How I learn best.

1. Students are to briefly describe an instance wwhich led them to becoming aware of
the particular approaches and techniques they use to assist themselves to learn most
effectively and the circumstances under which they learn best. Alternatively, they may
refer to an instance of learning that illustrates their preferred approach and
conditions for learning. These preferred approaches and conditions are sometimes
referred to as a person’s learning style or preference.

2. Then, using the specifics of their preferred approach and circumstances for learning,
students are to try to roughly classify learning style according to three different
theorists with a justification of their classification. As a starting point, students may
like to consider what the theories of David Kolb, Peter Honey & Alan Mumford,
Howard Gardner (Multiple Intelligences) and Neil Fleming (VARK) say about
learning styles. Students may also like to consider the Myers Briggs Typology and
other psychological preference theories.

In this essay I will explore the ways in which I learn best by examining a particular
occurrence where it was noticeable I was using a particular approach or technique to assist
my quest to gain knowledge or acquire a skill. Following this, I will attempt to fit my
preferred method of learning to three specific theorists (Howard Gardner, Neil Fleming and
Myers Briggs), justifying why the particular model fits: I will also look briefly at Left Brain
vs. Right Brain thinking and the 4MAT model.

Year 12 was a very good year in terms of learning about how I learn. I had a very
clever English teacher who requested we undertake a 4MAT questionnaire in order to
determine which category we belonged to so that he could cater for all of our needs. Right
then and there I learnt that I was an “Abstract/Random” thinker and according to the
description my strengths included: listening to others, understanding emotions and feelings,
bringing harmony to group situations, focusing on themes and ideas just to name a few*.
Throughout the year he ensured that all four “categories” were met in his varying teaching
approach. Either by direct instruction, discussion, writing exercises (board work or individual
exercises), or group work. There were two activities that really appealed to me and are still
with me today. The first one being a newspaper activity where we had to cut out images and
words to fit the description of characters within our text we were studying, each group was
given an A3 piece of paper, newspapers/magazines and a character to work with. The second
was a board activity in which we were instructed how to write a perfect introductory

*
Information obtained from a photo copy I held onto from year 12. No author to cite.
paragraph. This was undertaken in a way that all learners were involved: we listened to his
explanation, we watched the teacher annotate the paragraph and we wrote down the
instructions off the board (the example with annotations). From that year I derived that I like
learning alone but still occasionally like group work; that I prefer visual aids to memorise or
understand concepts; I began to realise I understood logical or rational ideas easier than
abstract ones; that I preferred fact and solid ideas.

In order to fit my learning style to a model of learning I first undertook Fleming’s

VARK test which advised me that I was multimodal as my visual and kinesthetic sectors
were equal with a score of eight, followed closely by reading/writing on six (Fleming: 2001).
It is evident from the reflection above, that my preferred approach to learning is the “hands-
on” sort activity in which I work with images/texts or the board work, where I made use of
my kinesthetic, reading/writing and visual learning qualities (aural was used also, but I find it
hard to concentrate on listening while reading or writing) to understand or gain knowledge of
the subject. Following the initial test, I undertook Gardner’s online “Multiple Intelligence”
test in which my highest-ranking score was the Naturalist category (25), followed by a tie in
Spatial (visual) and Musical categories (18). (Birmingham City Council: 2002-2010). As I
am lead to believe, a naturalist is somebody who advocates factual or realistic descriptions of
life; so another words, a realist at heart. This is also indicative of my learning, as I like to be
presented with the facts and seem to memorise numbers/percentages particularly if it is linked
to something factual about life or society. Subsequent to this, I ended my research on using
the four short questions on the Myers Briggs Typology website (Myers Briggs: (?))* to
determine my code (INTJ) which informed me that: I liked implementing ideas, achieving
goals that were important to me, had high standards when it came to competence and
performance and was skeptical and independent. This appears to link in with the Left
Brain/Right Brain theory that I tend to lean toward the Left, preferring introverted learning,
constructed meaning and so forth (Myers Briggs: (?).

Having conducted the above tests and reflecting on my preferred learning style, it
appears to me that the VARK test told me the most in terms of how I learn, albeit simplified.
It enabled me to understand why I find it easier to use a combination of techniques to assist
my learning and why I don’t get as much out of direct instruction teaching without the use of
visual aid.

*
Unable to find the website’s publishing date on any of the pages.
REFERENCES

1. 1.Fleming, Neil, “The VARK Questionairre” [online], Available at: http://www.vark-

learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire, 2001.

2. Birmingham City Council, “Multiple Intelligences” [online], available at:

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.ht
m, 2002-2010.
3. Myers Briggs, “MBTI Basics” [online], available at: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my
%2Dmbti%2Dpersonality%2Dtype/mbti%2Dbasics/, (date unknown).