Why we all need to learn to learn
No two children learn in the same way which is why a one-size fits all approach to teaching will never successfully reach all pupils. Sitting up straight and listening while teacher uses the whiteboard is a perfectly valid 
method of teaching for all those who absorb information through their eyes and ears – visual and aural learners - and who concentrate best when sitting up straight. But what about those who absorb information more effectively through other modalities, kinesthetic or tactile learners for instance, and concentrate best in a more interactive environment? Such students can become bored and frustrated and we all know the adverse effect this can have on academic performance. Teachers need to be able to modify their teaching methods to suit individual learner to bring out the best in them.
Carol Milner, who teaches eight and nine year olds at ACS International School Egham and is the school’s Assistant Primary Years Programme Coordinator, has discovered this and the transformational effect it can have ensuring that everybody can learn to learn more effectively.
In September 09 Carol Milner, together with colleagues from ACS schools in Hillingdon and Cobham, attended a `Learning to Learn’ Conference in Austria to discover more about learner styles and how they might integrate the approach at ACS International Schools with children of primary school age.
The basic tenet of Learning to Learn (L2L) is that every child has a unique learning style: each student learns, concentrates and processes information in a different way. By discovering how students learn best, the programme aims to enhance educational success.
The L2L programmes are used in mainstream schools in New Zealand and Austria and are also employed in the Danish and US military. In ACS’s case, the Learning Styles approach complements the more integrated learner-based models of the International Baccalaureate programmes and the IB Primary Years Programme in particular.
The L2L model was created by Austrian-born teacher and educationalist Barbara Prashnig (now based in Aukland, NZ), and is based on an anlysis of Learning Skills. Many educational profiling tools are available, but Learning Skills analysis claims to reveal each student's biophysical makeup and conditioned style elements across the six key areas:
- Sensory Modalities
- Physical Needs
- Environmental Preferences
- Social Aspects
- Attitudes
The system looks at 49 different elements to understand learner attitudes and preferences. It looks at left brain and right brain aptitudes and determines whether an individual student is a visual, tactile or kinaethetic learner, for example. It recognises that there are multiple intelligences, including emotional intelligence, and not a single pathway to educational success. It is important to recognise that in young children in particular learner preferences are not fixed and are still fluid, so conducting the anlysis in early childhood is particularly effective in terms of helping to nurture and support the developing child’s learning.
The programme can be used to determine class, as well as individual learner preferences: for example, does a class work better using artificial or natural light, with background music on or off, with a cool or warm room temperature?
The teacher can then adjust the physical environment of the classroom and his/her teaching style to reflect student preferences. All adjustments have to be made within the parameters of what’s acceptable at a particular school and recognise and accommodate where an individual child may have particular intolerances (e.g. to background noise)
Since implementing the programme at ACS Egham, Carol Milner says she has seen a significant change:
‘The main improvement that I have seen in my teaching is recognising the needs that some children may have, for example moving, eating, the need to have a tactile object to hold, or to tap as they take on information. I have noticed that once you acknowledge the need it tends to move into the background. Generally in teaching such 'needs' are seen as interruptions to learning whereas in fact they are supporting and stimulating learning.
From a learning point of view, the children are starting to recognise their preferences and what activities suit their learning needs best: this is very empowering for them. They are now willing to try. As a teacher, you can quickly identify and assess students that struggle in certain areas of learning. Therefore, we now have the lights off; children are allowed healthy snacks and can sit in informal groups. We provide various writing frames to suit their thinking styles as well.
The students are more motivated now because their learning styles are being catered for within the class.’
Carol Milner has taught at ACS Egham for seven years and she also has experience of teaching in the state primary school sector. Carol and her fellow teachers who attended the Austrian Conference will be rolling the programme out to colleagues, and sharing their findings with their classes.
For more information about Learning Styles see:
http://www.creativelearningcentre.com/
For more information about ACS International Schools see:
http://www.acs-england.co.uk/
