Learning Styles, Research Paper Example

Abstract

The paper aims to discuss learning styles and multiple intelligences, as well as their implications in sports. The current discussion is design to see, whether learning styles impact the quality of education and instruction in sports. The paper shows that learning styles in an intramural basketball team mutually influence each other. While kinesthetic learners are more likely to participate in the team, those with auditory and visual learning styles can also display kinesthetic skills under the influence of the sport’s nature.

Introduction

Professionals in education are increasingly attentive to the learning styles, to which different groups of learners adhere or which they display in the process of acquiring new knowledge. While some of them will tend to use visual information as the key to primary and secondary knowledge, others will be more likely to rely on their tactile or auditory senses to facilitate the process of knowledge delivery. It appears that for educator to know and understand different learning behaviors also means to be able to develop and use more appropriate criteria for teaching inventories and strategies. It means that the teacher will have better opportunities to look beyond learners’ primary talents and will be able to adjust the major teaching strategies to specific needs of students. Learning styles are particularly important in sports, because it is generally believed that kinesthetic and tactile learners will have better chances to succeed in sports. This paper aims to investigate the relevance of learning styles in sports and their impact on sports performance.

Learning Styles

Professional understanding of the learning styles is directly linked to the so-called instructional preference, or instructional styles and approaches, which professionals in education choose to fit specific needs and criteria of learners. Learning styles are believed to directly interact with “learning environments, learner expectations, teacher expectations, and other external factors, it is expected that instructional preference is the least stable across time and the most easily influenced level of measurement in the learning environment” (Sims, 1995). In simpler terms, professionals should utilize their knowledge of learning styles to develop the most effective instructional interventions.

Generally, researchers distinguish between three different learning styles – visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/ tactile. Visual learners use their visual perceptions and visual information to facilitate the process of knowledge delivery. That means that learners must see the teacher, see the teacher’s body language, see his (her) gestures, and for these reasons they often choose to sit in front of the classroom (LD Pride, 2005). Moreover, for visual learners, the more pictures and visual aids the teacher uses in classroom, the more effective the learning process for visual learners will be. Illustrations in the form of diagrams, schemes, flipcharts, and video presentations work to improve the quality of the learning process and help visual learners absorb information (LD Pride, 2005).

In distinction from visual learners, auditory learners prefer using verbal means of teaching and learning in classroom and beyond. They actively engage in oral discussions and prefer talking to watching or touching. “Auditory learners interpret the underlying meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances. Written information may have little meaning until it is heard” (LD Pride, 2005). That is why many auditory learners use tape recorders to record lectures and to use this information later when preparing their homework and exams. That is why auditory learners will require that instructors and educators use as much verbal information as possible in order to make the material clear and to make sure that auditory learners can grasp its meaning.

Finally, kinesthetic/ tactile learners learn best through tactile perceptions and impressions. Physical impression is the central source of knowledge for those, who consider themselves kinesthetic. Thus, they rely on their own physical activity and explore the world through tactile responses (LD Pride, 2005). Researchers generally assume that sports is the most effective and the most interesting area of studies for tactile learners (LD Pride, 2005), but it is difficult to say whether auditory and visual learners have fewer chances to succeed in sports studies. To better understand the topic and to analyze the implications, which learning styles have in sports, it is not enough to know the basic learning styles. The theory of multiple intelligences will help create a more objective picture of how learning styles interact with sports.

Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner is fairly regarded as the author and the central figure in the development of multiple intelligences theory in education. Where Gardner viewed intelligence as the learners’ capacity to solve problems in a way fashioned in one or more cultural setting (Gardner & Hatch, 1989), multiple intelligences have come to signify the transition to the new stage of development in learning theory and practice. In his work, Gardner described eight major intelligences which, in distinction from the discussed learning styles, create a more detailed and specific picture of learning and could serve the basis for developing more effective instructional approaches in sports and other disciplines.

Linguistic intelligence is the first out of eight intelligences discussed by Gardner; in his view, linguistic learners are more susceptible to language (both written and spoken) and also display abilities toward languages (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). Also, linguistic learners have better abilities to use language to express themselves and do not find it difficult to remember large amounts of information.

Logical-mathematical intelligence involves logic. These groups of learners have a capacity for mathematics, but they can also succeed in other disciplines, which require analytical mind and the desire to investigate scientific issues (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). Gardner shows logical-mathematical learners as those, who can think deductively, apply reason, and justify their claims, and for these reasons they are good scientists and mathematicians.

Musical intelligence, in Gardner’s view, is associated with the individual appreciation of different musical patterns and expressions (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). Musical intelligence helps individuals recognize music, compose music, and live their lives through rhythms; very often, musical intelligence goes hand in hand with linguistic intelligence, thus creating a unique combination of learning patterns, which require developing specific instructional approaches (Gardner & Hatch, 1989).

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence “entails the potential for using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems” (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). In these individuals, mental abilities are uniquely combined with bodily movements. It would be fair to say that in bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, mind and body work concertedly to achieve specific learning or other objectives. This intelligence is often combined with spatial intelligence, which helps learners recognize and evaluate confined spaces, and interpersonal intelligence, which lays the foundation for the development of strong relationships between people (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). The latter is the opposite form of intrapersonal intelligence, which is about understanding oneself and looking deeper into one’s motivations and fears (Gardner & Hatch, 1989).

Kinesthetic Learners and Sports

Certainly, intelligences are rarely expressed in the form described by Gardner. More often than not, individuals are characterized by a combination of learning styles and intelligences, one of which is dominant and the rest are complementary. For example, musical learners can also be linguistic and intrapersonal. However, when it comes to kinesthetic style, there are specific features, which distinguish such learners from the rest of the learning mass.  First of all, such learners are more physically active than other learners, and it is natural for them to choose sports as an easy means of expressing their learning attitudes. Second, because of their increased movement and physical activity, such learners display better results in sports, in distinction from those who are auditory or visual, because the latter would prefer watching and listening to participating. Third, kinesthetic learners choose sports because of experiential learning opportunities, which sports provide. That is why for a kinesthetic/ tactile learner to participate in an intramural basketball team would be a great instrument of self-expression and achievement in the learning process.

Personally, I am a bright example of a kinesthetic/ tactile learner. I learn to touch and touch to learn. I love physical activity and view sports as an excellent instrument of learning participation. However, as future professional, I also believe that coaches should have detailed knowledge of learning styles and understand their instructional implications. Because sports is mostly preferred by kinesthetic learners, coaches and professionals in physical education seem already prepared to tackle with the difficulties, which kinesthetic learners experience in the process of acquiring knowledge. In reality, and it is difficult not to agree to Peters, Jones and Peters (2005), the nature of sports and learning styles are in constant interrelationships and mutually affect each other. For these reasons, education professionals should be prepared to the changes, which learners undergo in the process of their educational growth and maturation.

It is clear “that the learning styles preferred by the sample appeared to be the auditory, kinesthetic and group learning styles with no significant gender” (Peters, Jones & Peters, 2005), but this assumption is too general to reveal the real complexities of learning in sports. In reality, those who are kinesthetic also require auditory and visual skills to grasp the meaning of physical exercise, to follow the norms and standards in sports, and to be able to repeat what the coach shows during the lesson. Moreover, recent research findings show learners as those, who usually prefer more than one learning style and thus create a real challenge to instructional designers and coaches. It appears that as students grow and become autonomous, they also acquire and use new auditory skills (Peters, Jones & Peters, 2005), which they need to learn the new material in the process of discussing it with teachers and classmates. At the same time, when it comes to outdoor activities and sports, children display their kinesthetic abilities, and this is explained by the specificity of these activities and their impact on the child’s vision of the world (Peters, Jones & Peters, 2005). As a result, while kinesthetic learners consciously choose sports for experiential learning, auditory and visual learners will also display better kinesthetic abilities in sports. That is why, on the one hand, kinesthetic learners will find it easier to achieve excellence in the intramural basketball team and, on the other hand, auditory and visual learners will also have a chance to succeed in sports, being influenced and motivated by the nature of physical activity.

That the learner is kinesthetic does not necessarily guarantee that this learner will become an excellent sportsman. It is very probable, that such learners will show better progress compared to other visual and auditory learners, but without reasonable auditory and visual learning abilities, kinesthetic learners will fail to adjust to the changing learning environments. In their study, Peters, Jones and Peters (2005) write that there are no strong correlations between preferred learning styles and different approaches to study, which means that there are no, even anecdotal, proofs to the fact that sports students prefer using their kinesthetic abilities to other skills. As a result, learning styles and sports display complex interrelationships. Kinesthetic learners are more likely to become a part of the intramural basketball team. However, instructional approaches in basketball should not be limited to kinesthetic skills, but should also target auditory and visual abilities in students because (a) these skills are necessary to succeed in sports, and because (b) learners in sports can exercise more than one preferred learning style, which can make participation in an intramural basketball team problematic and even impossible.

Conclusion

Educational theory operates three different definitions of the learning style – it is generally believed that there are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Gardner and Hatch (1989) divided learning preferences into eight different groups, thus creating the theory of multiple intelligences. It is generally assumed that in sports, kinesthetic learning style is preferred and that kinesthetic learners have better chances to succeed in sports. Although kinesthetic learners consciously choose physical activity and experiential learning, the relationship between sports and learning is much more complex. In an intramural basketball team, the instructor will have to utilize a range of instructional approaches to target different learning styles, because kinesthetic learners also need visual and auditory skills and because auditory and visual learners may also display kinesthetic skills under the influence of the sport’s nature.

References

Gardner, H. & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple intelligences go to school: Educational implications of the theory of multiple intelligences. Educational Researcher, 18 (8): 4-9.

LD Pride. (2005). Learning styles. Retrieved October 24, 2009 from http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm#Learning%20Styles%20Explained

Peters, D., Jones, G. & Peters, J. (2005). Learning styles and approaches to studying in sports-related programs: Relationships to academic achievement and implications for successful learning, teaching and assessment. Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism Network. Retrieved October 24, 2009 from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/projects/round_4/peters_summary.pdf

Sims, S.J. (1995). The importance of learning styles: Understanding the implications for learning, course design, and education. Greenwood Publishing Group.