Learning Styles and Approaches

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the teaching instructional methodology called scaffolding which is based on Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). It provides an example of a fifth-grade teacher who used scaffolding as part of his curriculum on the Civil War. The paper then discusses different learning styles and the effects of diversity on learning.

Table of Contents:
Scaffolding
Learning Styles
Student Diversity
Low- and High-Achieving Students

From the Paper:

"Regardless of the students and their achievement levels, they need to be motivated to learn. Teachers need to develop high-achieving learning environments for all students, where the most advanced curriculum and instruction techniques support learning and can be achieved in a scaffolding fashion. In high-achieving learning environments, teachers encourage students to think out of the box and participate in problem solving and the exploration of new ideas and issues, which are based on the variety of student intelligences, culture, experiences, and knowledge. Low-achieving students, especially require environments that include them in hands-on tasks and provide them significant opportunities to develop knowledge. The educator Benjamin Bloom's work emphasized the educators' unrealized potential to help each student achieve at high levels. There were those who considered his thoughts overly optimistic. However, those who knew Bloom said that he despised that label, disdained irrational idealism and did not have patience for wishful thinking.. He continually stressed the powerful impact of social, demographic, and economic factors on educational outcomes, and instead of describing what is typical, he wanted to determine what is possible. His efforts targeted issues that educators can control and change to provide highly favorable learning conditions for all students."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bloom, B. (1971). Mastery learning. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
• Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, and Experience & School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• Lev Vygotsky Archive. (No date). Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/
• Olson, J. and Platt, J. (2000). The Instructional Cycle. Teaching Children and Adolescents with Special Needs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
• Raymond, E. (2000). Cognitive Characteristics. Learners with Mild Disabilities.. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, A Pearson Education Company

More papers on Learning Styles and Approaches:

• Research Paper # 111534 : "Learning Styles"
• Research Paper # 3096 : "Preferred Learning Styles"
• Analytical Essay # 105543 : "Overview and Analysis of the Gregorc Approach"

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