Learning and Thinking Styles

Intelligence and creativity are abilities. A style is a preferred way of using one’s abilities.
Learning and thinking styles are not abilities; rather, they are preferences in how people use
their abilities. We vary in our thinking and learning styles, and each one of us has many styles.

Theories of Leaning and Thinking styles

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator : MBTI is an inventory often used to identify people’s styles. It
provides scores on four dichotomies:
1) Extraversion/introversion (EI) – Extraverts enjoy spending time interacting with others while
introverts prefer more solitary activities like studying alone in the library.
2) Sensing/intuiting (SN) – Sensing students like to gather extensive information through their
senses before they take action. Intuiting students rely on their intuition in making up their mind
about something.
3) Thinking/feeling (TF) – Thinkers use systematic reasoning and logically analyse problems. By
contrast, feelers trust their emotions.
4) Judging/perceiving (JP) – Judgers enjoy debating and arguing. They evaluate and criticize.
Perceivers use their perceptual skills to develop their aesthetic appreciation and enjoy art and
craft activities.

A four-letter code (e.g. ISFP which stands for introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving)
corresponds to a style with its own weaknesses and strengths.

Honey and Mumford Learning Styles

Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (British psychologists) developed a popular Learning Styles
Questionnaire, which categorized people by their preferred learning styles.They identify four
distinct learning styles or preferences (see Table below). These are the approaches that
individuals take and naturally prefer. They recommend that in order to maximize one’s own
personal learning each learner ought to:
• Understand their own learning style;
• Seek out opportunities to learn using that style; and
• Also develop the ability to learn in other styles to be a truly effective learner.

Learning Style Characteristics Activities likely to be

appealing
ACTIVISTS Activists involve themselves fully and Brainstorming, group
without bias in new learning experiences. discussions, role plays
They are open-minded, not skeptical, they problem-solving, puzzles,
tend to act first and consider the and competitions.
 consequences afterwards. They are people
who learn by doing. They need to
get their hands dirty, to dive in with both
feet first.

REFLECTORS Reflectors are those who like to stand back Paired discussions,
and ponder experiences and observe them interviews, coaching self-
from many different perspectives. They analysis questionnaires,
collect data and prefer to think about it personality questionnaires,
thoroughly before coming to any observing activities,
conclusions. They learn by observing and feedback from others.
thinking about what happened. They may
avoid leaping in and watch from the
sidelines.

THEORISTS Theorists are those who adapt and integrate Models, statistics, quotes,
observations into complex but logically stories, applying theories
sound theories. They think problems background information.
through in a vertical, step by step, logical
way. They like to understand the theory
behind the actions. They need models,
concepts, facts in order to engage in the
learning process.

PRAGMATISTS Pragmatists are those who are keen to try Time to think about how to
out ideas, theories and techniques to see if apply, learning in reality,
they work in practice. They positively case studies, discussions,
search out new ideas and take the first problem-solving.
opportunity to experiment with applications.
They tend to be impatient with ruminating
and open-ended discussions. They need to
be able to see how to put learning into
practice in real world. Abstract concepts and
games are of limited use unless they can see
a way to put ideas into action in their lives.

Dichotomies of Learning and Thinking Styles

Three of the most widely discussed style dichotomies in approaches to learning and thinking are
field dependent/independent, impulsive/reflective, and deep/surface.

1. Field Dependent/Independent Styles.

The field dependent/independent styles involve the extent to which the surrounding field
(environment) dominates the student’s perception. Students for whom the surrounding field
dominates perception are said to have a field-dependent style. A student for whom the
surrounding environment does not dominate perception is described as field independent.
Students with a field-dependent style have trouble locating the information they are searching for
because they can’t distinguish it from other information. In contrast, field-independent students
are better at disentangling the information they are seeking from other information in the field.
For example, a field-independent student can look at a complex drawing that contains an
embedded figure and detect the figure, whereas a field-dependent student struggles with this.
Santrock (2001) mentions Witkin’s (1976) findings of his study that field-independent
individuals have better analytical skills, while their field-dependent counterparts often do better
at interpersonal relations. Thus females are more likely to be field-dependent and males to be
field-independent.

Teaching Strategies in Working with Field-dependent and Field-Independent Children

When working with field-dependent students:

 Understand that they have tendency to learn by following a prescribed pattern of
performance. Thus, they like instructional support and benefit from organizational cues,
such as advance organizers.
 Know that they like feedback, especially informative feedback, about how their learning
is progressing
 Realize that they often like to work on group projects and collaborate with other students
 If you want to help the field-dependent student become more field-independent, you will
need to begin exercises with clear structure, numerous cues, and consistent feedback. As
the student progresses, scaffold by removing structure, then cues, then finally reducing
feedback. Also help field-dependent students begin to set their own learning goals and
evaluate the meaningfulness of the information. If cross-age peer tutoring is available,
pair the field-dependent student with an older field-independent student. However, the
teacher has to remember that one has to be patient and provide more support to get the
field-dependent student to succeed at these tasks
When working with field-independent students:
 Ask them to solve problems and figure out the underlying organization of ideas. For
example, encourage them to outline ideas or draw concept maps.
 Give them some opportunities to generate projects both independently and
collaboratively.
 Encourage them to pose questions.
 When they do projects, urge them to gather extensive content resources and reference
materials.

2. Impulsive/Reflective Styles. The impulsive/reflective styles, also referred to as

conceptual tempo, involves a student’s tendency either to act quickly and impulsively or to take
more time to respond and reflect on the accuracy of an answer. Impulsive students often make
more mistakes than reflective students. Research on impulsive/reflective styles indicate that
reflective students are more likely then impulsive students to do well on these tasks:

 Remembering structured information

 Reading comprehension and text interpretation
  Problem solving and decision making

Reflective students are more likely than impulsive students to set their own learning goals and
concentrate on relevant information. And reflective students usually have higher standards for
performance and reflective students learn more effectively and do better in school than impulsive
students.

In thinking about impulsive and reflective styles, keep in mind that although most
children learn better when they are reflective than impulsive, some children are simply fast,
accurate learners and decision makers. Also, some reflective children might ruminate forever
about a problem and have difficulty getting closure. Teachers can encourage these children to
retain their reflective orientation but arrive at more timely solutions.

Teaching Strategies in Working with Impulsive Children

Some ways that teachers can use to help impulsive children become more reflective include:
1. Monitor students in the class to determine which ones are impulsive.
2. Talk with them about taking their time to think through an answer before they respond.
3. Encourage them to label new information as they work with it.
4. Model the reflective styles as a teacher.
5. Help students set higher standards for their performance.
6. Recognize when impulsive students start to take more time to reflect and compliment
them on their improvement.

3. Deep/Surface Styles. The deep/surface styles involves the extent to which students
approach learning materials in a way that helps them understand the meaning of materials (deep
style) or as simply what needs to be learned (surface style). Students who approach learning with
surface style fail to tie what they are learning into a larger conceptual framework. They tend to
learn in a passive way, often memorizing information by rote. Deep learners are more likely to
actively construct what they learn and give meaning to what they need to remember. Thus, deep
learners take a constructivist approach to learning. Deep learners also are more likely to be self-
motivated to learn, whereas surface learners are more likely to be motivated because of external
rewards, such as grades and positive feedback.

Teaching Strategies to Help Surface Learners Think More Deeply

Some strategies that teachers can use to help surface learners process information more
deeply include:
1. Monitor students to determine which ones are surface learners.
2. Discuss with them the importance of not just rotely memorizing material. Encourage
them to connect what they are learning now with what they have learned in the past.
3. Ask questions and give assignments that require students to fit information into larger
framework. For example, instead of just asking students to name the capital of a
particular state, ask them if they have visited the capital and what their experiences were,
 what other cities are located in that region of the country, or how large or small the city
is.
4. Be a model who processes information deeply rather than just scratching the surface.
Explore topics in depth and talk about how the information you are discussing fits within
the larger network of ideas.
5. Avoid using questions that require pat answers. Instead, ask questions that require
students to deeply process information. Connect lessons more effectively with children’s
existing interests.