EDGE

 Must Great Minds Think Alike?

                                                                            by W. Eugene Brewer, Ed.D. 

Do you ever wonder…

Why Johnny talks all of the time?
Or why Susan loves work sheets?
Or why Tony can’t sit still?
Or why Jenny is always trying something new?

Or why you can help Michelle with her homework and have a great
time, but when you try to help Billy it always ends in a fight?

Learning Styles answers these questions and more. Learning capitalizes on the strengths of four major learning styles identified by researchers
from many fields.


Learning can be explained in terms of the ways people perceive and process information. Perceiving, or taking in new information, occurs in a variety of ways which range between experience and conceptualization. Experience is personal engagement. It involves sensations, emotions, and physical memories: the immediate, the self. It is being in it. Conceptualization is the translation of experience in conceptual forms. It involves ideas, language, hierarchies, and naming systems. It is an abstract approach to learning. It is being apart from it.

Processing, what people do with the new information, occurs in a variety of ways which range between reflection and action. Reflection is transforming knowledge by structuring, ordering, intellectualizing. Action is applying ideas to the external world: testing, doing, manipulating.

Together, perceiving and processing describe the whole range of the learning experience. Those who perceive through experience and process reflectively, we call Type One learners. 



Those who perceive through conceptualization and also process reflectively, we call Type Two learners.

Type Three learners perceive through conceptualization and process actively.  

And the Type Four learners perceive through experience and also process actively.  





While all learners engage in all types of learning, most seem to favor one particular type. Type One learners seek personal associations, meaning and involvement. They are good at making connections. Type Two learners think about information. They seek facts, think through ideas and learn what the experts think. Type Three learners like to experiment, build and create usability. They are always tinkering and applying ideas. Type Four learners look for hidden possibilities. They like exploring, learning by trial and error and self-discovery. They are good at creating original adaptations.

There is no right or wrong learning style, just different. Each has strengths and each has weaknesses.

Type One learners are cooperative, thoughtful, friendly, supportive, team oriented, and responsive. Cooperative Learning was a God-send for them. However, we do question their soft-hearted nature, slowness to act, dependence on details, and lack of initiative. They avoid conflict.

Type Two learners are logical, accurate, dependable, and are conservative in nature. But, we question their lack of decisiveness, lack of risk-taking, dependence on facts and figures, and their impersonal nature or approach to things. They avoid involvement.

Type Three learners are efficient, task oriented, independent, and decisive. They accomplish a lot. You need a Three on your team to get the job done! We do, however, question their hastiness, impatience, bossiness, bottom-line orientation, and critical nature. The Type Three avoids inaction.

Type Four learners are energetic, have a thought-provoking nature, outgoing, enthusiastic, and personable. But, we question their lack of follow-through, “rah-rah” approach, impulsiveness, and often times an inability to perform as stated. Type Fours avoid isolation.Can you pick out your preferred way of learning?

Can you see your children’s preferred way of learning? Might they be different? Did you notice that the Type Two learner is interested in details and facts while the Type Four learner is looking for alternatives? There is a natural antagonism between the two. Could it be that you and Michelle are both Type Two learners, totally engrossed in the details, while Billy is a Type Four learner, your natural antagonist?

We must first understand ourselves, and then understand our children. Then we, the parents, can make adjustments to secure harmony and be a benefit to each other.

W. Eugene Brewer, Ed.D., is Southern Union education development specialist.