Dr. Rita
Dunn in 1967. The model has been extensively researched and has become the most widely used learning
styles model in the history of North America. The model traces its roots to two distinct learning theories:
Cognitive Style Theory and Brain Lateralization Theory.
Cognitive Style Theory is bases on the idea that individuals process information differently on the basis of
either learned or inherent traits. Brain Lateralization Theory is based on the idea that the two hemispheres
of the brain have different functions: left brain=verbal-sequential abilities and right brain=emotions-spatial
holistic processing.
The Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles Model is quite complex comprising 21 elements within 5 core categories
called "stimuli".
'STIMULI'
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ELEMENTS THEY COMPRISE
Environmental
light
sound
temperature
room design
Emotional
structured planning
persistence
motivation
responsibility
Sociological
pairs
peers
adults
self
group
varies
Physiological
perceptual strengths
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mobility
intake
time of day
Psychological
global / analytic
right or left brain dominant
impulsive / reflective
The model works on the premise that:
as we develop and gain experience we come to rely on some of these elements more so that others
that individual instructional preferences exist which can be measured reliably.
The learning conditions in which different individuals learn best vary extensively
Therefore by identifying student preferences within the various elements can allow teachers to adopt
specific strategies and make environmental changes to support students learning. The model contends that
individual difference in preference can be discerned, that it is possible to adopt environments and
instruction to meet these preferences and that the stronger an individuals preference the more effective
intervention strategies will be. Therefore the model theorises that improvements in learning and
productivity will occur when instruction is provided in a way that capitalizes on an individuals learning
strengths (Larkin, Feldgen and Clua, 2002).
However critics of this model site that the connections between physiological and psychological functioning
are to simplistic and that concepts imported from other fields have been done so in an unrefined way.
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Another weakness of the model is that it has been described as a model of instructional preferences not
learning.
Overall the Dunn and Dunn model theorises that to create the optimum learning situation for students
instructional techniques must be used that are congruent with each students learning style. The model
works on the idea that styles should be worked with as opposed to changed. This is in opposition to other
learning styles models which suggest that to create a more rounded learner students weakness should be
developed in conjunction with students using their preferred learning modality.
The V.A.R.K. Model
Neil D. Fleming designed the VARK questionnaire and related materials. VARK is about an individual's
preference for taking and putting out information in a learning context. It an important part of identifying
learning preferences because people can do something about it while some other learning style dimensions
are not open to self-modification.
The acronym VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic sensory modalities that are used for
learning information. Fleming and Mills (1992) created four categories that seemed to reflect the
experiences of their students. Although there is some overlap between categories, for purposes of our
discussion, they are defined as follows.
Visual (v):
This preference includes the depiction of information in charts, graphs, flow charts, and all the symbolic
arrows, circles, hierarchies and other devices that instructors use to represent what could have been
presented in words.
Aural (A):
This perceptual mode describes a preference for information that is "'heard." Students with this modality
report that they learn best from lectures, tutorials, and talking to other students.
Read/write (R):
This preference is for information displayed as words. Not surprisingly, many academics have a strong
preference for this modality.
Kinesthetic (K):
By definition, this modality refers to the perceptual preference related to the use of experience and practice
(simulated or real). Although such an experience may invoke other modalities, the key is that the student is
connected to reality, "either through experience, example, practice or simulation"
VARK is a quick and easy evaluation of your preferred learning style. The aim is to get you thinking about
the process of learning. Being a good 'student' is about learning to learn, it is a set of skills that are learnt
and improves with practice. Like anything else it takes time, commitment and a little help from your friends.
Active and reflective learners
Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly
first.
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"Let's try it out and see how it works" is an active learner's phrase; "Let's think it through first" is the
reflective learner's response.
Active learners tend to like group work more than reflective learners, who prefer working alone.
Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is hard for both
learning types, but particularly hard for active learners
Sensing and intuitive learners
Sensing learners tend to like learning facts; intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and
relationships.
Sensing learners often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications
and surprises; intuitive learners like innovation and dislike repetition. Sensing learners are more likely
than intuitive learners to resent being tested on material that has not been explicitly covered in class.
Sensing learners tend to be patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on
(laboratory) work; intuitive learners may be better at grasping new concepts and are often more
comfortable than Sensing learners with abstractions and mathematical formulations.
Sensing learners tend to be more practical and careful than intuitive learners; intuitive learners tend
to work faster and to be more innovative than Sensing learners.
Sensing learners don't like courses that have no apparent connection to the real world; intuitive
learners don't like "plug-and-chug" courses that involve a lot of memorization and routine
calculations.
Visual and verbal learners
Visual learners remember best what they see - pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and
demonstrations.
Verbal learners get more out of words - written and spoken explanations. Everyone learns more
when information is presented both visually and verbally.
Sequential and global learners
Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step following logically from
the previous one. Global learners tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing material almost randomly
without seeing connections, and then suddenly "getting it."
Sequential learners tend to follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions; global learners may be
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able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once they have grasped
the big picture, but they may have difficulty explaining how they did it.
Flemming's web site offers the VARK Questionnaire (online or print)(for adults or young people), scoring and
interpretation information to help users profile learning preferences and develop strategies to optimise
learning experiences. Teachers and tutors can use this service at no cost.
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp
http://www.literacyplus.ca/Skill%20Dev/varklearning%20style.htm
All material copyright © Inclusive Learning Group 2006. All Rights Reserved. You may print out this
material for your own personal use.
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