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Learning styles In this essay we are going to research learning styles. We will use such sources as the internet, text books and journals to help us to bring together the thoughts of the theorist on the subject. Using the information from the theorist we will show that we have an understanding of the theories by describing our own learning styles. We will also compare the similarities and differences in our own personal styles and how we can help each other to develop our learning styles during our studies To help us understand the process of learning we have researched and studied three different author’s comments, theories and general ideas about learning styles. These three key ideas are from David Kolb, Honey and Mumford and Craik and Lockhart. Firstly we looked at Kolb’s theories on learning styles. Kolb looks upon learning as a continuous process (Cameron, 2003). When a person performs an action, they reflect on that action and think about what just happened. They will then take apart that idea and think about the concepts and theories behind this process. Finally a person will act out the experience having learnt from the reflection and theorise stages. As shown in Fig 1.1 this process will then start over again and a skill or an understanding will become more developed as the loop repeats itself. Fig 1.1 Learning as a continuous process (Adapted from Cameron, 2003) If, for any reason, a stage in the cycle was skipped, learning will be less effective. If a process is always carried out without any thought or reflection, the person will never fully understand or be able to use that skill or idea. Without the thought process a person would be taught nothing and will never be able to do anything better. Other authors have backed up Kolb’s idea of the learning cycle. Edmund Husserl (1963) said if you think you know, you should look again (Brew, 1993). Kolb developed this theory to another level expressing that people tend to be better at one stage than another, he grouped these people. There are four groups in this model. • Concrete experience - Learning from specific experiences, relating to people, and sensitivity to feelings and people.
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