We are all different.
We may also prefer to learn i different ways.
Learning Styles
The French psychologist Alfred Binet introduced intelligence tests.
Children who were good at reading had high IQ, while e.g. children who were good at playing music were 'gifted'.
The intelligence concept is now extended.
It is especially the American psychologists Howard Gardener and Thomas Armstrong who operate with multiple intelligences:
- Language
- logical-mathematical
- spatial-visual
- bodily-kinaesthetic
- musical
- social
- personal
- naturalistic
The message is that we are all different.
The essential is not how intelligent you are, but in what way.
If you accept this message, a natural consequence is that teaching should to some extent be adapted to the abilities and needs of the individual student.
Teaching should be suitable for those who have their strength in other forms of intelligence than the first in the list of eight.
In order to facilitate the individuals to use their particular strengths in learning, it is a point to develop a diverse learning environment, where the individual to a certain degree can choose his or her own learning style.
Learning styles can be defined as "the best way each of us concentrates on how we process, acquire and remember new and difficult information."
(Baasland, H. (2009) Teacher's Guide. Academic Technology and learning strategies, college publisher)
Metacognition
Learning strategies are approaches students may use to organise their own learning.
Each student should plan, implement and evaluate his or her work to achieve set goals.
When possible, each student should try to construct knowledge based on or connected to what s/he already knows or practices.
A student should therefore be able to choose between several approaches to achieve goals, and should be aware of why choose a particular procedure.
The student should be able to assess his or her own learning process in order to improve it.
This process of reflecting on what you have understood, what you have not understood and what you can do to improve your understanding, is called metacognition.
Metacognition is a key concept when you want to improve your own learning processes.
Metacognitive students learn better than others because they are aware of the learning that suits them best.
When you choose the learning approach that suits you the best, you use metacognition.