Learning is complex work. Have you ever asked yourself how learning happens? When I stand in front of my students on Sunday morning and try to teach them about Abraham’s near-murder of his son Isaac in
Learning styles can be defined as the “characteristic penchants for perceiving and processing information and experience that are unique to individuals and developmental through life stages.” Our penchants are specific preferences for how we respond to the learning situation. Each of us perceives and processes information and experiences in our own individual way at a given time, place, situation and developmental level. Some perceive information and experience concretely while others do so abstractly. Some process information and experience reflectively while others do so actively. The combination of these two dimensions of perceiving and processing results in four different learning styles. The names given to these four learning styles depend on the researcher you read. I prefer the names Bernice McCarthy uses in her book The 4Mat System that identifies the four as Imaginative, Analytic, Common Sense and Dynamic.
Let’s take a careful look at each one drawing from another excellent book Learning Styles by Marlene LeFever. Imaginative learners (perceive concretely and process reflectively) prefer to learn by sensing, feeling and watching. They enjoy group activities and are energized by the interpersonal relationships that develop. They are curious, questioning learners who like to explore different ideas. These students can see the broad overview or big picture more easily than the details. They have an ability to see all sides of the issues presented.
Analytic learners (perceive abstractly and process reflectively) prefer to learn by thinking and watching. They appreciate the facts and the logical soundness of ideas. They enjoy carefully presented material delivered by an authority figure, the teacher. They aim for perfection and find it difficult to settle for anything less than an A. These students typically will sit and listen in order to gather all the facts before taking any action.
Common Sense learners (perceive abstractly and process actively) prefer to learn by thinking and doing. They want to see the practical and relevant usefulness of ideas and concepts. They like to play with ideas and test them in the real world. They enjoy analyzing problems and solving them. These students like to get the job done, especially when it is of immediate importance to them.
Dynamic learners (perceive concretely and process actively) prefer to learn by sensing, feeling and doing. They like hands-on, trial-and-error and results-oriented experimentation. They like action and would rather follow hunches and seek new possibilities than think things through to their rational conclusion. These students are risk takers and thrive on flexibility and change. They enjoy starting new things and coming up with original ideas.
What are the implications for your teaching? First, every student in your Bible study program has a preferred learning style. That doesn’t mean they all can’t learn in the ways others can, but they enjoy the learning experience much more when their learning style is being engaged in the learning experience, and they actually learn better. Your task as a Bible teacher is to make sure that at some point in the lesson you give each student an opportunity to shine through his or her learning style. “How we learn affects everything else in our lives, our feelings about ourselves, our willingness to try new things, and our contributions to society and to our Savior.” Students want to feel successful at learning the Bible. That success breeds confidence in their faith and boldness to serve the Lord Jesus.
Second, some of you immediately will react to what I’ve just presented by wanting to identify the learning styles of your students. Indeed, there are commercially available tests with proven results that you could use to find out, but resist the temptation. Numerous research studies have demonstrated a fairly even distribution of all four styles across the population. In other words, you have students who represent all four learning styles in your Bible study groups and in roughly the same numbers. Don’t pigeon-hole any students into a specific learning style. One’s preferred learning style is developmental and can be stretched by participating in learning activities aimed at the other three. Research suggests that optimum learning results when students are challenged to employ all of their available capacities and not just those they prefer to use. It is essential that all four styles of learning be targeted with all students and valued equally.
Third, your preferred learning style directly influences the way you teach. You most often will select learning activities that you enjoy and would prefer doing if you were the student. Break out of the rut and take some risks by choosing to experiment with learning activities aimed at the other three styles. You may be holding your students back by not allowing them to shine. For example, I’m an analytic learner. I love to sit and listen to well-developed and well-delivered lectures. I’m a good note taker. I’m an independent learner. Factual information presented in linear fashion suites me fine. However, I do not enjoy working in groups (imaginative) or doing skits (dynamic) or clay sculpting (common sense). In the past, I have avoided those types of learning activities in my teaching. It takes more time and effort for me to prepare the kinds of learning activities that will help students in the other three learning styles learn best. Now, I force myself to do it for their sake. I learn a few things along the way, stretch my learning ability and become a better teacher while I’m at it.
Fourth, planning your lesson in such a way that it engages all four learning styles takes time and forethought. You won’t be able to do this at 10:00 p.m. Saturday night. You have to ask yourself if what you are doing (teaching students about the God of the universe, His Son and how to live according to His Word) is worth your preparation time. Consider the importance of what you do, which is significant.; you are dealing in matters of eternity, so it is absolutely worth your time. Break the habit of preparing Saturday night by starting the Monday before. You’ll be amazed at how creative and effective your lessons can become when given the time to percolate in your mind and spirit throughout the week.
An effective lesson plan format that correlates well with the four learning styles is the one popularized by Larry Richards called Hook, Book, Look, Took. The Hook is the first part of your lesson that explains, “Why study this lesson?” and correlates with the imaginative learner. The Book section of your lesson answers, “What do I need to know?” and fits well with the analytic learner. Next is the Look portion of your lesson that answers, “How does this apply to me?” and resonates with the common sense learner. Wrap up the lesson with the Took segment of your lesson that answers, “What am I willing to invest in what I have learned?” and coincides with the dynamic learner. If you regularly use this lesson plan outline you more consistently will help all the students in your group enjoy studying the Bible.
Attention to learning modalities is an additional aspect of learning styles that explains how we sense information and experience. There are three learning modes: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. These three often are presented as the learning styles, but I believe they complement the four learning styles presented. The visual learner senses information and experience by seeing. Visual learners are excited about art, sculpture, mapping, graphics, colors, shapes, drawings, paintings, patterns and forms. Auditory learners sense information and experience by listening. They enjoy music, speech, rhythm, vibrations, tone, oral directions, chanting and mentally configured sounds. Kinesthetic learners sense information and experience by moving and touching. They appreciate patterned movement, stepping, dance, gesturing, hand motions, body positioning, walking, running and other forms of physical action. Students have preferred learning styles, as well as preferred learning modalities. They use the other modalities to process information, but they enjoy the learning process more when their preferred mode is engaged. Incidentally, only about 20 percent of people prefer auditory modes of learning; yet most teachers spend the bulk of their lesson time lecturing. No wonder our students are bored with learning.
Let’s take another step further into the world of learning styles to discuss brain hemispheres. The human brain is divided into halves, right and left. The right side controls the left side of the body, spatial capability and processes information globally by seeing the big picture (the proverbial forest). The left controls the right side of the body, speech and processes information sequentially by seeing the specifics (the trees). We need to remember both hemispheres are equally important and play active roles in working cooperatively in mental functioning. Right brain-dominant learners are intuitive, see correspondences, excel in poetic language and are superior at drawing. Left brain-dominant learners are rational, see cause and effect, excel in propositional language and are superior at writing. Middle brain-dominant learners are flexible and vacillate between the two approaches to process information and experiences. Understanding these differences will further help you plan engaging Bible study lessons that will assist your students in not only remembering, but also applying what they are taught. Be cautious, however, of making too much of these differences. Current research has brought into question the dichotomy between right and left brain dominance, showing that both hemispheres of the brain are capable of doing aspects of the other’s job.
Permit me to make one last excursion into the field of learning styles to clarify what I believe to be a misconception about the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI). Howard Gardner presented the concept of MI in 1983; since then, countless research projects have strengthened his theory. Gardner defines an intelligence as “a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture.” They are not things that can be seen or counted, but are “potentials…that will or will not be activated, depending upon the values of a particular culture, the opportunities available in that culture, and the personal decisions made by individuals and/or their families, schoolteachers, and others.” He goes on to dispel common myths about MI, one of which is “an intelligence is the same as a learning style.” Gardner argues that a learning style designates the general approach that an individual learner applies equally to an indefinite range of content but an intelligence is a capacity that is geared toward specific content in the world. I believe MI also should be considered as complementary to the four learning styles presented above.
There are currently eight specific multiple intelligences that are generally recognized and accepted by researchers and teachers. They are linguistic, logical, visual-spatial, musical, nodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalistic. The linguistic intelligence learner prefers the use of words, listening, reading, writing, speaking and memorizing. The logical intelligence learner prefers numbers, abstract thinking, logical reasoning, organization and problem solving. The visual-spatial intelligence learner prefers art, drawing, imagination and the use of metaphors. The musical intelligence learner prefers music, rhythm, pitch and sensitivity to the emotional power of music. The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence learner prefers athletics, dance, hand skills and acting. The intrapersonal intelligence learner prefers understanding self, introspection, self-motivation and mediation. The interpersonal intelligence learner prefers working with others, negotiation and awareness of others’ needs. The Nnturalist intelligence learner prefers knowing, appreciating and interacting with nature. As you can see, there is a lot of overlap with what we have developed.
More recently a ninth category identified as existential intelligence has been recognized by some, but not all who embrace MI. Existential intelligence learners demonstrate the ability and proclivity to pose (and ponder) questions about life, death and ultimate realities, in essence, a spiritual or religious intelligence. Most researchers don’t realize what they have stumbled upon with this category. Scripture explains in
Every learning activity you choose can be carefully examined to identify which learning style will be primarily engaged, which learning mode will be predominantly employed, which hemisphere will be chiefly operating and which multiple intelligence will be actively utilized. Learning is complex work! My advice to you is not to get lost in the field of learning theory. Select one aspect and decide to work on that area in your lesson preparation and planning. When you feel confident with that aspect, tackle another one to work on for a while. You gradually will become a much better teacher, and our students will notice because they each will have an opportunity to shine during the Bible study session.
Bernice McCarthy, The 4Mat System, (Barrington, IL: Excel Inc., 1987), 87. See the official website of The 4Mat System.
David A. Kolb, Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1984).
Marlene D. LeFever, Learning Styles (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1995), 20-21.
LeFever, 14.
Raymond J. Wlodkowski, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn (San Francisc Josey-Bass, 1985), 180.
Lawrence O. Richards and Gary J. Bredfeldt, Creative Bible Teaching (1998).
McCarthy, 128; LeFever, 99-107.
Donna Walker Tileston, 10 Best Teaching Practices (Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, Inc., 2000), 13.
William R. Yount, Created to Learn, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2010), 512-516; McCarthy, 70-78; LeFever, 211-217.
Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (New York: Basic Books, 1983).
Howard Gardner, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century (New York: Basic Books, 1999), 33-34.
Ibid., 83-84.
Thom & Joani Schultz, The Dirt on Learning (Loveland: Group Publishing, 1999), 57-58.
Gardner, Chapter 4.
