Learning Domains and Learning Styles. How does it affect my learning?

 Benjamin Bloom's(1956) Taxonomy has come up with three different areas of learning. The Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor areas form the basis for these zones. They cover the ability to think and retain knowledge through mental analysis, emotions, how you feel about something and skills used in  the process of making things.
 As we grow we must master each task before moving on to the next. We must first learn to roll over before we can rock, rock to our knees before we crawl, crawl before we walk and walk before we run. After this we simply refine and develop areas based on these initial bases. This is followed by learning to jump, skip and climb. In the same way, our brains develop and each area is required to form paths before the next can be tackled and mastered. At certain levels of our development and growth, abilities that have been previously learned are eventually lost as the brain discards unused synapses or paths. Some, like language are able to be re-learned at a later time, but most are discarded. (Newberger, 1997, as cited in Beaty, 2010, p. 247) Those areas that are used, are strengthened and they branch out. My understanding is that these tend to be the ones that a person favours due to individual genetics, learned knowledge and environmental factors.
 It certainly raises the question, Does my learning style affect or have any impact on my brain development and refinement? I have no answer to this at this time, but will continue to ponder it as I learn.
 It was interesting that one of our tasks last week was to take a quiz on Felder and Solomon's website. This is to help to work out what sort of Learning Style you favour as an individual. There are eight types of learning style that are tested using lead-in questions within a questionaire. Each style has an opposite, thus Active/Reflective,Sensing/Intuitive, Sequential/Global and Visual/Verbal Felder, R. & Silverman, L. (1988) are tested here. At the base of my results is a box that explains how to measure the results.
After taking the test, we were asked to respond to some questions about the results. So, in no particular order I will answer those questions.

According to the above results, I will have difficulty at times because my visual learning style is so intense. On reflection, I find that I have moderate ratings and I will obviously understand 'lessons in life' by using a variety of learning styles within the frame of learning. I clarified that I like to do and see things done and I have to write or tell others information to retain it. Group activities and practical experiences assist to target core learning and interactions maintain healthy high order thinking.

 If you are interested in assessing your learning styles, I have provided a link here to the website. http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

According to Vincent & Ross (2001) Learning Styles can be divided to cater for learners into three areas for the classroom. They are Kinaesthetic (movement and making things), Auditory (Hearing) and Visual (Seeing).
To understand students and their learning preferences in a future classroom I would try to ask them questions like the following:
1. Do you like to take photographs,make movies, play games on the computer, write a blog or talk to your friends using Facebook or another form of social media? (Visual Learning)
2. Do you like to listen to or play music, poetry, rapping out a rhythm? Do you love to have a chat and tell stories? (Auditory Learning)
3. Do you enjoy being outside, moving to a beat, dancing or making something? (Kinaesthetic Learning)

To support the learning in the classroom I would use a mix of activities that would keep the attention of the students. There would be group activities, model making, role playing, musical interactions, the use of computers, iPads, interactive white boards and a variety of experiences that were pertinent to the content, but also of interest to the individual learners. An example might be an outdoor experience where you are using natural resources and you have invited an Elder from a student family to interact with the students and talk and develop an understanding of foraging in the bush. Where might this lead? It would cover Kinaesthetic, Auditory and Visual learners as you could have them present their ideas in a format of their choice.
Finally, regarding the question to support students in the classroom with ICT, I would be able to use it to provide structure, creativity, interest, and engagement through student involvement both physical and verbal.



Reference List
Beaty, J. (2010). Observing development of the young child. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Bloom, B. (1956). Bloom's taxonomy of learning domains. The three types of learning. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning, http://www.e-courses.cqu.edu.au
Felder, R. & Silverman, L. (1988). Learning and teaching styles in engineering education. Retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS-1988.pdf
Felder, R. & Solomon, B. (n.d.). Index of learning styles. Retrieved from http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

Vincent, A., & Ross, D. (2001). Learning style awareness. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 33(5), 1-10.