How to use Learning Styles in your Classroom to Differentiate Higher Level Thinking and Learning

Barbara McSwain
Oct 06, 2008

We know more today than ever about how children learn.  Throughout the United States we have students of all ability levels and different learning styles thinking creatively and critically. Recently an educator asked, "How can we implement learning styles to differentiate higher level thinking and learning in every classroom?" One of the top five effective practices for increasing achievement is to implement a common unit/lesson design based on research. This is what Learning-Focused does with its unit/lesson framework and is one place where learning styles and higher level thinking are addressed.

In the December 2004 issue of the NACTA Journal, Brian Myers and James E. Dyer's research on the Influence of Student Learning Styles on Critical Thinking was printed. The results of this study stated that no critical thinking skill differences existed between genders.  However, the results did state "that students with deeply embedded abstract sequential learning style preferences exhibited significantly higher critical thinking skill scores." The researchers concluded that "if abstract sequential learners are inherently adept at thinking critically, teachers may not need to focus as intently on teaching strategies that address this learning style. By contrast, however, concrete sequential, abstract random, and concrete random learners may need additional attention through instruction methods and techniques that enhance the critical thinking skills of these learners." This is exactly what Learning-Focused does in Connecting Extending Thinking.  Students are taught extending thinking skills explicitly in an acquisition lesson. After mastering the skill, the thinking skill is applied to content that has been taught in previous acquisition lessons. This is an important instructional concept since sixty percent of test items are coming from extending thinking skills. In the past, educators have simply connected the thinking skill to content without considering if the students understood the thinking skill. It is imperative that the students know both!

What are Learning Styles? The simple answer is that they are different approaches or ways of learning. Visual learners learn through seeing. Auditory learners learn through listening. Tactile/Kinesthetic learners learn though moving, doing and touching. Learners have all of these opportunities in the Learning-Focused unit/lesson framework. The acquisition lesson plan (EATS), which is the first level of learning, and the extending thinking lesson plan (EMTS/EATETS), and culminating activity have imbedded within their framework the use of:

  • Graphic organizers which address the needs of visual learners

  • Collaborative pairs which address the needs of auditory learners

  • Vocabulary activities that provide "hands on" for Tactile/Kinesthetic learners, interaction for auditory learners and vocabulary graphics for visual learners

  • Mnemonic devices which address memory


During Learning-Focused workshops, trainers may be asked, "Will students use these strategies at the college level?" Although this is a topic that had been widely researched and advocated throughout the professional literature, Gokahale wanted to see the effects with critical thinking at the college level. In the Journal of Technology Education, Volume 7, Number 1, Fall 1995 Anuradha Gokhale addressed collaborative learning. Vygotsky's (1978) research recognized that students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when working in collaborative situations vs. individually.

There have been many studies at the primary and secondary level to support the success of collaborative learning. This study determined that students participating in collaborative learning had performed significantly better on the critical thinking test than students who studied individually. It was also found that both groups did equally well on the drill and practice test. This result is in agreement with the learning theories proposed by proponents of collaborative learning. "From this research study, it can be concluded that collaborative learning fosters the development of critical thinking through discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of others' ideas. Certainly these strategies will be beneficial at the college level. More importantly, they are important in life. When has anyone had a personal or professional problem that they did not need to use higher order thinking skills?"

During Connecting Extending Thinking, the second level of learning, students are provided opportunities to address their learning preferences utilizing the thinking skills that Marzano has identified as the most critical: abstracting, comparing/contrasting, classifying/categorizing, constructing support, analyzing perspectives, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, error analysis, and writing.

Learning Preferences address the manner in which individual students prefer to "tackle a task." One group of students may prefer mastery tasks which involve repetitive exercises and practice in skills and information. These students prefer for answers to be judged by correctness. They enjoy sequential tasks which can easily be recalled and restated. The second group of students may prefer interpersonal tasks. These students come into the world talking and enjoying the company of others. If a teacher moves them into another group for talking too much in the first group, they will want to send the teacher a thank you note because now they have new people to get to know! They prefer tasks that focus on identifying and using personal characteristics. These students want assignments to be judged on expressiveness. The third group of students comes into this world asking "why." These students want understanding tasks. They prefer that their assignments focus on explanations, explaining concepts/theories. They want assignments to be judged on reasoning. The fourth group of students prefers self-expressive tasks. They want assignments to be focused on the creation of unique and original products and solutions to non- routine problems. Allowing students to choose their task by learning preference enhances their ability to learn. All students must answer the same Essential Question that requires students to use an extending thinking skill. All Essential Questions are based on state standards. All students have the opportunity to select the task that best fits their learning preference.

Another type of assignment that students may choose from during the extending thinking lesson is the Tiered Activity. Students are using extending thinking skills to answer the Essential Question, but the tiers take into account student ability levels. Some students need more challenge while others may need more support. All students are using extending thinking skills, and all tasks are based on state standards/curriculum.

In a TES Scotland, 15 September 2006 article profiling Dr. Edward De Bono, an expert on teaching thinking as a skill, it is stated that one, 'must provide people with a structure, a framework for thinking." De Bono continues, "That's what has been missing.  All that has been done in the past is 'that's right, that's wrong,' logic and argument. But, frameworks for pro-active thinking are tougher than just reacting - we haven't had them at all. "  

De Bono continued, "Youngsters who are not very good at other subjects and think that they are stupid - and may even have been told so - can do very well at thinking when it is explicitly taught to them. That gives them great self-esteem and improves their performance in other subjects. There is no such a thing as stupid children. Arrogance is the only stupidity."  Learning-Focused Connecting Extending Thinking does exactly what Dr. Bono is advocating. The workshop and materials teach educators how to explicitly teach the thinking skill and how to appropriately attach it to content. It is at this level that assignments are differentiated. The Learning-Focused framework for unit/lesson design, which includes extending thinking, allows students to choose assignments based on their learning preferences, learning styles, and ability levels that are based on state standards. The question is no longer, "Do we know what to do, but rather will we do it?"