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Hold On, You Lost Me!

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Hold On, You Lost Me!

Use Learning Styles to Create Training that Sticks

ASTD Publications,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

How to base your lesson plans not on what you must teach but on how your students learn.

Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

Author Bernice McCarthy developed the “4MAT teaching model,” an innovative instructional method that leverages the latest neurological research about right-brain and left-brain thinking. The 4MAT approach allows people with different learning styles to absorb new subject material, retain the information and put it to practical use. McCarthy teams up with corporate trainer Jeanine O’Neill-Blackwell to explain how to use the 4MAT model. The title of their book is particularly apt because, alas, the lay reader can get lost. Perhaps in an effort to be authentically academic, the authors have burdened their text with jargon. It is filled with “mindmaps,” “hemisphericity divisions” and “stream of consciousness dumping,” as well as the probably unnecessary deconstruction of various English words into their Latin derivatives. However, with patience, getAbstract believes that HR managers, course designers, trainers and teachers can unlock the genuinely useful insights offered by this guide to teaching and learning.

Summary

People Learn According to Their Own Styles

Everyone has a unique learning style. Why? People’s individual past experiences lead them to absorb and process information in their own ways. Some prefer classroom instruction. Others like hands-on training. Still others enjoy extensive discussions.

The learning process begins when people form perceptions, so the way they “perceive” new material defines their approach to learning. Some people immerse themselves completely in the sensations of a learning experience. Others bypass “feeling and sensing” and cut right to “thinking and judging.” These alternative learning styles contrast sharply. For example, a “senser/feeler” prefers to learn about an orange by looking at it, peeling it and tasting it. A “thinking/judging” learner would rather turn to a reliable information source, such as an encyclopedia, to read about the fruit.

The next step in learning is information processing. “Watchers” are learners who look over what they have learned and think about it. Other learners, called “doers,” prefer to take quick action using their new knowledge. Watchers take the time to process new information carefully. Doers get bored...

About the Authors

Bernice McCarthy created the 4MAT teaching model used by organizations around the world to improve instruction and learning. Jeanine O’Neil-Blackwell is an expert in developing initiatives that help trainers become more effective.

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