What are the main components of a person's learning style? A person's learning style is the way that he or she concentrates on, processes, internalizes, and remembers new and difficult academic information or skills. Styles often vary with age, achievement level, culture, global versus analytic processing preference, and gender.

Dunn and Dunn (1992, 1993) describe learning style in terms of individual reactions to twenty-three elements in five basic strands that include each person's environmental, emotional, sociological, physiological, and psychological processing preferences.

Do we learn differently or do we process information differently? Human beings process information differently from each other, but information processing is only one of twenty-three elements in the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model.

How do we know that students achieve more when their teachers teach to the students' learning styles? A meta-analysis of forty-two experimental studies conducted with the Dunn and Dunn model between 1980 and 1990 by thirteen different institutions of higher education revealed that students whose characteristics were accommodated by educational interventions responsive to their learning styles could be expected to achieve 75 percent of a standard deviation higher than students whose styles were not accommodated (Dunn et al. 1995).

In addition, practitioners throughout the United States have reported statistically higher test scores and/or grade point averages for students whose teachers changed from traditional teaching to learning-style teaching at all levels--elementary, secondary, and college. Improved achievement was often apparent after only six weeks of learning-style instruction. After one year, teachers reported significantly higher standardized achievement and aptitude test scores for students who had not scored well previously. For example, prior to using learning styles, only 25 percent of the Frontier, New York, school district's special education high school students passed the required local examinations and state competency tests to receive diplomas. In the district's first year of its learning styles program (1987-88) that number increased to 66 percent. During the second year (1988-89) 91 percent of the district's special education population were successful; in the third year (1989-1990) the results remained constant at 90 percent--with a greater ratio of "handicapped" students passing state competency exams than regular education students (Brunner and Majewski 1990).

Two North Carolina elementary principals published similarly startling gains with the same learning-styles program. One principal brought a K-6 school, whose students were from poor, minority-group families, that had scored in the 30th percentile on the California Achievement Tests up to the 83rd percentile in a three-year period by responding to students' learning styles (Andrews 1990). The other principal taught highly tactual learning disabled (LD) elementary school students with hands-on resources and allowed them to sit informally in subdued lighting. Based on their learning-style analyses, the children studied alone, with a classmate or two, or with their teacher. Within four months, those LD youngsters showed four months' gain on a standardized achievement test--better than they had previously done and as well as normally achieving children (Stone 1992).

Finally, a U.S. Department of Education four-year investigation that included on-site visits, interviews, observations, and examinations of national test data concluded that attending to learning styles was one of the few strategies that had had a positive impact on the achievement of special education students throughout the nation (Alberg et al. 1992).

The gains described here were made by using the Dunn and Dunn model, which has been researched at St. John's University and more than 110 other colleges and universities since 1972.

Why should we test for children's learning styles? Teachers cannot identify students' learning styles accurately without an instrument (Beaty 1986). Some characteristics are not observable, even to the experienced educator. In addition, teachers often misinterpret students' behaviors and misunderstand their symptoms. For example, it is difficult to determine whether a youngster's hyperactivity is due to a need for mobility, informal seating, kinesthetic resources, or "breaks," or to nonconformity or a lack of discipline.

Only a reliable and valid instrument can provide reliable and valid information, and only a comprehensive instrument can diagnose the many learning-style traits that influence individuals. Teachers who use instruments to identify only one or two variables on a bipolar continuum restrict their ability to prescribe for the many elements other than the one or two they identified. Learning style is a multidimensional construct; many variables have an impact on each other and produce unique patterns. Those patterns suggest exactly how each person is likely to concentrate, process, internalize, and retain new and difficult information. The patterns indicate which reading or math method is most likely to be effective with each student.

Only three comprehensive models exist, and each has a related instrument designed to reveal individuals' styles based on the traits examined by that model. During the past two decades, the most frequently used instrument in experimental research on learning styles, and the one with the highest reliability and validity, is the Dunn, Dunn, and Price Learning Style Inventory (LSI), with its subtests for students in grades 3-12 and the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey for college students and adults.

Tell us about your test for identifying learning styles. The Learning Style Inventory (grades 3-12) was developed through content and factor analysis and is one of the three comprehensive approaches to identifying students' learning styles. Different grade-level forms permit analysis of the specific conditions under which students prefer to learn. This easy-to-administer and interpret inventory uses more than one hundred dichotomous items (e.g., "When I really have a lot of studying to do, I like to work alone" and "I enjoy being with friends when I study") that are rated on a five-point Likert scale and can be completed in approximately thirty to forty minutes.

In an analysis of the conceptualizations of learning style and the psychometric standards of nine different instruments that measure learning-style preference, the LSI was rated as having good or better reliability and validity (Curry 1987).

A series of age-appropriate storybooks is available from the Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles at St. John's University for primary, elementary, middle school, and secondary students and adults to clarify the concept of style and to demonstrate that there is no bad or better style. Most people can learn anything when they know how to capitalize on their learning-style strengths.

Describe what the LSI reveals. The LSI assesses individual preferences in the following areas: (a) immediate environment (sound, light, temperature, and seating design); (b) emotionality (motivation, persistence, responsibility/ conformity, and need for internal or external structure); (c) sociological (learning alone, in a pair, as part of a small group or team, with peers, or with an authoritative or collegial adult; also, in a variety of ways or in a consistent pattern); (d) physiological (auditory, visual, tactual, and/or kinesthetic perceptual preferences; food or liquid intake needs; time-of-day energy levels; mobility needs); and (e) indications of global or analytic processing inclinations (through correlation with sound, light, design, persistence, peer-orientation, and intake scores).

How does the LSI affect learning? The LSI does the following:

Permits students to identify how they prefer to learn and also indicates the degree to which their responses are consistent

Suggests a basis for redesigning the classroom environment to complement students' diverse styles

Describes the arrangements in which each student is likely to learn most effectively (e.g. alone, in a pair, with two or more classmates, with a teacher, or, depending on the task, with students with similar interests or talents; it also describes whether all or none of those combinations is acceptable for a particular student)

Explains which students should be given options and alternatives and which students need direction and high structure

Sequences the perceptual strengths through which individuals should begin studying--and then reinforce--new and difficult information; it explains how each student should study and do homework (Homework Disc 1995)

Indicates the methods through which individuals are most likely to achieve (e.g., contracts, programmed learning, multisensory resources, tactual manipulatives, kinesthetic games, or any combination of these)

Provides information concerning which children are conforming and which are nonconforming and explains how to work with both types

Pinpoints the best time of day for each student to be scheduled for difficult subjects (thus, it shows how to group students for instruction based on their learning-style energy-highs)

Identifies those students for whom movement or snacks, while the students are learning, may accelerate learning

Suggests those students for whom analytic versus global approaches are likely to be important

How can schools order the LSI? Discuss purchasing and cost possibilities with Price Systems in Lawrence, Kansas. When ordering the LSI, stipulate the grade level and total number of students you plan to test; the cost decreases when more students are tested. The LSI is available on IBM and Apple self-scoring discs; if you plan to test three hundred persons or more, the disc may be considerably less expensive.

How does learning style influence homework? St. John's University's Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles developed IBM and Apple software packages that translate LSI scores into prescriptions for how students should study and do their homework (Homework Disc 1995).

Is it possible to identify the styles of children in grades K-2? For young children in K-2, use the Learning Style Inventory: Primary Version (LSI:P) (Perrin 1982), which is obtainable from St. John's University's Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles. The LSI:P is a pictorial assessment of young children's learning styles and is accompanied by a research manual that explains how to administer it. Although there are decided advantages to having teachers administer the test on an individual basis--because of all the information each child reveals--the assessment's questions are written so that an intelligent parent can elicit the same information and assist the teacher in compiling the hand-scorable data.

How do teachers adapt for each child's style? Teachers do not need to adapt to each child's style. Rather, they need to do the following:

Understand the concept, its related practices, and its implementation strategies

Explain learning styles to their students so that the youngsters understand that there is no such thing as either a "good" or a "bad" style.

Prepare students for taking the LSI (Price Systems interprets the students' print-outs, and the Homework Disc provides their prescriptions)

Have alternative instructional methods and resources to teach the identical information differently to students with diverse learning styles

St. John's University has many such resources at varied grade levels and subjects. They can be adapted or paralleled for a particular classroom. In addition, many of our books provide directions for developing resources (Dunn and Dunn 1992, 1993; Dunn, Dunn, and Perrin 1994). We also teach students to create their own instructional resources.

How do learning-style teachers differ from conventional teachers? Unlike traditional teachers who teach an entire class in the same way with the same methods (or the "brain-based" practices where every student is taught nontraditionally), learning-style teachers actually teach different children differently. Teachers do two important things: Using the resources and methods that best match each child, they teach students (1) to recognize and rely on their personal learning-style strengths and (2) to teach themselves and each other by using those strengths.

What is a learning-style school like, and how does it differ from conventional schools? Although students in the same class may be mastering the same information and skills at the same time, in learning-style schools they work in those sections of the classroom that best respond to their environmental and physiological styles. A variety of tactual and kinesthetic resources are available for mastering the curriculum, but children work only with those resources that best complement their own processing, perceptual, emotional, and sociological styles--and students often will have made the materials they use!

It would be rare to see whole classes engaged in either teacher-directed instruction or cooperative learning when the students are being introduced to new and difficult material. Instead, children begin learning alone, with a classmate or two, in a small, cooperative or competitive group, or with their teacher through their primary perceptual strengths for the first ten to fifteen minutes. They then reinforce the new information with a different resource through their secondary strengths. Students may vary their choice of resources but are encouraged to begin learning through their strengths whenever the academic material is complex or difficult for them.

In learning-style classes, students' strengths are identified and then transferred to a computer software package, the Homework Disc (1995). That package generates a personalized, printed prescription for each child that describes how to study and concentrate through his or her strengths. Gradually, each child learns how to teach him- or herself or how to work with a classmate who learns similarly. Children study, learn, complete in-class assignments, and do their homework through their strengths--instead of as the teacher happens to teach.

What happens when teachers teach in a different style from the way in which students learn? When students are unable to learn with complementary resources--such as textbooks, films, or videotapes for visual preferents; manipulatives for tactual preferents; tapes or lectures for auditory preferents; or large floor games for kinesthetic preferents--they do not achieve what they are capable of achieving. Research reveals that the closer the match between students' learning styles and their teachers' teaching styles, the higher the grade point average (Dunn et al. 1995).

How do gifted children learn? Although all gifted students do not have the same style, their styles differ significantly from those of underachievers. When comparing the learning styles and multiple intelligences of gifted and talented adolescents in nine different cultures, we found that, regardless of culture, adolescents gifted in a particular domain--athletics, dance, leadership, literature, mathematics, and music--had essentially similar learning styles. Surprisingly, the gifted in each intelligence domain had essentially similar styles--but those were different from the styles of other gifted groups and from the styles of the nongifted (Milgram, Dunn, and Price 1993).

Are there perceptual differences between the gifted and nongifted students? Although gifted students prefer kinesthetic (experiential/active) and tactual (hands-on) instruction, many also are able to learn auditorially and/or visually--although not as enjoyably. On the other hand, low-achieving students who prefer kinesthetic and/or tactual learning can only master difficult information through those modalities. In addition, low achievers often have only one perceptual strength, or none, in contrast to the multiperceptual strengths of the gifted.

Are there sociological differences between gifted and nongifted students? Gifted adolescents in nine cultures preferred learning either by themselves or with an authoritative teacher. If those students are representative of gifted students across nations, cooperative learning and small-group instructional strategies should not be imposed on them; few wish to learn with classmates. In addition, when permitted to learn alone, with peers, or with a teacher based on their identified learning-style preferences, even gifted first and second graders revealed significantly higher achievement and aptitude test scores through their preferred styles--and few preferred learning either via whole-class instruction or with their nongifted classmates.

Are there chronobiological differences between gifted and nongifted students? Although some gifted adolescents learned well in the morning, many more preferred late morning, afternoon, and/or evening as their best times for concentration. At no educational level (K-12) did we find a majority of early-morning students, and this is particularly true for poor achievers. Conventional schooling appears to be unresponsive to the majority of both gifted adolescents and low achievers, whose best time of day rarely is early morning.

Are there differences between the processing styles of gifted and nongifted students? Of the gifted and talented students we tested for processing style, 19 percent were analytic, 26 percent were global, and 56 percent were integrated processors who functioned in either style--but only when interested in the content. Both global and analytic students can be gifted, but textbooks and teachers' styles tend to be analytic rather than global.

Do theles of able and at-risk students differ? Seven learning-style traits significantly discriminate between at-risk students and dropouts, and students who perform well in school. A majority of--but not all--low achievers and dropouts need (a) frequent opportunities for mobility, (b) reasonable choices of how, with what, and with whom to learn, (c) a variety of instructional resources, environments, and sociological groupings rather than routines and patterns, (d) opportunities to learn during late morning, afternoon, or evening hours (rarely in the early morning), (e) informal seating--not wooden, steel, or plastic chairs and desks, (f) soft illumination (bright light contributes to their hyperactivity), and (g) either tactual/ visual introductory resources reinforced by kinesthetic/ visual resources, or kinesthetic/visual introductory resources reinforced by tactual/visual resources.

Underachievers tend to have poor auditory memory. When they learn visually, it usually is through pictures, drawings, graphs, symbols, comics, and cartoons rather than book text. Although underachievers often want to do well in school, their inability to remember facts through lecture, discussion, or reading contributes to their low performance in conventional schools, where most instruction is delivered by teachers talking and students listening or reading. (Although underachievers learn differently from high achievers and the gifted, it should also be pointed out that they can learn differently from each other.)

What role does motivation play in the learning-style construct? Motivation is one of the twenty-three elements of learning style. Unlike at least three-quarters of the remaining elements, motivation is not biologically imposed. Rather it develops as a reaction to each learner's experiences, interest in the content that is being learned, and the ease with which it can be mastered.

How does culture contribute to achievement? The Milgram, Dunn, and Price (1993) study of the learning styles of almost 6,000 gifted and nongifted adolescents in nine diverse cultures revealed that opportunity influences individuals' ability to develop specific areas of talents that may eventually lead to giftedness. For example, if access to creative activities, information, or role models was not readily available in a specific culture, few adolescents developed giftedness in that domain. Thus, in cultures that respected art, higher percentages of artistically gifted students were identified. The same finding held firm across other gifted domains--athletics, dance, mathematics, literature, music, and science--across eight countries (Brazil, Canada, Greece, Guatemala, Israel, Korea, the Philippines, and the United States) and the culture of the Maya. It may be important to acknowledge that most communities in the United States financially support athletics regardless of the state of the economy but rarely hesitate to eliminate programs in music, art, or drama. Is it any wonder that most young American boys seem to aspire to becoming baseball, basketball, or football players rather than scientists or artists?

How important will learning styles be in the year 2000? Given the statistically higher reading and mathematics standardized achievement test scores of previously failing and poorly achieving students in the United States after their learning styles were addressed, learning styles are likely to become a mandated prerequisite for schooling within the next decade. It will only take one class action suit, led by one small group of angry parent advocates, whose nontraditional children have been demoralized by the imposition of traditional schooling, to cause that change. And it will happen, because learning style is not something that affects other people's children. In every family, mothers' and fathers' learning styles are dramatically different from each other. Siblings do not necessarily reflect their parents' styles, and siblings' styles differ significantly. In most families, one child does extremely well in traditional schooling and another considers academics dull and uninteresting. A third child may be extremely different from the first two; thus, one in three is likely to pursue a path totally different from the parents' and the siblings'. Style affects everyone. Whether or not we acknowledge that we each learn differently, certain resources, approaches, and teachers are right for some--and very wrong for others.

Alberg, J., L. Cook, T. Fiore, M. Friend, S. Sano, et. al. 1992. Educational approaches and options for integrating students with disabilities: A decision tool. Triangle Park, N.C.: Research Triangle Institute, P. O. Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709.

Andrews, R. H. 1990. The development of a learning styles program in a low socioeconomic, underachieving North Carolina elementary school. Journal of Reading, Writing, and Learning Disabilities International 6(3): 307-14.

Beaty, S. A. 1986. The effect of inservice training on the ability of teachers to observe learning styles of students. Doctoral diss., Oregon State University. Dissertation Abstracts International 47:1998A.

Brunner, C. E., and W. S. Majewski. 1990. Mildly handicapped students can succeed with learning styles. Educational Leadership 48(02): 21-23.

Curry, L. 1987. Integrating concepts of cognitive or learning styles: A review with attention to psychometric standards. Ottowa, Ontario: Canadian College of Health Services Executives.

Dunn, R., and K. Dunn. 1992. Teaching elementary students through their individual learning styles. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

------. 1993. Teaching secondary students through their individual learning styles. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Dunn, R., S. A. Griggs, J. Olson, B. Gorman, and M. Beasley. 1995. A meta-analytic validation of the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model. Journal of Educational Research 88(6): 353-61.

Dunn, R., K. Dunn, and J. Perrin. 1994. Teaching young children through their individual learning styles. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Dunn, R., K. Dunn, and G. E. Price. 1972, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1989. Learning Style Inventory. Lawrence, Kan.: Price Systems.

Homework Disc. 1995. Jamaica, N. Y.: St. John's University's Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles.

Milgram, R. M., R. Dunn, and G. E. Price, eds. 1993. Teaching and counseling gifted and talented adolescents: An international learning style perspective. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Perrin, J. 1982. Learning Style Inventory: Primary Version. Jamaica, N. Y.: St. John's University's Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles.

Stone, P. 1992. How we turned around a problem school. The Principal 71(2): 34-36.

Editor's Note: Rita Dunn, an authority on learning styles, is a professor in the Division of Administrative and Instructional Leadership and the director of the center of the study of learning and teaching styles at St. John's University Jamaica, New York. She has published more than three hundred articles, chapters, monographs, and research paper on learning styles and on the results of being taught according to one's preffered learning style. She was interviewed by mail by Michael Shaughnessy for this article.

~~~~~~~~

By MICHAEL F. SHAUGHNESSY

Michael F. Shaughnessy is a professor at Eastern New Mexico University, Pontales, New Mexico.

Copyright of Clearing House is the property of Heldref Publications and its content may not be copied without the copyright holder's express written permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the individual user.
Source: Clearing House, Jan/Feb98, Vol. 71 Issue 3, p141, 5p.
Item Number: 355784