Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) Version 4

A picture of the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) booklet cover page. The Learning
Style Inventory (LSI) describes the way you learn and how you deal with ideas
and day-to-day situations. We all learn in different ways. This inventory can serve
as a stimulus for you to interpret and reflect on the ways you prefer to learn in
specific settings. Learning can be described as a cycle made up of four basic
processes. The LSI takes you through those processes to give you better
understanding of how you learn.

Purchase from Hay Group

Whats New in LSI 4?

The Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0 is the first major revision of the KLSI since
1999 and the third since the original LSI was published in 1971. Based on many
years of research involving scholars around the world and data from many
thousands of respondents, the KLSI 4.0 includes four major additions:

A new 9 Learning Style Typology. Data from empirical and clinical studies over
the years has shown that the original 4 learning style types Accommodating,
Assimilating, Converging and Diverging can be refined further into a 9 style
typology that better defines the unique patterns of individual learning styles and
reduces the confusions introduced by borderline cases in the old 4 style typology.
The new nine styles are Initiating, Experiencing, Imagining, Reflecting, Analyzing,
Thinking, Deciding, Acting and Balancing.

Assessment of Learning Flexibility. The experiential learning styles are not fixed
traits but dynamic states that can flex to meet the demands of different
learning situations. For the first time the KLSI 4.0 includes a personal assessment
of the degree to which a person changes their style in different learning contexts.
The flexibility score also shows which learning style types the individual uses in
addition to their dominant learning style type. This information can help
individuals improve their ability to move freely around the learning cycle and
improve their learning effectiveness.

An Expanded Personal Report Focused on Improving Learning Effectiveness. The

new personal interpretative report has been redesigned to focus on improving
personal learning effectiveness based on a detailed profile of how the person
prefers to learn and their learning strength and weaknesses. It helps learners
take charge of their learning with a planning guide for learning and tips for
application in work and personal life.

Improved Psychometrics. The KLSI 4.0 maintains the high scale reliability of the
KLSI 3.1 while offering higher internal validity. Score on the KLSI 4.0 are highly
correlated with scores on the previous KLSI 3.1 thus maintaining the external
validity that the instrument has shown over the years.

The Kolb Model and Subject Disciplines

The ideas on this page have been adopted and adapted to all kinds of learning
situation, but it should be noted that they refer to learning from experience or
discovery (such as situated learning) rather than to taught (or "reception"
learning, as Ausubel calls it) or rote learning.

Kolb (1984) provides one of the most useful (but contestable)

descriptive models available of the adult learning process,
inspired by the work of Kurt Lewin.

Despite many
claims, Lewin
did not develop
a learning
"cycle" as such.
See his paper
on "Field
Theory and
Learning"
(1942; ref.
below)
For the latest
tools
and information
see Kolb's
website at:
www.
learningfrom
experience
.com

This suggests that there are four stages in learning which

follow from each other: Concrete Experience is followed
by Reflection on that experience on a personal basis. This
may then be followed by the derivation of general rules
describing the experience, or the application of known
theories to it (Abstract Conceptualisation), and hence to
the construction of ways of modifying the next occurrence of
the experience (Active Experimentation), leading in turn to
the next Concrete Experience. All this may happen in a
flash, or over days, weeks or months, depending on the topic,
and there may be a "wheels within wheels" process at the
same time.
The most direct application of the model is to use it to ensure
that (pace the reservations above) teaching and tutoring

Kolb is not the

only writer to
develop a
cyclical model:
go here for an
overview of
alternatives.
See this page
on tutorial
practice.

activities give full value to each stage of the process. This

may mean that for the tutor or mentor, a major task is to
"chase" the learner round the cycle, asking questions which
encourage Reflection, Conceptualisation, and ways of testing
the ideas. (The Concrete Experience itself may occur outside
the tutorial/mentoring session).

Experiential Learning Styles

Honey and Mumford (1982) have built a typology of Learning

Styles around this sequence, identifying individual
preferences for each stage (Activist, Reflector, Theorist,
Pragmatist respectively), Kolb also has a test instrument (the
Learning Style Inventory) but has carried it further by relating
the process also to forms of knowledge.
Learning styles mean that:

At a minor level there is a need for adjustment

between learner and teacher: sometimes their
preferences are complementary, sometimes
antagonistic, and of course sometimes collusive if they
both tend to go for the same stages in the cycle.
At a major level, neglect of some stages can prove to

Peter Honey's
site

A sceptical view
of learning
styles in
general
And a press
release on
research to

be a major obstacle to learning.

At a really serious level, teachers are easy to con with

plausible but pernicious snake-oil (e.g. ideas about
"learning styles" follow the links to the right).

Elaborations of the Experiential Learning Cycle

Not all forms of skill and knowledge emphasise all the stages
of the Cycle to the same extent, and Kolb has carried the
argument further by relating topics and subject areas to the
cycle in the following ways:

Concrete Experience corresponds to "knowledge by

acquaintance", direct practical experience (or
"Apprehension" in Kolb's terms), as opposed to
"knowledge about" something, which is theoretical, but
perhaps more comprehensive, (hence
"Comprehension") and represented by Abstract
Conceptualisation. This distinction was first made by
Aristotle, and has been discussed by epistemologists
ever since.

support the
argument
And the full
paper (Coffield,
Moseley, Hall &
Ecclestone,
2004, for
download)
A group of
doctors
immediately
grasped the
significance of
this distinction:
their patients,
they said, know
their illness by
direct
acquaintance,
whereas they
know about it.
For many
people,knowled
ge by
acquaintance is
the only valid
form of
knowledge, and
they distrust
"booklearning". One
of the most
frequent
questions to
social workers
from parents is,
"Do you have
any children?".
Answer "no",
and your
credibility is
shot.

Reflective Observation concentrates on what the

experience means to the experiencer, (it is
transformed by "Intension") or its connotations,
while Active Experimentation transforms the theory
of Abstract Conceptualisation by testing it in practice

(by "Extension") and relates to its denotations.

The denotation/connotation construct is mine rather than

Kolb's, offered as a way of clarifying the model. Kolb also
plays around with the spelling of "intension" (sic.).
This distinction is not easily identified by many people, and is
one example of where Kolb may go over the top: he does
have a tendency to elevate his model to a theory of Life, the
Universe and Everything. Nevertheless, there is a simpler
point here, which he does not make very clearly: Concrete
Experience and Reflective Observation are essentially the
private and personal parts of the cycle, whereas Abstract
Conceptualisation and Active Experimentation are more
public and visible to others. Hence behavioural theories of
learning concentrate almost exclusively on the visible Active
Experimentation processes.

Forms of Knowledge and the Learning Cycle

The four quadrants of the cycle are associated with four
different forms of knowledge, in Kolb's view. Each of these
forms is paired with its diagonal opposite.

Convergent and Divergent Knowledge

This distinction was first made by Hudson (1967) in

terms of styles of thinking rather than forms of
knowledge: convergent knowledge brings to bear a
number of facts or principles on a single topic:
problems have "right" and "wrong" answers. Hudson
believed convergent learners tended to be more highly
valued in school, because most assessment
approaches focus on convergent skills. Examples
include applied maths, engineering, and some aspects
of languages. It is located in the quadrant
between Abstract Conceptualisation and Active
Experimentation.

Divergent knowledge on the other hand, is (very

broadly) more about creativity it is about the
generation of a number of accounts of experience,
such as in literature or history or art. Judgement about
the quality of divergent knowledge and skills is much
more difficult, because these are private areas. It is
generated between Concrete
Experience and Reflective Observation.

Assimilation and Accommodation

Hands up if you remember your Piaget! Assimilation and
Accommodation are in his view two dialectically related
processes (i.e. opposing principles thesis and antithesis
between which a compromise synthesis has to be
negotiated) which describe (roughly) different relationship
between knowledge of the outside world and knowledge
already held in our heads.
Kolb's approach to integrating these Piagetian ideas with the
cycle is generally less successful than his application of
Hudson. The search for new rules (Abstract
Conceptualisation) to formalise observations (Reflective
Observation) may well be an accommodative exercise, and
very often trial and error learning (Active Experimentation)
consists of moving from one known rule to another in the
hope that one of them fits, so it is has an important element
of assimilation in it. Nevertheless, the approach does help to
focus attention on the relationship between the general and
the particular. Assimilation includes fitting particular
instances into general categories, and Accommodation is
about working from the general principle to the particular
application
Personally, I would replace the term "Assimilation" with the
more common-sense one of "Description" and
"Accommodation" with "Prescription", in the sense of a

For academics
only! See
ILLERIS K (2007
) How We
Learn; learning
and nonlearning in
school and
beyond London;
Routledge, for a
discussion
which
encompasses
the latest
European as
well as
American and
British thinking
in the field. But
it's not easy
going.

concern for what you ought to or must do.

The Kolb Model and Subject Disciplines
Kolb and his colleagues have undertaken extensive empirical
work using the Learning Styles Inventory to relate different
subject disciplines to the quadrants of the learning cycle and
hence to different forms of knowledge: partly for reasons of
space and partly for copyright reasons, you are referred to
the text for the results.

Broadly speaking, he suggests that practitioners of

creative disciplines, such as the arts, are found in
the Divergent quadrant.

Pure scientists and mathematicians are in

the Assimilative quadrant

Applied scientists and lawyers are in

the Convergent quadrant

Professionals who have to operate more intuitively,

such as teachers, are in the Accommodative quadrant

There are also differences in the location of specialists

within the more general disciplines

This would suggest that different subject areas call for

different learning styles, and raises the usual chicken and egg
question as to whether the discipline promotes a particular
learning style, or whether preferred learning style leads to
adoption of a discipline, or of course, both. (All of the above
assumes that there is some validity in this conceptualisation
of "learning styles".)

More links and

ideas (although
some may
bring you back
here!)
Click here to
read
a Belorussian
translation of
this page
courtesy of
Galina Miklosic

Notes
Kurt Lewin
(1890-1947) Originally a Gestalt psychologist in Berlin, Lewin moved to the USA
and kick-started theoretical work on adult learning (applied particularly to
attitude change in health promotion) and group dynamics. His work on lifespace etc. was broadly phenomenological in approach. Little read now because
of his tortuous pseudo-mathematical style, but the grandfather of many current
ideas.
The closest reference is to LEWIN K (1942) "Field Theory and Learning" in D
Cartwright (ed.) Field Theory in Social Science: selected theoretical papers,
London; Social Science Paperbacks, 1951.
More on Lewin from the excellent "Infed" site. Read and stay to browse!
[Back]

Learning Styles Inventory

The latest version of the LSI can be downloaded or taken on-line
at http://www.learningfromexperience.com (for a fee).
Dissenting voices
Phil Race, one of the most inspiring (and practical) staff developers in higher
education in the UK, finds Kolb and other cyclical models unrealistic,
prescriptive and needlessly academic. Download his PowerPoint presentation
on his alternative "ripples" model from http://www.phil-race.co.uk/. It is
discussed in more detail in RACE P (2005) Making Learning Happen, London;
Sage.
And Peter Jarvis, one of the most authoritative researchers on adult education,
also has a serious critique of the model in Jarvis (2006)
(Last up-dated 4 April 2013)

This page is also available in Ukrainian from STD

Science - http://coffeehealtheffects.com/emp-navchannya

This page is also available in Russian from Coupofy

team - http://translate.coupofy.com/the-experiential-learning-cycle/

and in French from http://www.pkwteile.ch/science/le-cycledapprentissage-experientiel/ (courtesy of Mary Orban)

This page is also available in Slovak from Knowledge

Team - http://newknowledgez.com/the_experiential_learning_cycle.html

PolishTranslation by Abdul Sattar

(Last up-dated 2 September 2015)

Read more: Experiential

Learning http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm#ixzz4D4T
NSuai
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

Principles of Humanistic Education

There are five basic principles of humanistic education:
1) Students should be able to choose what they want to learn. Humanistic
teachers believe that students will be motivated to learn a subject if it's
something they need and want to know.
2) The goal of education should be to foster students' desire to learn and teach
them how to learn. Students should be self-motivated in their studies and desire
to learn on their own.
3) Humanistic educators believe that grades are irrelevant and that only selfevaluation is meaningful. Grading encourages students to work for a grade and
not for personal satisfaction. In addition, humanistic educators are opposed to
objective tests because they test a student's ability to memorize and do not
provide sufficient educational feedback to the teacher and student.
4) Humanistic educators believe that both feelings and knowledge are important
to the learning process. Unlike traditional educators, humanistic teachers do not
separate the cognitive and affective domains.
5) Humanistic educators insist that schools need to provide students with a nonthreatening environment so that they will feel secure to learn. Once students feel
secure, learning becomes easier and more meaningful.
Summary:
The five basic principles of humanistic education can be summarized as follows:
1) Students' learning should be self-directed.
2) Schools should produce students who want and know how to learn.
3) The only form of meaningful evaluation is self-evaluation.
4) Feelings, as well as knowledge, are important in the learning process.
5) Students learn best in a nonthreatening environment.