Learning%20Styles.pdf

Peter Honey & Alan Mumford’s Learning Styles

Activists

Get fully involved in new experiences

Open minded and enthusiastic

Will ' try anything once '

Revel in crisis management, ' fire fighting '

Get bored by detail

Reflectors

Prefer to stand back and observe

Look at all angles and implications

' Chew it over ' before reaching conclusions

Take a back seat in meetings and discussions

Theorists

Think problems through logically, step by step

Assimilate disparate facts in coherent theories

Rigorously question assumptions and conclusions

Don't allow their feelings to influence decisions

Uncomfortable with subjectivity, creative thinking

Pragmatists

Keen to try out new ideas to see if they work

Like solving practical problems and making decisions

Emphasise expediency - ' the end justif i es the means'

Impatient with long-winded or open-ending discussions

Based on these preferences, different activities are likely to produce different

responses in the learners. Selection of learning method should take your

preferences into account but effective learning demands the achievement of a

balance between the four styles.

If you have a high activitist style you will learn best from activities where: -

You can become involved with new experiences

There is excitement and drama

You can have high visibility, e.g. chairing a meeting, giving a presentation

You are thrown in at the deep end

You are involved with others

You can ‘have a go’

You will enjoy business games, role-playing exercises and competitive

teamwork tasks

If you have a high reflector style you will learn best from activities where:

You are allowed to watch and think

You can stand back and observe others

You can think before acting

There is research involved

You can review what has occurred