makalah learning style and mixed ability

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.    BACKGROUD

Many people who read the above description may conclude incorrectly that they are global, since everyone has experienced bewilderment followed by a sudden flash of understanding. What makes you global or not is what happens before the light bulb goes on. Sequential learners may not fully understand the material but they can nevertheless do something with it (like solve the homework problems or pass the test) since the pieces they have absorbed are logically connected. Strongly global learners who lack good sequential thinking abilities, on the other hand, may have serious difficulties until they have the big picture. Even after they have it, they may be fuzzy about the details of the subject, while sequential learners may know a lot about specific aspects of a subject but may have trouble relating them to different aspects of the same subject or to different subjects.

Many college lecture classes are aimed at intuitors, but if you are an intuitor in a class that deals primarily with memorization and rote substitution in formulas, you may have trouble with boredom. Ask your instructor for interpretations or theories that link the facts, or try to find the connections yourself. You may also be prone to careless mistakes on test because you are impatient with details and don't like repetition (as in checking your completed solutions). Take time to read the entire question before you start answering and be sure to check your results.

CHAPTER II

EXPLANATION

A.     LEARNING STYLES

Learning styles are all ways that are used to facilitate the learning process. Thus, children will use certain ways to help capture and understand a subject matter. You need to pay attention to how your child's learning style so that they are easy to understand a subject matter and you can develop their learning potential to be optimized.

Meanwhile, according to Hyman that learning styles are consistent manner that to do by a pupil in capturing stimuli or information, how to remember, think, and solve problems. This learning style is closely related to a private person who would be influenced by education and curriculum development.

There are three kinds of learning styles that are usually used child and you can use this as a mark to recognize the child's learning style and help her learn:

1)      Learning by hearing (Auditory Learner)

Such learning styles utilize hearing ability to facilitate the learning process. Characteristics of children who have this learning style are:

Ø  Ability to remember well the material discussed in class or in groups.

Ø  Getting to know a lot of songs in advertisements or on television and is able to imitate it precisely.

Ø  Less like reading tasks.

Ø  Less well in the task of composing or writing

Ø  Less attention to new things surrounding environment.

2)      Learning while seeing (visual Learner)

Children with this learning style use the sense of scene to help Study. Characteristics:

Ø  Always see the lips of teachers who speak.

Ø  When the user about something must be done, usually he would see his friends first and then move.

Ø  Less like to speak in front of groups and less like listening to people talk.

Ø  Tend to use gestures to express something (to replace the word or express)

Ø  Less able to recall the information given orally.

Ø  Sit quietly in a crowded and noisy situation without being distracted.

3)  Learning while moving (Kinesthetic Learner)

To facilitate the learning process, the child using physical as optimal learning tool. Characteristics:

Ø  Likes to touch anything he encountered.

Ø  Do not like silence.

Ø  Like to do everything by hand.

Ø  Having good body coordination.

Ø  Likes to use real objects as a learning tool.

Ø  It's hard to learn things that are abstract, such as mathematical symbols or maps.

Ø  Tends to be a bit behind with classmates because there is a mismatch between the learning styles of teaching methods that are commonly used.

                 Every child or person has their own way of learning. There are children who enjoy learning requires a bright atmosphere and not be bothered any sound, but there are also children learn it must be accompanied by a radio or while listening to songs. According to Dunn tendency for people to have a specific learning style called learning styles (Learning Style).

                 Cognitive ability is a person's ability to think, especially to solve the problem. Children who self-learning style (field independent) is a kid trying to free itself from its surroundings when she learned or when he makes a decision about something. Children who learn to style field dependent are a child who is affected by the environment at the time of learning.

1)      Types of Learning Styles

a)      Independent learning style (Field Independent)

     Independent learning style is not influenced by the environment and education in the past. Kids stand alone and have autonomy over their actions, do not care about other people's names. Less concerned with social relationships, it does not require detailed instructions, can take criticism improvement.

b)      Dependent learning styles (field dependent)

     Learning styles depend is influenced by the environment, much depends on education as a child, educated to always pay attention to other people, to remember things in a social context with the area, needs guidance more to understand something more sensitive to criticism and should be encouraged.

     In achieving the purpose of students who have self-learning style motivate by factors that are challenging and see the usefulness of the task being performed. Students who have a self-learning style tend to want to increase their curiosity. Communicative approach to give a chance to students with a variety of communication activities and interesting game. While the learning styles depend (field dependent) they should be helped by teachers or peers in the form work of group.

To give impetus towards more independent learning style of students have relied require appropriate teaching methods in order to learn the results obtained in accordance with the Basic.

2)      Element of learning style.

a)      The basic elements of independent learning style (Field Independent)

Learning style refers to the way students learn. According to Wool folk manner consistent conducted by a person contains the information, how to remember, think, process information and solve problems. Independent learning style to distinguish this part-section of the whole, concentrating on something (like reading a book in a noisy train station), analyzing the separate variables without being affected by environmental variables. People who are more dominant independent style to study generally tend to be more independent, competitive and confident. While the style of learning depends (field dependent) generally tend to be more sociable, tend to take the self-identification of people around him, and usually more empathetic and perceptive to the feelings and thoughts of others.

b)      The basic elements of learning style dependent (Field Dependent)

Dependent learning style had a positive impact that is you can get the overall picture, a broader view, the configuration of a problem or idea, or incident in general.

These factors and the basic elements are:

Ø  Direct neighborhood (Immediate Environment). That way of learning is affected by noise / sound, light, temperature and study.

Ø  Place settings. Emotional. That is how learning is affected by their motivation, persistence, responsibility, and task.

Ø  Settlement structure. Sociological. That way of learning is influenced by a group of peers, independently, in pairs, team, support of adults and variation.

Ø  Physical. That is a way of learning that is influenced by the ability of perception, food / beverage, study time, and to move (mobility).

1.      SEQUENTIAL AND GLOBAL LEARNERS

Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step following logically from the previous one. Global learners tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing material almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly “getting it.”  Sequential learners tend to follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions; global learners may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once they have grasped the big picture, but they may have difficulty explaining how they did it. As with all other learning style dimensions, everyone functions as both sequential and global, with a preference for one or the other that may be mild, moderate, or strong.

Many people who read the above description may conclude incorrectly that they are global, since everyone has experienced bewilderment followed by a sudden flash of understanding. What makes you global or not is what happens before the light bulb goes on. Sequential learners may not fully understand the material but they can nevertheless do something with it (like solve the homework problems or pass the test) since the pieces they have absorbed are logically connected. Strongly global learners who lack good sequential thinking abilities, on the other hand, may have serious difficulties until they have the big picture. Even after they have it, they may be fuzzy about the details of the subject, while sequential learners may know a lot about specific aspects of a subject but may have trouble relating them to different aspects of the same subject or to different subjects.

a)      How can sequential learners help themselves?

Most college courses are taught in a sequential manner, but if you are a sequential learner in a class with an instructor who jumps randomly from topic to topic or skips steps, you may have difficulty following and remembering. Ask the instructor to fill in the skipped steps, or fill them in yourself by consulting references. When you are studying, take the time to outline the lecture material for yourself in logical order. In the long run doing so will save you time. You might also try to strengthen your global thinking skills by relating each new topic you study to things you already know. The more you can do so, the deeper your understanding of the topic is likely to be.

b)      How can global learners help themselves?

If you are a strongly global learner without good sequential thinking skills, it can be helpful for you to realize that you need the big picture of a subject before you can master details. If your instructor plunges directly into new topics without bothering to explain how they relate to what you already know, it can cause problems for you. Fortunately, there are steps you can take that may help you get the big picture more rapidly. Before you begin to study the first section of a chapter in a text, skim through the entire chapter to get an overview. Doing so may be time-consuming initially but it may save you from going over and over individual parts later. Try to relate new course material to things you already know, either by asking the instructor to help you see connections or by consulting references. Above all, don't lose faith in yourself; you will eventually understand the

New material, and once you do your understanding of how it connects to other topics and disciplines may enable you to apply it in ways that most sequential thinkers would never dream of.

2.      HOW DOES YOUR LEARNING STYLE PROFILE COMPARE WITH OTHERS?

A particular preference (say, for sensing learning) may make certain careers and interests seem attractive, and so people for whom that preference is strong or moderate may gravitate to those careers and interests in greater numbers than people with the opposite preference. In the course of validating the Index of Learning Styles, I gathered profile data for 2506 undergraduate engineering students, with the results shown below:

When you are comparing your preferences to the majority preferences shown above, remember that the percentages for fields other than engineering could be significantly different. For example, the high percentage of visual learners (82%) is probably similar to what it would be in most fields, but a much lower average percentage of visual learners would probably be found among students attracted to verbal-dominant fields such as languages and literature. Also, fields that are highly abstract (such as philosophy and theoretical mathematics and physics) are likely to have higher average percentages of intuitive learners than the value shown in the figure. Remember too that preferences are not reliable indicators of strengths and weaknesses. Someone with a preference for intuition, for example, might be strong in intuitive skills and weak in sensing, or highly skilled at both intuitive and sensing, or weak at both. Learning styles preferences should therefore never be used as a basis for choosing a major field of study or career. People with every set of preferences have succeeded brilliantly in every curriculum and profession.

3.      MIXED ABILITY

1.      HOW CAN I TEACH A LARGE CLASS OF MIXED ABILITY STUDENTS?

Chitra and Anjuman managed to keep all students learning by

organising the students in their classes into small, mixed groups of high and low ability students. The more able students who finished their work quickly had to wait for others to catch up; at other times, the lower ability children would get left behind. In both cases, students would often vent their frustration by disturbing the rest of the class.

“We really needed a way to help all students to learn

without preventing the higher ability students from

completing the curriculum.”

Chitra and Anjuman managed to keep all students learning by organising the students in their classes into small, mixed groups of high and low ability students. They make it the responsibility of higher-ability students to help out their peers once they have completed their own task. The value of this micro-innovation is that it benefits all students – higher ability students learn and develop their own understanding by teaching others and lower-ability students benefit from the additional support. This micro-innovation recognizes that students are a valuable resource for each other and that, often, students are able to explain concepts in a way that their peers will easily understand. help students work together in a positive way. It does take work to help them learn to do this and at first they may not cooperate well with each other.”

2.      PEER LEARNING IN MIXED ABILITY GROUPS IN SCHOOL

You could form mixed ability groups in your classroom in exactly the same way that Chitra and Anjuman did (see Step by Step guide) or you could develop your own system to make sure that all students in you class are learning throughout the day. Whatever you do, making the most of all the available learning time for all students is very important! Anjuman and Chitra’s innovation has been successful because it recognises that students are a valuable learning resource for each other and that, often, students are able to explain concepts in a way that their peers will understand. Mixed ability grouping helps students to become teachers and to develop their understanding through having to explain it to others. Anjuman and Chitra have three key pieces of advice for teachers planning to implement mixed-ability grouping in their classrooms:

1.      For mixed ability grouping to be really successful, it is important to put real effort into creating a culture in your classroom where students are supportive of each other and are not afraid to make mistakes – that is how we learn!

2.      It is really important to give students very clear guidance and expectations about how they should work together. You may wish to give students special training in supporting each other; students being supported at any time must know that the supporting students can help them with their work and answer questions but will not do the work for them.

3.      Make sure that it is clear to students that different students can be in the supporting role at different times – students who are at a higher level in maths may be different than students who are at a higher level in english.

Anjuman and Chitra encourage peer learning in their classrooms in

the following way.

1.      Ask students to sit according to your new seating plan. Think about whether students will work well together as well as about their learning levels when putting children in groups.

2.      Set very clear expectations with the students such as:

a)      Be polite with peers while supporting each other to learn.

b)      Guide your buddies with the work but do not complete their work for them.

c)      Ask the teacher if you are both stuck! It is a good thing to ask for help as long as you have thought about the problem first.

3.      Assign work to students.

4.      If certain students in each group finish the task first, they become responsible for helping others. However, those finishing their own work should check it carefully first to ensure they have completed the tasks to the best of their ability.

5.      As a teacher, you should support them, and walk around the room monitoring student progress. Encourage students not just with their academic work but also to work well together.

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

Active learners tend to like group work more than reflective learners, who prefer working alone or with one other person whom they know well. Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is hard for both learning types, but particularly hard for active learners.

Everybody is active sometimes and reflective sometimes, with a preference for one or the other that may be mild, moderate, or strong. A good balance of the two is desirable. If you always act before reflecting you can jump into things prematurely and get into trouble, while if you spend too much time reflecting you may never get anything done