As I delve further into this vast topic and the action research facing me, I have stopped to consider yet another possibly overlooked issue regarding individual learning styles and right vs. left brain dominance.
We as educators and psychologists are guilty of much "sub-grouping" in our quest for understanding in this area. Not only do we sub-group students based on their performance, as well as label every student who finds difficulty getting through lessons that are taught differently than they learn "attention deficit" (although some are), we also subgroup by race and cultural background.
According to Guild (2001), many studies seem to conclude that African American and Hispanic students learn in certain easily defined ways. These are usually studies in the "nature vs nurture theory" which attempts to define whether student achievement is primarily determined by innate ability or the learning environment and level of nurturing of their learning style presented by the teacher.
"Descriptions of minority students' learning patterns often are contrasted with the "majority" white Anglo students' ways of learning and with expectations in the schools designed by this majority group.
There are a variety of descriptions of typical learning patterns of African Americans (Hale- Benson, 1986; Shade, 1989; Hilliard, 1989) which report the students'desire for oral experiences, physical activity, and strong personal relationships (Shade, Hilliard). These patterns would call for classroom work that includes collaboration, discussion, and active projects. The same authors report that mainstream white male Americans value independence, analytic thinking, objectivity, and accuracy. These values translate into learning experiences that focus on information, competition, tests, grades, and critical thinking. It is no surprise that these patterns are prevalent in most schools because they were established and are generally administrated by mainstream white males. The further away from this style of education a student is, the more difficulty he or she has adjusting. don't fit a specific cultural group. "Researchers have clearly established that there is no single or dual learning style for the members of any cultural, national, racial, or religious group" (Dunn, 1997, pp. 74- 75).Guild (2001).
This indicates the need for caution in subgrouping students and believing that based on race and cultural background, their learning styles will be identical, or their achievement ability.
Although most professional educators give good lip service to their understanding of individual differences, when presented with ANY research that might simplify the identification and addressing of said styles by being able to "lump together" subgroups under a certain umbrella, they are all too willing to accept this as fact. However, in that we can no more lump all Anglo-Saxon students as "gifted learners" or subgroup them into a particular learning style, we can certainly not do so with any other ethnic group in our schools, lest we incorporate ingorance and bias rather than the promotion of individual achievement.
That is not to say, however, that we shouldn't give attention to "patterns", correlations and similarities of learning preferences that we observe in students from similar cultures. It has been well established through continuous research that MOST African American students prefer learning activities that allow them movement and discussion. They tend to, frequently, prefer interactive and collaborative learing activities, and the ability to talk themselves through understanding of concepts. However, there are MANY Anglo-Saxon and Asian students with the same preference!
In my Action Research, I have determined to observe another aspect that could add yet ANOTHER DIMENSION TO DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION... I intend to implement choices and activities to identify whether or not, once a student's learning style preference in ONE subject area (or discipline) is consistent across ALL disciplines! For example, does a right-brain dominant student with a learning style preference that is highly visual/kinesthetic in math exhibit a similar learning style preference in reading, science, and other disciplines? Is it possible, since math intelligence deals with a different part of the brain than language arts and social studies, for example, that the learning style of the student differentiates across the disciplines as well as from student to student?
Guild, P.B. (2001).Diversity, learning styles & culture.
Washington: New Horizons for Learning. retrieved 1/2/11 from http://www.newhorizons.org.
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