This informational survey helps to identify your learning style preference. Please read each statement very carefully. Select YES if the statement relates to you all or most of the time. Select NO if the statement seldom or never relates to you. Your first reaction to the statement is usually your best response.
| Statement | yes | no |
| 1. I like to listen and discuss work with partners | ||
| 2. I learn by hearing my own voice on tape | ||
| 3. I prefer to learn something new by reading it | ||
| 4. I often write down the directions someone has given me so I don't forget them | ||
| 5. I enjoy physical sports of exercise | ||
| 6. I learn best when I can see new information in picture form | ||
| 7. I am able to visualize easily | ||
| 8. I learn best when someone talks or explains to me | ||
| 9. I usually write things down so that I can look back at them later | ||
| 10. I pay attention to the rhythms and patterns of notes in music | ||
| 11. I have a good memory for old songs or music | ||
| 12. I like to discuss in small groups | ||
| 13. I often remember the size, shape, and color of objects | ||
| 14. I often repeat out loud the directions someone has given me | ||
| 15. I enjoy working with my hands | ||
| 16. I can remember faces of actors, settings, and other visual details of movies I've seen | ||
| 17. I often use my hands and body movement when I'm explaining something | ||
| 18. I prefer to practice redrawing diagrams on a chalkboard rather than on paper | ||
| 19. I seem to learn better if I get up and move around while I study | ||
| 20. If I wanted to assemble a bike, I would need pictures or diagrams to help with the steps |
| 21. I remember objects better when I have touched them or worked with them | ||
| 22. I learn best by watching someone else first | ||
| 23. I tend to doodle when I think about a problem or situation | ||
| 24. I speak a foreign language | ||
| 25. I enjoy building things | ||
| 26. I can follow the plot of a story on the radio | ||
| 27. I enjoy repairing things at home | ||
| 28. I can understand a lecture when I hear it on tape | ||
| 29. I am good at using machines or tools | ||
| 30. I enjoy role-playing or participating in skits | ||
| 31. I enjoy acting or doing theatre | ||
| 32. I can easily spot patterns in designs | ||
| 33. I often know how to assemble or install something without looking at directions | ||
| 34. I like to recite or write poetry | ||
| 35. I can usually understand people with different accents | ||
| 36. I can hear many different pitches or melodies in music | ||
| 37. I like to dance and create new movements or steps | ||
| 38. I participate in activities that require physical coordination | ||
| 39. I follow written directions better than oral ones | ||
| 40. I can easily recognize differences between similar sounds | ||
| 41. I like to create or use jingles / rhythms to learn | ||
| 42. I prefer classes with hands-on experiences | ||
| 43. I can quickly tell if two geometric shapes are identical | ||
| 44. The things I remember best are the things I have seen in print or pictures | ||
| 45. I follow oral directions better than written ones | ||
| 46. I can learn the names of 15 medical instruments more easily if I can examine them | ||
| 47. I remember details better when I say them aloud | ||
| 48. I can look at a shape and copy it correctly on paper | ||
| 49. I can usually read a map without difficulty | ||
| 50. I can "hear" a person's exact words and tone of voice days after they have spoken to me |
| 51. I remember directions best when given landmarks, such as a specific building | ||
| 52. I have a good eye for colors and color combinations | ||
| 53. I like to paint, draw, sculpt, or be creative with my hands | ||
| 54. I can vividly picture the details of a meaningless past experience |
Scoring your profile:
1. Ignore the NO answers, work only with the statements you have answered YES.
2. For every YES answer, look at the statement number. Find the number in
the following chart and circle it.
3. Count and total the circles for the each section.
| Learning Style | Statement Number | Total |
| Visual | 3 4 6 7 9 13 16 20 22 32 39 43 44 48 49 51 52 54 | |
| Auditory | 1 2 8 10 11 12 14 24 26 28 34 35 36 40 41 45 47 50 | |
| Kinesthetic | 5 15 17 18 19 21 23 25 27 29 30 31 33 37 38 42 46 53 |
| Exercise 4. a) Read the description of each type of learner more carefully and complete the table. Some information is not given. |
| Learner type | How they learn | Likes | Dislikes |
| Visual | |||
| Auditory | |||
| Kinaesthetic |
| b) Work in pairs. Take turns to describe the different learning styles using the notes in the table. |
| Exercise 5. Look back at the items in the text. In the same groups, discuss whether you learnt each item in a mainly visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic way. Which learning style best suits each item to be learned? | |
| Exercise 6. Think about your own learning style. Are you mostly a visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic learner, or a mix of all three? Prove your opinion using information from the text. |
| Exercise 7. Read the article from the Oxford Dictionary and find out the key characteristics of discovery learning. |
Discovery Learning
Discovery learning is an approach to learning in which the learner is allowed to explore and become actively engaged with concepts, objects, or the physical environment in order to develop their understanding of it. In this process,
the teacher is a facilitator rather than an instructor, and it is their role to organize a rich or appropriately resourced learning environment and to encourage
the learner's self-directed curiosity and problem-solving skills, rather than
to demonstrate or provide "correct" answers or procedures. Discovery learning is a learner-centred approach, theoretically underpinned by a humanist philosophy of education, according to which the planning and teaching of lessons should take into account the learners' needs in relation to their social, emotional, and personal development, and should take as their starting point those topics which are of direct interest and relevance to the learners. It has been argued that although children might refine and evaluate their own ideas as a result of socio-cognitive conflict with peers, they would tend to adopt uncritically and too easily the ideas of teachers and other adults where these conflicted with their own. In the latter case the result would be conventional instructional learning rather than learning constructed by the child through their own discoveries.
( Wallace, S. (Ed.) (2008). p.160. Oxford Dictionary of Education.
Oxford: Oxford University Press)
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| Exercise 8. Work in groups. Select at least three of the following words in the list and discuss how they are connected to learning: |
environment; curiosity; discovery; explore; problem-solving; topics; engaged; teacher; philosophy; resources.
Example: environment –Environment could mean the learning environment, in other words the space where people learn. Most people learn better in
an attractive learning environment.
| Exercise 9. Read the text again and underline any key information related to discovery learning that you think is important. Work in groups and compare your ideas. |
|
| Exercise 10. Make notes on discovery learning using the key information you identified in the text. Organize your notes under the following headings. |
•The learner • Engagement • Philosophy • The teacher • The environment
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| Exercise 11. Use your notes from Exercise 10 and the following guidelines to write a summary of the text. Your summary should be 50–70 words. |
Start by referring to the original source, e. g. Oxford Dictionary of Education (Wallace, 2008) describes discovery learning as...
• Include all the main points; exclude supporting detail.
• Do not add anything new, such as your own response or knowledge.
• Use your own words.
| Exercise 12. Exchange your summary with another student or group. Compare the two summaries using the guidelines. |
TEXT 2
| Exercise 1. Watch the video about top ten skills for study and make some notes. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObrwiADQcss
| Exercise 2. Comment on the top skills and find some more skills to add to or remove from the list of the skills for academic study. |
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| Exercise 3. Read the text below. Use dictionary if necessary. |