Learning Style is Frustrating Lots of Great Students

by Guest Blogger

As an educator involved at every level of North American education over the years, I have had a lot of opportunity to observe the effects of learning style on students. I am personally acquainted with a young man who suffered through elementary and secondary school being bored and frustrated because of receiving grades of C and D on his report cards while he made A’s on almost every test he ever took. The reason was simple and even rational in the context of our educational system: he never did his homework.

When he was in high school he registered for every class he could find that involved “hands-on” or mechanical work. Without exception, he was the best student in those classes. He once completed every project in a Small Engine Repair course in the first four weeks of a 13 week term. The instructor then allowed him to begin the work of the Advanced Small Engine Repair course. He completed those projects in a few more weeks and then worked on independent projects for the rest of the term. At the end of his freshman year in high school, he received the highest score on an independent mathematics test for the entire student body of several thousand students, including sophomores, juniors and seniors. At the same time he was making C’s and D’s in math on his report card.

Because I knew him quite well, I took the liberty of administering a “learning style” test to him. I discovered that his learning style was highly biased toward a method of learning that educators call “concrete random.” The preferred learning characteristics of students with this learning style are:

Is highly curious.
Finds out-of-the-ordinary answers to problems.
Seems driven to say or do things in a way others have not.
Is a risk-taker.
Likes to discover his/her own way of doing things; must test things for self.
Is extremely independent and competitive with self.
Prefers to investigate and experiment; enjoys hands-on experimenting.
Skips steps and details.
Shows original creativity; has varied and unusual ideas.
Has multiple projects going at once.
Finds possibilities, creates change.
Is notorious for not reading directions or instructions.
Fears structure.

The opposite learning style is called “abstract sequential.” Here are the characteristics of students with the abstract sequential learning style:

Reads avidly for information and ideas logically presented.
Needs a quiet environment to think and work.
Likes to debate about ideas and controversial issues.
Likes to learn just to learn – self-directed.
Gathers information and analyzes ideas.
Strives for intellectual recognition.
Thinks in a structured, logical and organized way.
Fears appearing foolish or uninformed.

For more information about learning styles you can start here.

Perhaps you have already discerned that schools are typically much more well suited for abstract sequential students than they are for concrete random students. In fact, North American values in general favor an abstract sequential way of thinking. For this reason, American teachers tend to take those values for granted. They simply assume that an abstract sequential method of thinking is “better” than its opposite. However, as my example points out, learning environments that are designed to accommodate concrete random thinkers produce learning just as effectively as typical schools produce learning for abstract sequential thinkers.

I do not intend to expand on the topics of learning style or educational philosophy here. In fact, most of what I am telling you is intuitively true for most people. My goal in this post is to encourage parents and educators to take an open-minded approach when assessing students who are having problems in school. In fact, it might be helpful to apply the concrete random thinking style to those problems! It is possible for learning environments to be designed for students with all kinds of learning styles. However, it does require educators and families to facilitate learning in ways that may make them somewhat uncomfortable. Any professional educator in North America has studied the concepts of learning style. If you need to discuss the topic with them, they will know what you’re talking about. Implementing these concepts in traditional North American schools may require some creativity, but it can be done.

The young man I described above enrolled in college as an Engineering major. Because of his mathematics skills he was one of a very few students who qualified to register for Engineering Calculus in his first semester. Shortly after he started his freshman year I asked him how he was doing in Calculus. He said he understood it quite well. I was surprised to learn that he had withdrawn from that course a short time later, and switched out of the engineering major into a science research track. When I asked him about it he told me that Engineering Calculus required too much reading and too much homework! Nevertheless, I soon learned that he was working long hours in the science labs and doing quite well in his new major.

He soon had the great fortune to come under the advisement of a professor who perceived his problem-solving and creativity very positively. From that point, my young friend enthusiastically and successfully completed all the requirements for a bachelors, Masters and doctoral degree. He is now teaching graduate science students how to teach in elementary and secondary schools. I once remarked to him, “When you were in junior high and high school you hated school so much and often disrespected your teachers. Why in the world are you now a teacher yourself?” He replied, because I get to teach teachers how to make school fun for concrete random students.”

About the Author:
Bob McCluskey is a teacher by profession and the owner of http://senior-technology.com/wordpress/ – An internet resource for research, products and services related to aging and technology. For more information about Bob, go to Senior Technology News.