ID_+Thought+Provoker+8

Thought Provoker 8 Prompt

Chapter 8 of Helping Teachers Teach, describes the use of a variety of surveys and inventories to gather information about learners.

Using yourself as the learner, complete and analyze the Student Learning Styles - A Survey, Appendix E, pages 261-265 and the Learning Tools Inventory, Appendix F, pages 266-268.

I chose to take the BE Learning Styles inventory from learningstyles.net. It claimed to be by one of the Dunns (who created the Learning Styles Inventory). I also took the Learning Tools Inventory in the back of the textbook.

Similar to inventories I have completed in the past, I found that I still like quiet and bright light when working, I like to think and plan a lot before I speak, and I don't absorb information very well when I listen. Actually, this is interesting, because I am a huge audiophile: I love listening to books and lectures and such on my iPod. However, I get the sense that it's "in one ear and out the other." When I am in meetings, and I usually have at least 1 per week, I really must take notes on what is being said, because I have a hard time holding it all in my head if it's not visually/textually represented on the page. It's funny, now that I think about it, an acquaintance named Simon was admonishing me for my preference to do math problems on paper rather than in my head. He said that I had been denied the beauties of math (by the "system" of math teaching in this country). He claimed that it was like poetry in the mind and to do it on paper meant I didn't understand it. Now I can see quite clearly that it's not just math that I like to put down on paper, but it's everything. That's why I am such a wiki-fanatic--because I am able to get so much of a conversation, idea, etc down. If I don't do this, ideas float away in the ether.

I also confirmed that I process things slowly, I like to learn, and I generate tons of questions when listening to presentations.

I have typically been a global learner, but I thought it interesting that the 123-question BE survey says I am integrated between the Global and the Analytic. I hope that's true, because the ability to zoom in and zoom out when dealing with a concept is very important to success with learning and problem-solving. Perhaps that's part of the maturation process that Turner and Riedling allude to in chapter 8.

In terms of using such data to plan learning situations, I confess that the thought makes my mind spin. I think the best a teacher can do is vary the types of learning environments and modes of learning in the class, hoping that each student gets something they like at least some of the time. And that approach makes sense to me, because out in the world, folks don't tend to tailor things to a person's learning style. Each of us needs to be aware of how we learn and do our best to cope in situations that are less than ideal. (for instance, I am typing this at night, which the BE showed is my least optimal time to work: well, I have no choice, and I'm going to make it work.) :)

x BE® - Online Assessment - Ages 17 & Older