The 2 different learning and teaching styles are Informal and formal styles. In the informal teaching style the child is mostly involved in the activities, like deciding how the lesson should be taught whereas the formal teaching style is teacher orientated and the teacher decides how the lesson should go. There are 3 different models of learning styles. The HELP model is a learning styles inventory used to measure the specific ways in which individuals most effectively gain and impart knowledge while in an academic environment. Previous learning styles inventories are uni-dimensional and measure only an individual's preference towards attaining knowledge in a given way (Kolb, 1985). While the measurement of learning styles in this way has proven beneficial, it is hypothesized that an area specific assessment of learning styles may prove to be more effective.
The S.P.E.L.T (Stratagies for effective learning & thinking) learning model is where the learner is encouraged to generate new cognitive strategies. It is designed for use with all children and requires active teacher participation. The main objective of S.P.E.L.T is to develop autonomous learners who have truly learned how to learn. The learning thinking strategies developed and emphasized in S.P.E.L.T cover a vast range, like general problem solving, maths and reading strategies, memory strategies, study skills, test taking strategies, mood setting strategies and general metacognitive strategies like comprehension monitoring. Special effort is made to develop social problem solving strategies.
The M.U.R.D.E.R (mood, understanding, recall, digesting information, expand knowledge and review mistakes) learning model is a process that involves recalling correctly, rehearsing, organising and storing. Studies at a collage level have shown that there is a general increase in measures of cognitive functioning when this model of learning is used.
Concerning gender difference in learning, it would seem that there are gender differences in learning styles but we have to be careful to take into account that the possibility that gender alone may not be the reason for the differences. An advantage of Severien and ten Dam’s study is that it shows the difference between the learning ability of men and women allowing psychologists to make fairly accurate generalisations about both men and women, with some exceptions.
The more formal the teaching, the more time pupils spend working on the subject matter at hand. although it may come as no revelation that students in the more formal classrooms improved considerably more in reading and in mathematical skills than the less formally taught, it is much more revealing that pupils in informal settings did not do any better on their creative writing than their more formally instructed fellows. The scholastically less able child is held up least by the informal classroom, the ones who suffer most in scholastic performance in informal class teaching are the ablest students. Inadvertently, informal classrooms are academic levellers, (they) also hurt most the less well-adjusted student who it was thought would be most helped.
The learning models S.P.E.L.T and M.U.R.D.E.R have similar methods in the way children learn. S.P.E.L.T involves social learning and M.U.R.D.E.R involves the mood of the learner before they start to learn, both involve social interaction of some kind before or during learning. Spelt is good in that the active teacher participation ensures the learner is getting full attention and that their not missing out on anything covered. A disadvantage is that the child can become bored with being taught face to face without much time to relax and so this can make them sidetrack and loose concentration. The S.P.E.L.T learning model is easily applied to students and it doesn’t require a separate classroom for them as they can all be taught by the same teacher at once. It is also cheap and easy to schedule. On the other hand students need to be motivated in order for it to work.
Advantages of M.U.R.D.E.R include a proven increase in cognitive functioning at a collage level however the model is very complex. It requires less teacher participation and more of the learners own effort to complete the work. This is useful for the learner because they have to figure things out for themselves and are not constantly being “spoon-fed” by the teacher. This learning model may have negative effects on less intelligent students as they have little teacher guidance to help them avoid making mistakes. The M.U.R.D.E.R method is relatively easy for the teacher as it requires less planning and participation.
