CPD Online eNewsletter October 2010

Educational feature:

Learning styles, by Dr Arunima Ghosh-Nodiyal

After a long day doing admin work, attending meetings – and, oh yes, I reviewed a few patients as well – I was on my way to teach final-year students about Parkinson’s dementia. The question that came to mind is how will everyone learn best? Should we try to adapt to our students’ learning styles or stretch them so that they become more versatile?

Each of us learns in different ways. Some prefer to study in depth before we tackle a task, while others like to ‘get on with it’ and learn as we go. Research by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (Honey & Mumford, 2000) suggests that there may be four basic learning styles: those of the Activist, Pragmatist, Theorist and Reflector.

Active learners retain information best by ‘doing something’, for instance leading discussions. Reflectors, on the other hand, learn best from collecting information, assimilating their thoughts and not being put on the spot. Theorists need structure, a logical approach, and may ask lots of questions that challenge assumptions. The Pragmatists in my group would probably want to see a patient with Parkinson’s dementia tomorrow and ‘check out’ what they had learnt.

Can we cater to everyone’s learning styles? I think we can – some group discussions for the Activist, clear structure and flow charts for the Theorist, role playing for the Pragmatist, and some MCQs or thought-provoking questions for the Reflector.

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