Diversity of Learners

         

        Diversity of learners includes different areas that teachers must be aware of and be sensitive of if they wants to cater each learner's needs and interests. As teachers, it is important to consider how diverse learners are especially in planning for effective instruction.

Learning and Thinking Styles

• refer to the preferred way an individual processes information

I.                    Sensory Preferences- individuals tend to gravitate toward one or two types of sensory inputs and maintain a dominance in one of the following types:

1.       Visual Learners

·         may think in pictures and learn best from visual aids like diagrams, illustrated textbooks, overhead transparencies, videos, flip charts and hand-outs

a.       Visual Iconic- prefer visual imagery like film, graphic display or pictures

b.      Visual Symbolic- prefer abstract symbolisms like written words or mathematical formula

2.       Auditory Learners

·         learn best through verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and listening to what others have to say

a.       Listeners- remember things said to them and make the information their own

b.      Talkers- prefer to talk and discuss

3.       Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners

·         prefer “learning by doing”, benefit much from hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around them

II.                  Global-Analytic Continuum

1.       Analytic Learners- tend toward the linear, step-by-step processes of learning and see finite elements of patterns rather than the whole

2.       Global Learners- lean towards non-linear and tend to see the whole pattern rather than particle elements

Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)

1.       Visual/ Spatial (Picture Smart)

2.       Verbal/Linguistic (Word Smart)

3.       Mathematical/Logical (Number/Logic Smart)

4.       Bodily/Kinesthetic (Body Smart)

5.       Musical/Rhythmic (Music Smart)

6.       Intrapersonal (Self Smart)

7.       Interpersonal (People Smart)

8.       Naturalist (Nature Smart)

Exceptionalities

       These refer to learners who are different in some way from the normal or average. Most of these learners require a lot of understanding and patience as well as special education and related services if they are to reach their full potential and development.

1. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
2. Learning Disabilities
3. Intellectual Differences (Gifted and Talented)
4. Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
5. Visual Impairment
6. Hearing Impairment
7. Oral Communication Problems
8. Orthopedic Impairments

Other Factors

1. Gender
2. Racial, ethnic or cultural background
3. Socioeconomic status

Applications in Teaching and Learning Process

1. Encourage learners to share their personal history and experiences.
2.  Integrate learning experiences and activities which promote students’ multicultural and cross-cultural awareness.
3. Aside from highlighting diversity, identify patterns of unity than transcend group differences.
4. Communicate high expectations to students from all sub-groups.
5. Use varied instructional methods to accommodate student diversity in learning styles and multiple intelligences.
6. Vary the examples you use to illustrate concepts in order to provide multiple contexts that are relevant to students from diverse backgrounds.
7. Adapt to the students’ diverse backgrounds and learning styles by allowing them personal choice and decision-making opportunities concerning what they learn and how will they learn from it.
8. Diversify your methods of assessing and evaluating student learning
9. Purposely, form small-discussion groups of students from diverse backgrounds: different learning styles, multiple intelligences, different cultural background, etc.

 (This was actually my report in one of my graduate school classes but I wasn't able to give it due to time constraints...hehehe)

Educational Psychology: Constructivism

"As long as there were people asking each other questions, we have had constructivist classrooms. Constructivism, the study of learning, is about how we all make sense of our world and that really hasn't changed"- Jacqueline Grennon Brook

Opening of classes is now near and it's been a long time since I last posted about educational psychology. My last post was about behaviorism and now I would like to discuss the, shall I say, opposite of it- constructivism.

Unlike behaviorism, constructivism deals with learning as an active process, internal or external. This proposes that students construct their own meaning and understanding about the world by experiences and reflecting on these experiences. Learners then try to reconcile their newly acquired experiences or ideas to the previous and old ones. In short, learners are the creators or active constructors of their own knowledge/learning. Learning is seen as interactive, and is grounded upon on what the students already know. The knowledge being acquired is considered as dynamic, always changing together with experiences.

In a constructivist classroom, active teaching methods that require students to think are dominant. Students are taught not "what to learn", rather "how to learn. Teaching techniques like experiments, inquiry, problem solving, open discussion and the like are utilized by the teacher. These are being done because student questions, experiences and interests are given importance, thus there is freedom in sharing questions and ideas to the whole class.

Constructivism is advantageous to learning since learners are actively involved. It concentrates on thinking rather than simple memory or recall. It makes learning personal among the learners since they are given chances to share what they already know or what they have experienced. For this reason, social and communication skills are also developed.
Famous constructivist psychologists include Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner, etc. Haist...out of characters...