Global Change and Learning Styles

Are you prepared for change? Generation Y has compressed the traditional 20 year career cycle into approximately 1-2 years. People who were born between 1975 and 1995 don’t want to spend a lifetime waiting for their life to happen.

“I need to feel that I’m constantly learning and growing,” says the 29 year old Andrew, a software engineer. “If I have to work on one thing for more than six months, or if a promotion passes me by, I will move on.”

The global economic situation doesn’t bother him. “My age and my qualifications have, so far, been recession-proof. There are still many good companies out there who are recruiting. But you have to be flexible and prepared to learn new things.”

This implies that to beat the recession and get the job of your dreams, you have to be willing to develop your existing skills and learn new ones.

Sounds easy? If we consider the human brain, it’s clear that its main function is to learn. Because of the brain’s enormous potential, information intake should be fun, easy, long-lasting and stress-free. So why isn’t it always the case?

Barbara Prashnig, the director of Creative Learning Company in Auckland, New Zealand, and a world expert in the area of learning techniques, believes that the key to successful learning is knowing and satisfying one’s unique Learning Style. “Learning style,” she says, “is simply the way in which human beings concentrate on, absorb, process and retain new and difficult information. People can learn virtually anything if allowed to do it through their own personal strengths.”

What’s your learning style? Have a look here to find out.

Left Brain, Right Brain

Left brain = analytic/logical thinking = sequential processing

Generally, people with a left-brain dominance are sequential thinkers, analytics who like facts, details and logic. They tend to like their work areas neat and organised. They have perfect filing systems, always deal with one project at a time and are deadline-driven. Keeping lists of tasks to do is their favourite hobby, and if they complete something that=s not on their list, they are likely to add it just for the satisfaction of crossing it out. Analytics are the ones who know the price of eggs in the local dairy, hang up the toilet paper so that the straight part touches the wall, roll up the toothpaste tube and replace the cap. An analytic cook follows a recipe step by step, and if she runs out of an ingredient, she drives to the shops to replace it.

Right brain = holistic/global thinking = simultaneous processing

Right-brained people, in contrast, are holistic multi-processors. They aren=t interested in the nitty-gritty of issues. Instead, they need to know the overall picture, the reasons behind a project rather than its deadline. Piles of paper gather dust on their desks and office floor, yet they are able to find any document at a moment=s notice. Holistics tend to use their intuition or feelings rather than rationalise about a problem. A holistic cook never ever keeps a shopping list, doesn=t sticks to recipes and is happy to substitute milo for cocoa powder in her chocolate cake.

That=s why some people mistake right-brain dominance for creative genius which is actually a marvellous combination of our entire brain's processing.

Maths is Fun with Learning Styles

Maths is fun. If your child thinks it’s not, the education system’s at fault for not presenting maths in a way that’s palatable to the students.

Every child has their own unique Learning Style, in other words, every child learns in a different way:

• some need to picture what they’re learning in their minds,
• some need to touch learning tools and aids, trace the answers with their fingers or simply write the answers down a few times,
• some need to hear the lesson explained,
• some need to work it out for themselves.

All in all, there are 49 Learning Style Elements that affect your child’s ability to concentrate on their school work. Please have a look at the LSA Pyramid to see what they are.

If your child is kinesthetic-external, for example, take them for a walk and:

• count your steps,
• skip-count the cars that pass you,
• identify the numbers on the houses as you walk,
• add the registration numbers of the parked cars,
• stop to buy a healthy snack and ask your child to count the money, work out the change, etc.

A tactile child will enjoy making and using learning tools such as flip-charts, electro-boards, models and wrap-arounds.

Do you know whether your child will enjoy playing a maths-based board game or baking a cake? Find out here.

Learning Styles and 3D Animation Movies

Next time you see a movie or read a novel, try to guess what learning style elements the main characters exhibit. Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure unless the characters answer the LSA questionnaire (even experts get it wrong without the tool), but it’s great fun guessing!

Here is a Learning Style Analysis of the main characters in the latest 3d animation family movie called “Up”.

(Plot summary, compliments of www.imdb.com:

A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a Lost Land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However he has a stowaway aboard. An 8 year old boy named Russell, whose trying to get an assisting the elderly badge. Together, they embark in an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin.)

Ellie’s Learning Style Elements:

• Auditory (talking)
• Kinesthetic (external)
• Kinesthetic (internal)
• Visual (external)
• Visual (internal)
• Tactile

Carl’s Learning Style Elements:

• High Perseverence
• Fluctuating Responsibility
• Non-conforming

Russell’s Learning Style Elements:

• Auditory (talking)
• High Responsibility
• Group-oriented

Evil Villain’s Learning Style Elements:

• Works alone (don’t they all?)
• Externally Motivated

For more Learning Style Elements, please see the LSA Pyramid.

To check your child’s or your own unique learning preferences, click here.

Are you a Shopaholic?

Did you know that your Working Style reveals far more about you than simply whether you prefer your office quiet or your brainstorming meetings late in the afternoon?

Your Working Style Analysis (WSA) results can tell an expert:

· What kind of cook you are

· How safe your driving style is

· … And yes, whether you’re a shopaholic!

Although the report will not actually say any of those things, you can deduce them based on the WSA pyramid elements such as:

• your thinking style
• your information processing technique
• how visual you are
• your responsibility gradation
• and many others.

Buy your own WSA assessment today and see whether you knew yourself as well as you always imagined.

THE WHY OF HOMEWORK

I’m sure you’ve all heard the WHY question. It’s Sunday night, the kids want to watch a movie or play another round on the X-box, when….

“Have you done your homework yet?”

“But Mum…”

“You know the rules. Homework before play.”

“Stupid rules. What do we need homework for, anyway?”

Children, particularly those whose Learning Style is holistic, need to know WHY they have to do homework: after all, what’s the benefit of doing something at home that you’ve just done in class? The trouble is, sometimes we, as parents, find ourselves asking the very same question, as we leap to help with spelling here and a science project there, not really knowing how to help (tip: to find out how you can help your child, discover his or her learning preferences).

So, why do we have homework?

· Homework is important to reinforce skills that have been taught at school.

· It also gives teachers a chance to monitor students’ progress.

· If children are positive about homework, it can be a great way to learn how to work independently.

Are you wondering what the next step is? Have a look here to find out.

Watch that Maths!!!

Despite the teachers’ best efforts, some students still leave school without rudimentary numeracy skills. The message I keep hearing from parents is simple: watch the maths, because once your child falls behind on the basics, it’s a difficult journey to catch up again.

So how do you watch the maths?

• Ask your child whether she likes her maths schoolwork and whether she thinks she’s good at it.
• Ask your teacher whether your child is performing below, at, or above expectations for her age group.
• Ask yourself what your child’s Learning Style is and what sort of games you can play with her at home to boost her confidence in her ability to “get” numbers. (Have a look here to find out.)

Depending on her learning preferences, you might:

• Devise a colourful worksheet for your child to complete on a regular basis.
• Play a board game that involves numeracy skills.
• Organise a treasure hunt in the woods or on the beach (the clues are based on maths).
• Make a flip chute or an electro board together (please contact us for more information on making learning tools).