Learning Styles & Thinking Preferences

What Can You Do To Get Involved

How Can I Be Involved In My Child's Education?
Research studies consistently reveal that high student achievement and self-esteem are closely related to positive parental participation in education. Parents and schools need to work together so all children can succeed in school.
Almost everyone agrees that parents are, after all, their children's first and most important teachers. You, as a parent, have important knowledge about your child's likes, dislikes, needs, and problems that the school may not be aware of. You may also have ideas for improving your child's school. But even though studies show that most parents want to be involved in their children's education, they may not be exactly sure how to go about it, especially if, like most parents, they work during the school day.
Parents often ask the following questions:

What Can I Do To Involve Myself With My Child's School?

Some schools value parent involvement by providing numerous opportunities for parents to interact with each other, with teachers, and with students. Your child's school can provide ideas on how to participate. One important way you can become involved in your child's schooling is to exercise any choices available in the selection of course work, programs, or even schools. Many schools are moving toward "school-based management," in which administrators share the responsibility for operating schools with teachers, students, parents, and community members. You can become involved in committees that govern your child's school or join the local parent-teacher association.

The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) says that schools should regularly communicate with parents about their child's progress and the educational objectives of the school. This communication should also include non- custodial parents, stepparents, and any other adults, such as grandparents, who are responsible for the child. If you aren't receiving such information, ask for it. Work with other parents and guardians to be sure that the school understands how best to keep you informed.
Some schools send newsletters and calendars home regularly, alerting parents to school functions and ways they can participate. Encourage your school to provide volunteer opportunities for working parents and to schedule some school events outside of the school day to increase participation.

Here are other ideas:

• Visit your child's classroom; a visit will give you an idea of what your child does at school and how he or she interacts with other children.
   
• Volunteer to help in the classroom as an assistant (listening to children read, for example, or serving as an aide during computer work).
   
• Support student events and performances by helping with them (such as sewing costumes or painting scenery for a school play) and by attending them.
   
• If your school has a Parents' Room/Lounge or Parent Center, drop in to meet other parents and teachers there, or to pick up information and materials.
   
• Participate in workshops that are offered, such as those on child development or concerns that parents have (or help plan such workshops).
   
• Take advantage of parent-teacher contracts (perhaps agreeing to read with your child for a certain amount of time each night).
   
• Ask your child's teacher if he or she has materials that you can use to help your child at home and to supplement homework.
   
• Be part of decision-making committees about school issues and problems, such as a Parent Advisory Committee.

How Can I Help My Child With Homework?

Most teachers assign homework on a regular basis because practice is needed before children fully understand new skills or concepts. Homework also increases the amount of learning time available and allows students to do more in-depth learning.

Here are some general guidelines for helping with homework:

• Reward progress; use lots of praise; display good work.
   
• Find out how much and what type of homework is assigned in each class, how students are expected to prepare it and turn it in, and what students can do when they don't understand something; help your child manage the workload by dividing it into small doses.
   
• Help your child develop a homework schedule that he or she can stick to.
   
• Talk to your child each day about homework assignments; go over work; see if it's complete; ask questions about it. But don't do your child's homework yourself.
   
• Provide a suitable place for study (if possible, make it quiet and away from the distractions of TV, phone, and loud music).
   
• Avoid making homework a punishment.

How Can I Make Our Home a Good Place for My Child To Learn?

• Have high expectations for your child's learning and behavior, both at home and at school.
   
• Praise and encourage your child.
   
• Emphasize effort and achievement, and be a role model for getting work done before play.
   
• Establish rules and routines in the home.
   
• Monitor television viewing.
   
• Limit after-school jobs and activities.
   
• Encourage your child to share information about school and respond with empathy.
   
• If you don't do anything else, read to your young child or have him or her read to you every night. Encourage older children to read by reading yourself and by having interesting and appropriate materials available.

What Should I Do If My Child Isn't Doing Well in School?

Contact your child's teacher. Don't wait for the school to contact you. It's important to resolve problems as soon as possible when they occur. When parents work with teachers, they are often able to improve a child's performance in school. Children also get the sense that education is really important when they see their parents involved with their teachers and their school. Parents feel a sense of accomplishment, too, when they help their children succeed in school. Ask your child's teacher for specific activities you can do at home with your child and help the teacher better understand what works best with your child. Make it clear that if the teacher sees a problem developing, you want to hear about it immediately. Then, meet with your child's teacher frequently until the problem is resolved.

What If My Child Doesn't Like School?

Using your unique knowledge of your child, try to find out why he or she seems unhappy with school. Observe and listen to your child. The problem may not lie with school itself, but with peers or friends. It may also be a family problem or an issue of self- esteem. Arrange for a conference with the teacher or school counselor. Work toward being able to discuss problems with your child openly, and listen carefully to his or her views before you offer any solutions.

Children whose parents are involved in their education have better grades, a more positive attitude toward school, and more appropriate school behavior than those with less involved parents. So don't underestimate what YOU, as a parent, can contribute to your child's learning experiences, no matter how much education you yourself have. Getting involved in your child's education will make a difference.

Resource Organizations for Parental Involvement

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) operates 16 clearinghouses specializing in education topics. For information call 1-800-LET-ERIC (538-3742).

For more information on this subject, contact:

ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management
University of Oregon
1787 Agate Street
Eugene, OR 97403-5207
Toll Free: (800) 438-8841
Phone: (503) 346-5043
URL: http://eric.uoregon.edu/
The Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (CEEP) provides publications and information to the worldwide early childhood and parenting communities
CEEP is located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Children's Research Center; 51 Gerty Drive; Champaign, IL 61820-7469
Phone: 217/333-1386 or 877/275-3227; Fax: 217/244-7732
CEEP Web Address: http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu
Send comments to the CEEP Webmaster

Sources
Most of the following references -- those identified with an ED or EJ number -- have been abstracted and are in the ERIC database. Documents with an ED number can be found on microfiche at more than 900 locations or ordered in paper copy from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service at 1-800-443-ERIC. The journal articles can be found at most research libraries. Call 1- 800-LET-ERIC for more details.

American Association of School Administrators (1988). Challenges for School Leaders.Arlington, VA. ED 300 915.

Granowsky, A. (1989). "Can I Guarantee My Child's Love of Learning?" PTA Today, 14 (4), p. 25. EJ 406 241.

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (1990). Developing Family/School Partnerships. Washington, D.C.

National Urban League, Inc. (1989). What Students Need to Know. New York. ED 316 636.

Peterson, D. (1989). Parent Involvement in the Educational Process. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. ED 312 776.

Seely, D. (1989). "A New Paradigm for Parent Involvement." Educational Leadership, 47 (2), 47-48. EJ 397 741.

Source:
Learning Styles & Thinking Preferences
Learning styles can be defined as the various approaches to learning developed by individuals over time. It seems obvious that individuals have different ways of collecting, processing and organizing information in the learning process. What is not obvious is the application and integration of these theories into instructional strategies in post-secondary classrooms. Learning styles research is providing a basis to effect change in our current education system and hopefully raise the educational levels of all students.

Today, there are many learning style assessment tools readily available to help instructors understand the learning characteristics of their students. These assessment tools often encompass personality and thinking preference instruments coupled with the more traditional learning assessment tools. This assessment information can also assist students in determining their most efficient and effective learning method. Instruments are available such as the Kolb's "Learning Style Indicator," the Myers-Briggs Inventory, Soloman's "Inventory of Learning Styles," Gregorc's Style Delineator, the Canfield Learning Styles Instrument, Bishop's Personality Spectrum and Barsch's "Adult Learning Style Profile."

The Myers-Briggs Inventory identifies personality types. This inventory is based on personality characteristics as described by Carl Jung in his book, Psychological Types. His theory is that individuals perceive their world and reach conclusions with the following preferences:

• sensing versus intuition;
• judging versus perception,
• thinking versus feeling, and
• extroversion versus introversion.

The Myers Briggs can be used to assess children through adults and this instrument has a high level of reliability (.48 to .83). (1997 McFarland).

The Kolb Learning Style Indicator used John Dewey's theories of experiential learning which identifies four sequential learning phases:

• concrete experience -- learner actively involved in learning,
• reflective observation - learner thinks about the learning experience,
• abstract conceptualization - formulation of theories about the experience and
• active experimentation - synthesis of learned information and application to other situations.

Kilb identified four learner groups and named them Divergers (learn with concrete modes and transform through reflective observation), Assimilators (learn through abstract conceptualization and transform knowledge through reflective observation), Convergers (learn with abstract conceptualization and transform through experimentation) and Accommodators (learn through concrete experience and transform through active experimentation. (Reliability .52 to .86) (1997 McFarland).

Gregorc Style Delineator is a learning preference inventory and constructs a paper-pencil graph delineating four categories:

• Abstract - Random (emotion, multidimensional, imaginative, relationships,
• Abstract-Sequential (intellect, logical, sequential, theories), Concrete-Random (intuitive, originality, futuristic, application), and
• Concrete-Sequential (methodical, stable, practical, linear).

It consists of forty words arranged in groups of four. The respondent ranks the words on a scale of one to four. This instrument is self-scoring. A study at Texas A&M with 191 freshman engineering students was conducted utilizing the Gregorc Style Delineator. This study was funded by the National Science Foundation and is contributing to the research being conducted with post-secondary students. The study found that learners with concrete-sequential were more successful in engineering courses than those with abstract-random learning styles. It was also found that there is almost no "learning style preferences: categorized by gender or ethnicity.

Canfield Learning Styles Instrument is based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs and McClelland's theory of achievement motivation. He identified eight preferred conditions for learning (peer, organization, goal setting, competition, instructor, detail, independence, authority).

The Personality Spectrum referenced in Dr. Joyce Bishop's book, Keys to Success, identified thinking preferences and learning styles. Through a series of eight questions and corresponding plotting of the cumulative totals on a diagram, an individual's learning style is graphically represented on a left/right brain diagram. The preferences identified by Dr. Bishop are described as "thinker" (mathematical, analytical, explicit), "giver" (interpersonal, adaptable, idealistic), "organizer" (administrative, organized, disciplined), and "adventurer" (imaginative, simultaneous, artistic). This questionnaire is referenced in the book, Keys to Success, 2ed. Prentice-Hall by Dr. Bishop.

The Adult Learning Style Profile is adapted from the Learning Style form developed by Dr. Ray Barsch. It is a series of thirty statements designed to delineate learning styles into three categories:

• auditory,
• visual, and
• tactile.

Dr. Barsch like Dr. Gardner believes that no style of learning is better than another; but each makes its own demands on the environment of the learner.

Source: This information, in part or in whole, was taken from...
http://www.piercecollege.edu/community/encore/
DistanceLearning/unit_3/3.2_personality _types.htm