Human Variation and Education - Report Example

Human Variation and Education Student’s Name Professor Subject University/Institution 16th March, 2012. Introduction In this era of diversity and where learners in the classroom are drawn from different backgrounds owing to some factors for instance globalization, there is need for a holistic approach to learning where the different needs of different learners in the classroom are taken into account and hence the need of understanding the relationship between cognitive and learning styles (Adam, Awerbuch, Slonim, Wegner, & Yesha, 1997). To give an overview of what comprises a cognitive and a learning style in order to form a conclusion as to the importance of a relationship if any between an overview of cognitive and learning styles is the bone of contention of the paper. Cognitive and learning styles Individuals are different and hence each individual has his or her own way and method of processing information. Cognitive styles therefore are distinct to individuals and denote or signify why different individuals behave the way they do and which is different from other individuals. Thus cognitive style symbolizes the way an individual thinks, how an individual remembers concepts which are learnt in the classroom and also the way an individual approaches or solves a problem. For instance, when faced with a problem, some people will solve the problem in an abstract manner while others will solve the problem in a more realistic manner and this also affects the way we interact with people not only in the classroom but also in the working place. In addition some learner’s ways of remembering concepts that are taught in class is through rote learning while others only have to be taught a concept once in the classroom and they can remember it for the rest of their lives. There are therefore various cognitive styles that have been theorized by educationists over the year’s for instance scanning, leveling and sharpening, impulsivity and reflection and conceptual differentiation. However, field independence against field dependence emerges as the most common cognitive style. Field Independence (FI) versus Field Dependence (FD) In regard to filed independence cognitive style, individuals tend to view the environment in a way that is logical/analytical or rather investigative. Field dependent on the other hand emphasis is that individuals who are known to have this learning style view the environment in a fashion or global way and hence their inability to differentiate or detach figures from their backgrounds which the field independent are able to do so well. Field independence individuals are therefore very investigative and thus perceive events in a differentiated way from their counterparts (filed dependent). The field independence individuals develop personalities that are not easy to socially interact with others. Such learners in the classroom tend to be discouraged by group work as they analyze and investigate the contribution of other group members and may therefore prefer to study on their own where there are minimal social interactions with the other students in the classroom (De Raad, 1996). The filed dependent sees concepts as a whole and cannot identify the various elements that make up the concepts while the field independence will perceive the various elements that make up a concept and tend to leave the idea of the concept as a whole. To bring the concept further home, a learner with a filed independence trait when given a book that has the painting of a forest, can identify even animals which have camouflaged themselves to the color of the trees in the forest and may not view the forest as a whole while the field dependent learner cannot identify the animals in the forests but would view the forest holistically. A clear line is drawn between FI and FD personalities in that people who possess FI tend to excel in the classroom but fall short in practical situations in life. In addition, the FI learner will excel in the classroom where there is high mastering of concepts, drilling and will pay more attention to even minor details than the FD learner. On the other hand, the FD learner excels more in real life situations for instance acquisition of communication skills due to the ease of interaction with other people. Learning styles Learning styles refer to the styles of learning that can be employed by a teacher that would be useful to the four categories of learners in the classroom for instance, assimilator learners, accommodator’s learners, learners who are divergers and those who are convergers and would allow the learner to learn and grasp the concepts at their best (Brusilovsky, 1994). There are various learning styles among them serialist and holistic learning styles. Holistic versus Serialist Serialist individuals are the ones who work systematically and are very cautious in what they do. Such students excel in the classroom when the coaching they receive is structured tightly. They are much focused and hence if a teacher gives many illustrations in the classroom, they deviate their attention due to their ability to narrow specifically on their exact area of interest. Holistic approach individuals on the other hand, do well when they view a task as integrated holistically and therefore have a tendency to first look at the task in an overall picture. Such learners prefer to have a personal interpretation of a task, collective evidence regarding the task on their own and may therefore work and learn in accordance to their moods and their interests. Impact in Education and Workplace Differences in cognitive and learning style impact in education and workplace in the following ways; In the workplace, for instance the field independent is not likely to make a good leader in the workplace since FI are known to have their own sense of perceiving concepts in such a way that they can impose their own orders in a situation where there are none. The FI is also a task oriented individual who will require minimal supervision The FI individual is also impersonal and able to connote his or her own identity from the rest of the workers and therefore not easily influenced by others in the workplace. The field dependence in the workplace will be more friendly to people and hence can make a good leader or manager in an organization In the classroom, the FI does not excel in group work and prefer to study alone and hence group work as a motivation strategy for learners to collectively contribute to the process of learning will not work with the filed FI student and thus such a student may require some other form of motivation by the teacher. FD individuals are also able to work more with people due to their social interactions with others and hence in the workplace the FD is more likely to collaborate with colleagues in order to collectively attain objectives of the company. The FD individuals form great teams not only in the classroom but also in the workplace if they are required to work with their colleagues. Owing to the fact that the FD learner will view concepts holistically and not as elements forming the whole component tends to clearly bring out the concept that the FD learner does not excel in the classroom and especially where there questions to a test are open ended. Thus the FD individual even in the workplace requires highly structured situations and when it comes to the classroom, the FD individual performs only when the lessons are highly structured for such an individual is not able to grasp the minor details and does not pay so much attention. The serialist individual in the workplace is a person who would be through in the work that is given to him or her due to his or her ability to pay attention to finer details. In the classroom, the serialist is a student who is also through and presently well researched work if given assignments The holistic oriented learner is one who will do assignments given by the teacher if he or she feels like and likewise in the workplace, the holistic oriented individual works at his or her own pace. The divergence or congruence of the cognitive and learning styles in an individual helps teachers and employers to know the kind of personality that a particular person has and hence devise ways in which the individual can be handled. The importance of the cognitive and learning styles to the teacher Learning being a multifaceted experience just like learners and colleagues in the workplace are multifaceted, and so should be their experiences. The teacher therefore is required to vary the learning styles so that each learner can experience his or her learning style in the classroom (Messick, 1976). A teacher also having the knowledge of the various cognitive and learning styles of the individual learner in the classroom will design instructional strategies that are individual specific as opposed to blanket like instructional strategies for all the learners in the classroom (Blickle, 1996). With specific instructional strategies for learners with similar cognitive and learning styles, helps the teacher to be move to the contemporary practices in education in comparison to the dogmatic practices where for instance blanket instructional strategies tend to be teacher centered. Then again learning is an experience and hence a learner should experience learning at an individual level. Then that being the case, the best way of attaining this is by the teacher having a proper background of a learner cognitive and learning style so that the teacher can personalize the learning experience for each individual learner. References Adam, N., Awerbuch, B., Slonim, J., Wegner, P., & Yesha, Y. (1997). Globalizing business, education, culture through the Internet. Communications of the ACM, 40(2), 115-121. Blickle, G. (1996). Personality traits, learning strategies, and performance. European personality 12, 22 – 78. Brusilovsky, P. (1994). The Construction and Application of Student Models in Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Journal of computer and systems sciences international, Vol. 32, No. 1, 70-89. De Raad, B. (1996). Personality traits in learning and education. European Journal of Personality, 10, 185-200. Messick, S. (1976). Individuality in Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. The relationship between cognitive and learning styles It is undisputed that there exists a relationship between cognitive and learning styles in that when combined (cognitive and learning styles), they give direction as to the kind of instructional or learning strategy that a teacher can use in order to deliver to a particular student. Cognitive and learning styles will also help a teacher to indentify the various needs of the learner in the classroom in that in the effort of trying to adapt the learner in the learning system that best suits him or her, the teacher will most likely identify the learner cognitive style and hence introduce the learning style that will best suit the learner. The process of identifying the cognitive style of a learner may be tedious but no doubt help the teacher in knowing the learning style to use with the learner not only while teaching but also when the leaner is tackling assignments. For instance, if a learner has a field independence cognitive style, viewing the environment in an investigative manner, then the teacher on identifying such a learner can choose to use experimental learning in giving instructions and assignments to the learner in such a way that the learner’s inquisitiveness is maintained. Read More