Learning styles

What kind of learner are you?

Over time people have been baffled why students and others learn in certain particular ways. So far many theory's have been discovered to help people find out what types of learning they adapt to more efficiently opposed to other methods. Two methods will be explained in this leaflet: Kolb's theory, discovered by David A. Kolb and the VAK learning style

A = ACTIVIST (Concrete Experimentation)
• focuses on involvement in experience and personal response to real situations
• prefers specific, concrete things; enjoys the uniqueness and complexity of reality rather than generalisations, theories and laws
• intuitive, trusts feelings rather thinking
• good at relating to people
• open minded; good in unstructured, real life situations

R = REFLECTOR ( Reflective Observation)
• focuses on understanding the meaning of situations and ideas by careful observation and description
• approaches learning in an impartial, tentative way
• seeks understanding as opposed to practical application
• good at seeing implications, at appreciating different points of view.
• patent, impartial, thoughtful

T = THEORIST (Abstract Conceptualisation)
• focuses on logic, ideas, concepts
• trusts thinking rather than feeling
• likes building general theories, rather than concentrating on the unique and specific
• good at planning, dealing with abstract issues; often good with figures
• precise, rigorous, analytical, likes structure

P = PRAGMATIST (Active Experimentation)
• focuses on actively influencing people and changing situations
• approaches learning in practical way (what works'') rather than for understanding (what is true?)
• likes doing rather than observing
• good at task oriented learning
• risk taker, goal oriented, change effector


My Learning Styles
I took the Kolb's learning theory to see my own learning style and would also check the accuracy of his study; would these results really reflect my personality?
I took the first series of questions honestly in my stride ranking them 1 to 4 which seemed pretty easy although I already saw a pattern emerging on what questions would be better to answer which could be alarming to those who aren’t willing to trust in their own answers.
The majority of my 4's were in the P section which showed me that I have an outstanding learning style. In order of popularity my results were:
P = 21
A = 16
R = 14
T = 7
I plotted it on the four co-ordinates on the grid, just as instructed, which displayed my outstanding pragmatist section followed by the activist then decreases slowly to the small reflector and theorist axis. Through reading the pragmatist and activist learning descriptions (my strongest two results) I learn that the theory's do reflect me as person as well and a learner.

The table below displays my results on the grid, as you see the “extreme” points reflect my results.


After doing this method I was encountered with another graph this time I have to get my co-ordinates by taking my theorist results from my activist results and also taking my reflector results away from my pragmatist results, in which then I had to plot these points as co-ordinates on another grid



The grid indicates that I’m a LOGICAL (Assimilator) learner. It reflects the way i work and at the same time it couldnt be more worng, i do like to collect information and be in total control of thing to ensure they dont go wrong. However i also work well with my team, ensure everybody bonds well to make everyone friend as opposed to “collegues”.




Another learning style I took was a VAK learning style.
A = Visual learning style has a preference for seen or observed things, including pictures, diagrams, demonstrations, displays, handouts, films, flip-chart, etc. These people will use phrases such as ‘show me’, ‘let’s have a look at that’ and will be best able to perform a new task after reading the instructions or watching someone else do it first. These are the people who will work from lists and written directions and instructions.

B = Auditory learning style has a preference for the transfer of information through listening: to the spoken word, of self or others, of sounds and noises. These people will use phrases such as ‘tell me’, ‘let’s talk it over’ and will be best able to perform a new task after listening to instructions from an expert. These are the people who are happy being given spoken instructions over the telephone, and can remember all the words to songs that they hear!

C = Kinaesthetic learning style has a preference for physical experience - touching, feeling, holding, doing, and practical hands-on experiences. These people will use phrases such as ‘let me try’, ‘how do you feel?’ and will be best able to perform a new task by going ahead and trying it out, learning as they go. These are the people who like to experiment, hands-on, and never look at the instructions first!

These we’re my results;
A’s = 8
B’s =6
C’s = 16

Through looking at both results I got from both learning style tests, they pretty much define the way I work. Both Kinaesthetic and Pragmatist learn styles have very similar definitions. So far in the games design 1 unit i have been team leader for all team projects, that way I can get hands on with problems that we encounter. However i do have traits in other field in both learning styles such as “Visual” in VAK, and “Activist” in Kolb’s learning styles.

p.s. i had some image uploading issues Craig, will also email you the document