Instructional Methods Used by Teachers tend to Mirror Their Beliefs about Learning
Principles of Learning
In its simplest form, learning is connecting new information to old. For this to happen students must have background knowledge to connect the new information to and a context or frame work in which to place the new information. This is how students construct new knowledge. (How People Learn, 2000).

1. If information is to be learned, it must first be recognized as important.
2. During learning, the learners act on information in ways that make it more meaningful.
3. Learners store information in long-term memory in an organized fashion related to their existing understanding of the world.
4. Learners need to continually check understanding, which results in refinement and revision of what is retained.
5. Transfer of learning to new contexts is not automatic but results from exposure to multiple applications. Transfer of learning to new contexts may need to be taught.
6. Learning is facilitated when learners are aware of their learning strategies and monitor their use.

Basic Activities All Learners Do

1. They seek to link the new information to their background knowledge.  The depth and breath of their background enhances their ability to recognize patterns, see relationships and find associations
2. Learners Set Goals

Goal One---Learners strive to understand the meaning of the task at hand
What do I do to solve this problem?

Goal Two---Learners strive to regulate their own learning
How long will this assignment take me?

Example:
Substantive Goal--Understanding a particular plot or formula
Strategic Goal--Learning how to summarize well or developing strategies for dealing with comprehension failure

    3.   Learners Look for Organization

• seek to recognize structures or patterns that are familiar
• look to connect to prior knowledge
• look to see where it fits

Model learners can impose structure on poorly organized information

    4.   Learners Use Strategies

• Learning strategies are the specific procedures or ways of executing a given skill.
• Model learners have more strategies,
• Know which ones to use,
• Know when to abandon a strategy that is not working

Example

• How to assess the level of difficulty
• How to summarize
• How to outline
• How to monitor their own progress

Learning is Influenced by Emotion

• Brain research reveals that emotions affect the brain’s ability to learn, think and remember.
• Self- doubt and anxiety impede the brain’s ability to learn. (Smilkstein, 1989, Sylwester 1999)
• The confidence acquired through academic success actually makes the acquisition of new information easier and more efficient.

Students’ Learning Styles

1. Active--Learns best by experiencing knowledge through their own actions.
2. Reflective--Learns best when he/she has had time to think about information/reflect on it.
3. Factual--Learns best through specific facts, data, and detailed experimentation.
4. Theoretical--Are most comfortable with big-picture ideas, symbols, and new concepts
5. Visual--Remember best when they see: diagrams, flowcharts, time lines, films, and demonstrations.
6. Verbal--These learners gain the most through reading, hearing spoken words, participating in discussions, and explaining things to others.
7. Linear--Learners find it easiest to learn material presented step by step in a logical, ordered progression.
8. Holistic--Learners’ progress in fits and starts, perhaps feeling lost for a while, but eventually seeing the big picture in a clear and creative way. (Right from the Start, Holkeboer, 1993)

Learning Styles Include Environmental Factors
(Dunn and Dunn 1985)

1. Noise Level--silence or background noise--some students need noise to learn
2. Lighting--bright or dim lighting
3. Temperature--coo, warm, or hot
4. Furniture--comfortable, strait back chair, bed, couch or floor
5. Social Setting--study alone or study with others
6. Intake/food/drink/other--some students need food and drink to focus
7. Mobility--sitting down, laying down or walking around
8. Time of Day--morning, noon, night or late night
9. Surroundings --the library, a classroom, dorm room or bedroom

All of these factors affect learning and students need to think about them when they engage in learning and studying

Teaching Styles

Exemplary college teachers seem to be highly proficient in one of two fundamental sets of skills:

1. The ability to offer presentations in clearly organized and interesting ways [intellectual excitement]
2. Relate to students in ways that communicate positive regard and motivate them to work hard to meet academic challenges interpersonal rapport (Lowman 1996)

 Five Teaching Styles

1. Expert. Concerned with transmitting information--challenge students to enhance their competence
2. Formal Authority. Concerned with acceptable ways of doing things and providing the students the structure they need to learn
3. Personal Model. Believes in teaching by personal example; oversees and guides students to emulate
4. Facilitator. Emphasizes the personal nature of teacher-student interactions; guides students toward developing their capacity for independent action
5. Delegator. Concerned with developing students’ capacity to function autonomously; encourages independent projects

(Grasha, 1996, Teaching with Style)

What Teaching Style is Right for You?
There is no one correct or appropriate style. However, an Integrated Model in which teachers cultivate teaching styles that can be used in different instructional situations and with many different types of learners is most important.

Example:

1. Faculty that teach learners that are less independent and less capable in their content area may want a blend of the Expert and Formal Authority styles. This type of student needs direction, structure and external rewards. They look to the professor as the authority figure and the giver of the "right answer"
2. A teacher that prefers to be a Delegator may discover using that style with students that have an average ACT composite of 19.3 will not work effectively because the students are not developmentally able to function autonomously.

Teaching Tips for Reaching All Student Learning Styles

1. Use a visual outline of the class’s daily activities.

• put on an overhead
• put on the chalk board
• give in handout form

2. If lecturing use visual aids when possible to illustrate points--the brain is a seeker of patterns and images (Zull, 2002)
3. Use peer interaction—students talking with other students
4. Allow for presentations in multiple forms of delivery.

• multimedia (PowerPoint)
• speeches
• presentations that use visual aids
• written papers

5. Combining lecturing with discussion and with group activity
6. Using problem solving activities as part of the learning process
7. Staging debated
8. Using video and other multimedia
9. Distributing lecture outlines at the beginning of class
10. Assign readings and written work. Students need to do "something" with their lecture material between lectures

Faculty wanting further information about any of these topics are encouraged to contact Terry Doyle at doylet@ferris.edu



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