5.5 Sub question 1: The mathematics teachers’ knowledge of students’ learning styles
5.5.1 The teachers’ understanding of students’ learning styles
When asked to explain what they understood by students’ learning styles, the mathematics teachers had different explanations. Table 5.2 gives a summary of the ways in which the mathematics teachers described learning styles.
Table 5.2: Summary of the ways in which the teachers described students’ learning styles (n=30)
Description of learning styles Frequency Percentage
Differences in students’ abilities to learn from teachers’
instructions
11 36.67%
Students’ abilities to learn from concrete or abstract ideas 3 10%
Students’ abilities to learn as individuals or as part of a group 3 10%
Type of learning assistance and learning tools required by the students
5 16.67%
Students’ preferred learning methods 8 26.67%
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Differences in students’ abilities to learn from teachers’ instructions
Eleven (36.67%) of the teachers thought learning styles refer to the students’ varying abilities to follow their teachers’ instruction. One of the teachers who shared this view had the following to say:
“I can rightly say that students’ learning styles refer to the abilities of the students to learn or to follow the teacher’s instruction. Some students can grasp new information so easily while some take time to grasp concepts. Some need the teacher to repeat the same instruction several times for them to understand.”(Mr CT 4, pers. comm.).
Students’ abilities to learn from concrete or abstract ideas
In their explanation, three (10%) of the teachers mentioned that students’ learning styles refer to their abilities to learn from either abstract or concrete ideas. According to the teachers, some students are able to understand concepts that are presented in abstract terms, while others need to use their senses for them to understand concepts. They are only able to learn from concrete examples. One of the teachers said:
“It refers to the student’s preferred mode of learning. Some students can be taught from abstract while others cannot comprehend abstract concepts.”(Ms BT1, pers. comm.).
The researcher probed Ms BT1 to explain what she meant by abstract concepts. She gave the following explanation:
“For example, suppose you are teaching students to convert centimetres to metres. When you teach from abstract you can explain to the students that one metre is equivalent to one hundred centimetres, and then you ask them to calculate the number of metres in two hundred centimetres, and so forth.
However some students have problems with such methods of teaching. They need to get hold of the metre rule, count the number of centimetres in a metre by themselves and probably use the metre rule to measure given dimensions of an object in both metres and centimetres. It is only after such activities that they will then be able to understand the relationship between centimetres and metres.”(Ms BT1, pers.comm.).
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Students’ abilities to learn as individuals or as part of a group
Some of the mathematics teachers interviewed thought that students’ learning styles refer to their abilities to solve mathematical problems as individuals or in groups with peers. Three (10%) teachers shared this way of thinking. The following statement was said by one of the teachers during an interview session:
“Some mathematics students have problems in working with others. If you give them problems to solve, they choose to work by themselves. They feel satisfied if they get things right while their peers fail. On the other hand, some students look for help from others or from the teachers. They cannot work independently. They always want to socialise with peers or with their teacher.
They are willing to help their peers too. Some are not sure of what they are able to do.”(Mr CT3, pers. comm.).
Students’ preferred learning methods
Eight (26.67%) of the mathematics teachers described students’ learning styles as students’
preferred learning methods. According to these teachers, learning styles also refer to the methods which the students prefer their teachers to use when teaching them. The following were statements from some of the teachers:
“In my understanding students’ learning styles refer to the ways or methods in which the students prefer to learn. It can be through demonstrations, games, role plays, illustrations or any other methods.”(Mr AT2, pers. Comm.).
“Students have favourite ways in which they prefer us to teach them. Their learning styles are their ways of learning from teachers’ instructions. Some of the students prefer a teacher who demonstrates to them. Some prefer learning by doing. No one method of teaching is the best for all the students.”(Ms ET2, pers. comm.).
Type of learning assistance and learning tools required by the students
Another group of teachers thought students’ learning styles prescribe the type of assistance required by students for them to learn effectively. As expressed by those teachers, the assistance includes the learning aids or tools required by the students for them to understand concepts. One of those teachers had the following to say:
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“Learning styles prescribe the assistance that students need in order to grasp concepts taught. These learning styles suggest to the teacher which teaching strategies he or she should adopt and which teaching aids best suit the students. Decisions on what to use, when to use it and how it is supposed to be used in the lesson is based on the students’ learning styles.”(Mrs JT1, pers.
comm.).
The teachers were asked if they had been taught or exposed to formal knowledge of students’
learning styles. Ten of the teachers (33.33%) said that they learnt about learning styles when they trained as teachers. Eleven (36.67%) reported that they got information on learning styles from the internet and the other nine (30%) said that they learned about learning styles from their colleagues through peer interaction during in-service courses and during mathematics panel meetings. The following were some of the responses from the teachers:
“Studies on learning differences were part of the course content that we learnt at college. Although I trained as a teacher a long time ago, I still have some memories.”(Mrs DT1, pers. comm.).
“In our panel meeting last year, someone presented on how students differ in the ways they learn mathematics. It was quite informative and enlightening.”(Ms DT2.pers.comm.).
“Nobody has ever taught me about learning styles, but you know as you gain experience in working with students you end up picking up something. The assistance I get from the internet these days has given me useful knowledge on how to teach mathematics effectively.”(Mr FT1, pers.comm.).
The researcher probed the participants in order to find out if they had knowledge on any learning style models. Twenty-eight (93.33%) of them could not remember any learning style model. Only two of the teachers had some idea. Those two teachers had little knowledge on the experiential learning style model. They were able to recall that students can be classified into four classes according to the experiential learning style model. One of them could only remember the class of accommodators and the other one mentioned the accommodators and the assimilators. None of them gave a clear description of the learners in the classes they had mentioned. One of the teachers was quoted as follows:
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“ ……mmmm ‘accommodators’ and ‘assimilators’ are some of the classes of learners in which students can be classified, however I cannot remember the details of how the students differ according to these classes.”(Mr ET3, pers.
comm.).
5.5.2 The teachers’ opinions on factors which determined their students’ learning styles