Google Earth and Learning Styles

Google Earth helps children visualise and discover the world around them. It’s an online program that lets you explore the earth using 3D maps and 3D street views. It also has some library images of forests and mountains, so you can see inside the White House including all the details of the Oval Office décor, as well as the spots on a jaguar inside the Amazon Jungle. (Incidentally, when you do see a large spotted cat inside the Amazon Jungle on Google Earth, the search engine Google itself can tell you, as it told me, whether it’s a leopard or a jaguar. It’s a jaguar. Leopards don’t inhabit South America. You Google and you learn.)

Depending on your child's learning style and personal interests, you can use Google Earth to:

·        Find the globe’s volcanoes and researching details about their locations.

·        Map the journey our food takes from the farm to our plate, and investigating the environmental impact of food choices.

·        Travel back in time to learn about their own neighbourhood and how it’s changed over the years.

·        View shipwrecks.

·        Use the Ruler tool to calculate distances.

 Have fun!

Kitchen Education

Cooking is a great way to explore the world around you. 

• Talk about taste with your children: caster sugar and salt look similar, but do they taste the same? Smell the vanilla essence and then the vinegar, then taste them both.
• If you ever bake cookies, invest in cookie cutters that are shaped like letters of the alphabet, or use a knife to cut out your own letter shapes. You can also roll snakes from the dough and form them into letters and numbers. 
• Weighing and measuring cake ingredients is a fun way to learn the basics of maths: is a teaspoon more than a tablespoon? It looks larger, now let’s check. A teaspoon is 5 ml, while a tablespoon is 12.5 ml. Which is more, 5 or 12.5? 
•  Which looks more, 100g of sugar or 100g of flour? Which one weighs more? 
• How long is 20 minutes (the time it usually takes to bake muffins)? Can we manage to wash the dishes and clean the floor in that time? What time is it now and what time do the muffins need to be taken out of the oven? 
• Take 20 raisins out of their bag. Put 13 of them into the batter. Can you guess how many are left in your hand? 
• What is a square? Cut the ham for the pizza topping into squares. What’s a cube? Cut the cheese into cubes. 
• You can also start teaching logic and consequence: we have one measuring cup, shall we first measure the flour or the milk? What do you think will happen if we pour flour into a cup that’s still wet from the milk? And, of course, what will happen to the muffins if we don’t take them out of the oven when the timer goes off? 
• Why are some foods are “everyday foods” and others “treats”?

This way of learning is particularly important to tactile and kinesthetic children. Is your child tactile or kinesthetic? Find out. 

Tests, Exams and Learning Styles

Because test conditions are stressful for most children, you as a teacher can remove as much of the stress as possible by letting them learn THEIR WAY, and prepare them for tests in fun and playful ways. Remember,
there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ learning style, just the ‘right’ way for each student (or groups of students).

Some students, usually the holistic ones, will need to know the reason why there have to be tests at all. Tell them tests are important to monitor progress, to show how well the teacher is doing his or her job (an idea which will appeal to them). This should remove some of the stress from the students as well. Although it’s a generalisation, we found that holistic children tend to get more stressed by test conditions than analytic ones. Removing the time factor, and not letting them feel that there is a strict deadline for finishing the test, may make them perform better.

But most importantly: teach according to their preferred learning style, because information stored in your students’ brains ‘their way’ is always much easier accessed under the stressful conditions of a test and the danger of ‘blanking out’ is greatly reduced. 

                

What's making headlines in New Zealand

Martin Thrupp: National Standards data fixation barrier to useful change - Opinion - NZ Herald News

Studies show schools under pressure - Bay of Plenty Times - Bay of Plenty Times News

NCEA system fails students, say universities - Education - NZ Herald News

NZ education facing a bad report - Education - NZ Herald News

NZ set to slip on international education table - National - NZ Herald News

Maths, science focus of $10.5m in extra school funding - National - NZ Herald News

Makes you think, doesn't it?

9 Reasons To Do Your Child’s LSA Today

Something Cool to Do

Children love doing the LSA evaluation because there are no right or wrong answers and because the questions are all about them.

3 Versions of the Report

That’s between 10 and 20 pages of easy-to-understand fully illustrated analysis of your child’s learning potential and advice. Your child gets a copy aimed at them, you get a parent copy and you get a copy for the teacher that tells them how to treat your child in class.

Reach Their Potential

Is your child word-visual, picture-visual or internally visual? Externally or internally auditory? Tactile? Internally or externally kinesthetic? Or even all of the above? Find out and you will be directly responsible for their improved performance in 2006.

Is Your Child Gifted?

These may be the signs that your child is gifted:

• can learn through several sensory modes
• has a preference for evening or early morning
• prefers to work alone or with true peers
• won’t accept authority
• is internally motivated
• never gives up
• dislikes rules
• doesn’t need help in structuring their learning.

  

Motivation

Carrot, stick or neither? Some people call it bribery, others an incentive. But do you know whether your promise of a special treat will help your child’s work or hinder it? Read their Learning Style report to see whether your child is externally or internally motivated.

  

Goodbye Homework Horrors

The Learning Style report  will tell you how to turn your child’s study area into their favourite place in the house.

Accept Your Child’s Style

You know, when they surround themselves with piles of books, papers and dirty plates with half-eaten apples, it doesn’t mean that they’re trying to annoy you. It may simply mean that they process information in a holistic way. Do their LSA to find out.

Banish Eminem

The Learning Style report  will tell you whether your child will benefit from listening to music while doing homework. But the report will also tell you (and your child) what music is conducive to learning. More importantly, it’ll tell you which music NOT to listen to during study time.

Is Your Child Safe On The Internet?

If your child has a preference for visual and tactile stimulation, if he or she prefers learning alone and structuring their own work, if he or she has a non preference for kinesthetic and auditory activities (all of these available from the Learning Style report ), then the chances are high that they will enjoy spending a lot of time on the computer - possibly in chat rooms. Internet predators look for quiet children, often those who are underachievers socially or academically.

Maths and Tactile Learning Styles

How do you teach counting to a child whose Learning Style is tactile?

• Tactile learners love plastic counting beans - they are colourful and smooth and a pleasure to touch.
• You can also use coins, board game tokens, dry beans, M&Ms, raisins... anything with an interesting texture.
• Board games are good for tactile learners. Try Snakes&Ladders played with two dice to practice addition.

How do you help a tactile learner with multiplication, division, fractions?

• Cuisenaire Rods are a great visual as well as a tactile learning tool.
• Create your own Bingo board game where you read out a multiplication problem (3 times 4, or "John has 5 rows of 5 marbles, how many marbles does he have") and your child covers the answer on his Bingo Board.
• Tactile people prefer writing, sculpting or carving the answers. Allow your child to write them in glue and pour sand onto the wet glue to make the grains stick. He can shape them from play-dough. You can find him an old piece of soft wood (a plank) and let him carve in the answers with his pen (remember the old days when "naughty" children wrote on their desks? it feels sooo good to sink your pen into soft wood!!!)

What about problem solving?

• Tactile learners love computer games. Computer games are both a blessing (educational games really do aid education) and a curse (they are addictive), so it's your choice whether you'd allow it, but have a look at http://www.mathletics.co.nz/ and http://www.coolmath-games.com/.
• For other hand-on maths tools, please see http://www.ehow.com/math-manipulatives/.

The thing to keep in mind, though, is that you can't always teach everything only in a tactile way. Some topics need to be presented visually, or verbally, or by taking a field trip. The idea is to use as many senses as you can to teach your child, but concentrate on always providing him with a tactile outlet (let him play with his pen or with a coin or with a Koosh ball). Also pay attention to his other needs: the time of day, intake, learning groups, authority, routine versus variety, imposed structure versus self-structure, motivation, etc.

Is your child tactile? What are his or her physical learning needs and environment preferences? Find out.

More provocations for better classroom management

(excerpt from The Power of Diversity by Barbara Prashnig)

Fallacy 6: Eating should not be permitted in classrooms during lessons.

Many students concentrate better when they can concentrate better when have something to eat, nibble, chew or drink while learning, and many teachers will have observed that a number of students chew on whatever they can get hold of during classes, particularly when they have to listen for a while, when they are bored or nervous. It seems that mouth stimulation helps them concentrate, and as the brain dehydrates during thinking processes, it is essential that students are allowed to have drinks of water whenever needed.

Students with a high need for intake should be allowed to have healthy snacks, and with good management techniques there will be no mess in class. Thousands of teachers who have successfully introduced a ‘healthy nibbles policy’ are proof that it works, and discipline, together with student performance, improves significantly.

Fallacy 7: Effective teaching requires clearly stated objectives followed by detailed, step-by-step, sequential explanations until students understand what’s being taught.

While holistic, right-brain dominant learners tend to grasp large concepts first and then deal with the related facts and details, analytic, left-brain dominant learners pay attention to the facts first and use them for building up the whole concept. Only these are the ones who work well with step-by-step teaching. Many, probably most, teachers use analytic styles and a few teach only holistically, using a lot of creativity. Every teacher should (and successful teachers always do) include elements of both styles in their teaching.

("The New Look of Learning and Teaching", excerpt from The Power of Diversity by Barbara Prashnig)

Wondering what the learning needs are in your classroom? Start here.

New Year, New You

In 2010, which dream would you like to follow?
Get a new job.
Tune into your spouse’s brain wave.
Study at university.
Help your children achieve at school.
Manage your stress levels.

Whatever your circumstances, whatever your dream, we have a product that helps you understand yourself better and appreciate other people’s diversity - in style.
In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

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).

Boys and girls - the difference in Learning Styles

Michael Gurian, lecturer and family therapist: “A primary area of concern for nearly every teacher is the difference we each intuit in the males and females we teach.” Although the overlap between the genders is enormous, there is no denying that “boys and girls learn differently”.

Forget amateur wisdoms such as "boys are competitive, girls are collaborative". Scientists have recently discovered that differences between girls and boys are more profound.

Research revealed, for example, that boys and girls see differently: male eyes are attracted to movement and to cooler colours (such as blue, black, grey), while female eyes are enticed by textures, details and warmer colours (red, yellow, orange). Learning Styles cater for this difference by assessing the student’s preferences for visual input (see the LSA Pyramid).

Boys and girls also hear differently: girls interpret loud speaking as threatening, while boys see it as confident. Learning Styles distinguish the student’s preferences for auditory input (LSA Pyramid).

The male autonomic nervous system causes boys to be more alert in colder temperatures (Learning Style Element - temperature), as well as when they’re moving (Learning Style Element - mobility). Girls prefer warmer temperatures and they often learn better when seated.

Curiously enough, stress in boys helps them stay focused by directing blood flow into their brains. Girls respond to stress differently, with blood flowing to their digestive system and making them anxious.

Of course, says David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education: “These (learning) differences are tendencies, not absolutes”. To check your child’s unique learning preferences, click here.

Leonard Sax, MD, PhD offers the following examples of the gender differences:

· Brain development: In girls, the language areas of the brain develop before the areas used for spatial relations and for geometry.

· Wiring: In teenage girls, emotion is processed in the same area of the brain that processes language. So, it's not too difficult for most teenage girls to talk about their emotions.

· Sense of hearing: The typical teenage girl has a sense of hearing which is significantly better than a teenage boy. That's why daughters so often complain that their fathers are shouting at them. Dad doesn't think he's shouting, but Dad doesn't hear his voice the way his daughter does.

The Second Secret of Learning Styles - Why Your Desk Matters

The Second Secret of Learning Styles - Why Your Desk Matters

 

The Second Secret

As we’ve already learnt, the secret of Learning Styles extends beyond the visual / auditory / kinaesthetic manner in which you like to learn. While the LSA tool offered by us on this website does explore sensory modalities at length, we also look at many other elements that determine learning and working success. 

 

My Desk and I

·        Do you like working at a desk or would you prefer sitting somewhere less informal and more comfortable if given the choice?

·        Do you like putting your papers in folders and filing cabinets or have them stacked all over your room?

·        Do you want your desk (or equivalent) to be right by the window?

·        Are you happy in an office with no window?

·        Would you prefer to learn a new skill in a room that’s too cold or too hot?

·        How about the room itself: how quiet is too quiet for you?

           

“But wait, there’s more...”

Q: So is Creative Learning’s LSA tool VAK plus the desk?

A: No way! We consider 49 elements to determine your or your child’s unique Learning Style.

 

How can you be better at your job? How can your child do better at school? Find out.

Learning Styles and Classroom Management

As a teacher you are often expected to do the job of an educator, a counsellor, a parent, a guide and a friend.

 

That’s a lot to ask of one person, especially in a class of 25 or more students. We, at Creative Learning, can help.

 

Learning styles show you how to communicate with your students, plan your lessons, and handle any misbehaviour. Our free group profiles give you a handy summary of learning strengths and non-preferences in your class.

 

For example, if a majority of your students is holistic, it makes sense to:

• Tell your students the purpose of the lesson or of the task you asked them to perform.
• Provide an overview of the learning material before jumping into the details.
• Relate the lesson to the students’ experience.
• Use humour.
• Allow your students to map, graph or illustrate the material.
• Give positive feedback even for small achievements.

 

Do you experience discipline issues in your classroom? Probably. But did you know that some of the disruptive children or teens could be made over into exemplary students if you satisfied their learning style needs for:

·        mobility at frequent intervals

·        variety of learning tools and teaching methods

·        informal learning environment (because of their inability to sit on hard chairs for a length of time)

·        low lighting

·        tactile or kinesthetic sensory input 

·        late morning or afternoon study sessions

·        freedom to not conform

·        recognition of their high motivation irrespective of their school results.

 

What is your students’ Learning Style? Find out. To quote Kurek Ashley, the international life coach guru: “If you do one thing today, then make a decision, commit to it, invest in yourself and follow through.”

 

Learning Styles and Thanksgiving

Your Learning Style is unique. It’s unlike anybody else’s. One in a billion. No, actually, let me be more exact: your Learning Style is 1 in 3552713678800500929355621337890625.

If that’s not reason enough to be thankful for your Learning Style this season, let’s be thankful for:
- Our ability to learn new things.
- Our ability to remember the things we’ve learned.
- Our ability to communicate our knowledge to others.
- Our ability to deal with stress according to our Learning Style.

Don’t you know what your Learning Style is? Find out today and be thankful!

Learning Style Analysis - Spotlight on the MINI

Learning Style Analysis Junior MINI (or LSA MINI) is one of our products designed to assess the learning styles of children as young as 5 years of age.

Of course, in many countries children don’t learn to read until they are 6 or 7 (even later if they follow the Rudolf Steiner schooling system). So how can they do the LSA MINI questionnaire?

· The most obvious solution is for the parent to read it out to their child, or for the teacher to read it out to the class one question at a time, and taking a break after every three to five questions.
· An idea that might appeal to a child’s sense of wonder is for the computer to read the questionnaire out loud (using the free speech functionality of Windows XP or Vista).
· The parent may elect to answer the questionnaire themselves, putting themselves in their child’s shoes and using the knowledge they have of their child’s behaviour patters and interests.

The LSA MINI is also a great tool for older children whose concentration span is short, children who are learning-different, and people of all ages whose command of English is more suitable to shorter, simpler phrases (please check our website to find out whether we’ve already translated our products into your home language).

What happens once all the questions have been answered? The results of the questionnaire are processed algorithmically into three comprehensive reports (one for the student, one for the parent, one for the teacher), with summaries, graphs, pictures and detailed text, including information about the child’s predisposition towards computer technology, Internet safety, giftedness and underachieving. Take a look at this free online demo of LSA MINI.

What’s to come in 2008: all our LSA Parent reports will include important facts about learning styles and ADHD, learning styles and obesity, learning styles and smoking, learning styles and computer misdemeanours, learning styles and bullying. We are committed to a better learning future for all and we believe that early knowledge equals prevention.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Learning Styles and Stereotypes

Your learning style dictates the way in which you understand and remember new concepts. The learning style will also determine the way
you communicate, work and socialise.

No wonder, then, that many people hope to generalise learning styles and classify them into familiar labels. Some of the questions you may have encountered in your learning styles journey may include:

· Are men more analytic than women?
· Are women better at communication?
· Are left-handers more artistic?
· What about tactile people and art skills?
· Do we become less holistic as we grow up?
· Is there a learning style more prevalent in either sex?

While the popular bestseller “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” offers many useful insights into how the two genders deal with stress (insights that correspond to certain elements of learning styles), there is no confirmed research that suggests either gender is more analytic in the learning style sense.

The only thing we can say with confidence is that a disproportionately many artists are left-handed and women indeed tend to prefer warmer temperatures (see Environment Elements in the Learning Style Pyramid)!

Why are generalisations so difficult when it comes to learning styles? One of the reasons is that with 49 elements to choose from, the number of possible learning style combinations is a whopping...
355271367880050092935562133789062!

Furthermore, the jury is still out on what makes “a perfect manager” (is it a people’s person or somebody who can enforce deadlines?) - or a “natural artist” (it’s not enough to be tactile, you must also be visual and have a high persistence) - or “athletic talent”.

Besides, learning style analysis is not about labelling: it’s about the fascinating discovery of the way you operate.

To analyse your learning style, have a look at this free online demo.