Differentiated Instruction and Learning Styles

One way to differentiate instruction or assessment is by students' learning styles. I have been using an online questionnaire for my students to determine their preferred learning styles. The site, VARK - A Guide to Your Learning Preferences, contains a questionnaire for adults, for younger people (students), and for athletes. I have only used the version for younger people. Students take the questionnaire online and are provided with a score. For example, a score may be:

• V = 9 (visual)
• A = 7 (aural)
• R = 4 (read-write)
• K = 8 (kinesthetic)

In this case, the student's score indicates that he is multimodal and does not have a single preference for taking in or giving out information; rather, he adapts to the instructional style of his teacher, whether it be visual, aural or kinesthetic. Sometimes a student can be bimodal or even have a single mode of input and output of information. I have been using this inventory as a part of students' digital portfolios that they share with parents at Student Led Conferencing.

Recently I have come across another inventory, Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire, developed by Richard M. Felder, a Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University and Barbara A. Soloman, Coordinator of Advising, First Year College, North Carolina State University. I really like this questionnaire. It is a 44 question inventory with a dichotomous choice. After taking the questionnaire, the student is given a result sheet in which he is provided a score in each of the following areas:

• ACTIVE AND REFLECTIVE LEARNERS
• SENSING AND INTUITIVE LEARNERS
• VISUAL AND VERBAL LEARNERS
• SEQUENTIAL AND GLOBAL LEARNERS

A student can score in the middle of an area, or have a strong preference for one end of the spectrum compared to the other. For eample, I took the inventory and scored a 9 under active and reflective. I have a strong preference for thinking about new information before doing anything with it; I like to work alone. See how a report scale is set up below.

Active X Reflective
11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11

Sensing X Intuitive
11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11

Visual X Verbal
11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11

Sequential X Global
11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11

Additional information is provided about the scores in each of the four spectra in terms of what can be done by the learner to help himself in a particular area. Also additional information on learning styles and the implications for instructors is provided. I plan to use this inventory with my students and see what it can tell me as I plan for differentiated instruction.