Learning styles and preferences

---

Learning styles and preferences 

 

Academic Resource Center, tel: [phone] 

 

Your learning style is the way in which you characteristically acquire, retain, and 

retrieve information.   

 

How much you learn in a class is influenced by your native ability and prior preparation, 

but also by your natural approach to learning and the instructor’s characteristic approach 

to teaching.  A person’s learning style may be defined in terms of the following five 

questions: 

 

1. What type of information do you preferentially perceive? 

’  Sensory (concrete experience): sights, sounds, physical sensations, etc. In other 

words, gathering information through the senses. 

’  Intuitive (abstract conceptualization): memories, ideas, insights, etc., Intuition 

involves indirect perception by way of the subconscious; accessing memory, 

speculating, imagining. 

 

2. Through which modality is sensory information most effectively perceived? 

’  Visual: pictures, diagrams, graphs, demonstrations, etc. 

’  Verbal: sounds, written and spoken words and formulas, etc. 

 

3. With what organization of information are you most comfortable? 

’  Actively (active experimentation): through engagement in physical activity, in 

other words, doing something with the information, like discussions, or 

explaining it to someone else.  

’  Reflectively (reflective observation): through introspection, in other words, 

examining and manipulating the information introspectively. 

 

5. How do you progress toward understanding? 

’  Sequentially: in a logical progression of small incremental steps. 

’  Globally: holistically, in large jumps. 

 

You may demonstrate a strong, moderate, or no preference toward one or more learning 

style. But if you do show a preference this does not mean that you have a learning 

constraint.  It simply means that given a choice or in a novel learning situation, your 

natural tendency is to approach and absorb material in a certain way.   

 

Completing the learning styles inventories and working with an ASIP instructor can 

help you figure out what learning preferences you may have and how you can USE these 

---

preferences to improve your academic success. We can help you strategize how to 

strengthen those areas which may require a learning approach that does not come 

naturally to you.  For example, you may be someone who is good at memorizing lots of 

information, which you enjoy, especially if the information has a real world connection 

or application.  Students with this tendency tend to be practical and careful and approach 

their work in a concise and logical way.  You may decide to take a class that emphasizes 

innovation and application of knowledge rather than learning of facts. It may be a class 

that is strongly abstract or theoretical, such as math or philosophy, and real world 

connections or case studies are difficult to find.  Your ASIP instructor can help with tips 

and strategies to strengthen your intuitive and global skills when approaching this type of 

course material.   

 

You may be someone who is intuitive and theoretical and good at grasping the ‘big 

picture’, and details tend to be of less significance than the actual concepts.  You tend to 

enjoy application of knowledge rather than memorizing of facts, but find that you are in a 

course that is very fact based and requires copious memorization, like biology or history.  

Your ASIP instructor can help with tips on how to strengthening your sequential and 

sensing skills and can suggest strategies which incorporate your strengths and preferences 

to make studying more interesting.   

 

Make an appointment today (684-5917) to find out more about how you think and 

process information. We’ll help you figure out what your strengths and challenges may 

be!  

 

References:  

Felder, R. 1993. Reaching the second tier: learning and teaching styles in college science 

educations. Journal of College Science Teaching, 23(5): 286-290. 

Felder, R.M., and Henriques, E.R. 1995. Learning and teaching styles in foreign and 

second language education. Foreign Language Annals, 28(1): 21-31. 

Felder, R.M., and Spurlin, J. 2005. Applications, reliability and validity of the index of 

learning styles. Internation Journal of Engineering Education, 21(1): 103-112. 

Kolb, D. 1984. Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and 

development. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.