Development Site, Theory of student learning

Theory of student learning

To help you plan your tutorial you need to be aware that students learn in different ways and their retention rate varies depending on how you teach.

Learning preferences

Some students are auditory learners and:

Learn by listening, understand by listening
Prefer verbal instructions
Work out solutions by talking aloud so they can hear the solution
Like discussions, special speakers, and lectures really appeal
Interpret speaker’s meaning by focusing on tone of voice, speed, and other speech nuances

Other are visual learners and :

Learn through descriptions and demonstrations
Use lists to organize thoughts
Need to see the teacher’s body language as he or she teaches
Are greatly assisted by the use of diagrams and videos, handouts and illustrations
Like to take detailed notes

Others are tactile learners and:

Like hands on
Like to ‘do’

Learning retention

Research (e.g., Arnold et al, 1991; Laird, 1985) suggests that students retain:

20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
50% of what they see and hear
70% of what they see, hear and say
90% of what they see, hear, say and do

As a tutor, you will probably be teaching small groups of ten – thirty students in either tutorials, seminars, practical classes, demonstrations or clinical settings. In these settings effective learning occurs when students have the opportunity to hear a lecture or discussion, see a demonstration or visual display, discuss the material, and have an opportunity to engage with the material.

Effective small group learning

As a tutor you need to be aware of how groups form and evolve, how active participation, face-to-face interactions, purposeful activity and intellectual engagement can assist the process of learning in small groups, and how to manage group work effectively.

The Teaching Resources page on this site provides links to more resources

» How groups form
Forming – the group is just coming together, and members often show shyness, uncer...

» Active participation
Active participation involves: Getting everyone involved in a way that is productive and inclusive Creating the right atmosphere from the beginning is important, and it is important to ensure ...

» Face-to-face interactions
It is important to ensure that your physical environment allows for face-to-face contact. Non-verbals (gestures, facial expressions, etc) are often just as important as the spoken voice in the delivery and comprehension of people’s ideas. ...

» Purposeful activity
This involves: Each session having a purpose and developing in an orderly way – this requires careful planning Remembering that there are many skills students may be learning while working th...

» Intellectual engagement
Students need to be intellectually challenged. They need to make sense of what they are learning in terms of what they already know. So encourage students to relate the learning material to their existing knowledge.