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In 1985 Honey and Mumford developed learning style theories. They reviewed the way which different employees learned and also identified four learning style. This includes:
- Activists- are individuals who acts before thinking, don’t like to prepare and get bored easily.
- Reflectors- an individual, who considers all angles and implications, listen to other and dislike deadlines.
- Theorists- perfectionist and don’t like uncertainty
- Pragmatists – they enjoy coaching and feedback and don’t like open ended discussions.
During my studies, I took this questionnaire that indicates what type of learner, I was. I found out hat I was a theorists. This means I am a logical and objective person, who likes to think things through. I tend to like things to be perfect but sometimes full of ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’.
There are internal factors that influence individual’s learning. This includes:
- Intelligence effects very much n learning, if individual has maximum level of intelligence he or she can learn more and easily at maximum level.
- Attention is also one of the important factor which influences on learning, if a person does not pay attention towards how to learn a specific knowledge, skill or experience, he or she cannot learn easily but if the individual pays attention the results will be effective.
- Mental and Physical health: learning also depends on mental and physical health of an individual. If an individual does not have mental health or physical health, the subject can fulfil the demands of the process of learning due to his or her mental and physical capabilities.
- Age can influence the capability of learning, a child cannot learn the things what elders can learn and can aged person will have difficulty to learn modern ways of knowledge.
Culture affects learning
“According to research, culture attitudes have a big impact on pupil’s attitudes to learning, the way they learn and are taught, and what they get expect of and get from their education” () . Parents with higher levels of education are also more likely to believe strongly in their abilities to help their children learn, by having a great impact on the Childs learning. It influences learning because in certain culture if learning is not implemented, there is lots of pressure put onto the individual has they are expected to come out with a good grade. As result, it makes an individual to learn more in order to overcome those expectations.
Reward and punishment
As human beings we are very emotional toward certain situations. Our emotional state has a huge impact on our ability to learn. If we have anxiety about learning, then learning becomes a problem. The presence or absence of reward can affect learning. Reward is more effective in promoting learning than punishment. For example, if student as completed an assignment to the best quality and get praised by the teacher, it is likely for the student to repeat that performance.
Friends
An individual who surround themselves with peers and influences their learning will also value their own learning and strive to enhance their education. For example, a student with deprived relationship concerns will be less able to participate in class room learning. The process of learning is built on a foundation of comfortable relationships with other because classroom learning is all about learning with and in the presences of others. However friends can sometimes influence my learning in a negative way because they can destruct me from learning and make me less motivated to corporate in the subject.
We start learning from birth and the learning process continues through formal schooling and even right through to adulthood. There are so many factors that hinder my learning. This makes it less effective. During the process of learning I found out what sort of learner I was. Auditory was my learning style, meaning I am those people who learn best through hearing things. Auditory learners are those who:
- Likes to read to self out loud.
- Is not afraid to speak in class.
- Is good at explaining.
- Remembers names.
- Notices sound effects in movies.
- Enjoys music.
- Reads slowly.
- Follows spoken directions well.
- Can't keep quiet for long periods.
- Enjoys acting, being on stage.
- Is good in study groups
There are so many factors that have influenced by learning throughout my formal schooling and college. It had positive and negative impact on me but still try to minimise some of the barriers that might affect my learning. The main influences on my learning are:
- Parents
- Motivation
- Aspirations
- Health
- Attitude and self-discipline.
My parents have influenced my learning throughout my early years. They have encouraged me to progress in towards the future and therefore the only way to achieve in life is to be a successful woman. They are highly educated people who have influenced me in both positive and negatives ways. This has really helped my ways of learning because it motivates me to learn more in life in order to become like my parents. My concrete experience has made me more confidents in how I try to learn due to my upbringing. Negatively, I try too hard to impress my parents; this affects me because I can never be myself or try to learn in my own ways.
The motivations I have within me have also influenced my learning by enabling me to undertake my studies and complete the requirement of my course. However sometime I do experience negative motivation because of undesirable outcomes but I still try to overcome that barrier. Sometimes my motivation does not strike in other lessons because I might not find that lesson interesting.