Learning Style Preassessment: Selections of Statements and Questions

The first 25 statements are learning style determiners. The other items, questions 25-51, are subject or learning style-based project assessment questions; please change ‘history’ to your subject area. Select the statements or questions that you feel, as a teacher, would best suit your purposes for a particular activity or project. I suggest only a few items (8-15). Choose items that you can and will modify in your classroom if students indicate that they prefer that particular learning style.

Students,

Please respond to the following statements, indicating ways that you like to learn. Circle Yes or No. Your answers will help me better understand how you prefer to work so that I can consider those learning styles as I develop activities for our classroom.

Sandra Page, ASCD Faculty Member on Differentiation1 of 10

3/05 919/929-0681

  1. I like to work:
  2. Individually
  3. With a partner
  4. In a small group
  5. In a whole class group
/ Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
  1. I prefer to have frequent check-in points, so that I can pace my work time, and also to get feedback from the teacher.
/ Yes No
  1. I work better by developing my own time plan.
/ Yes No
  1. I like to think about the whole activity or project and determine where to start with work tasks and then the next steps.
/ Yes No
  1. I prefer to work in a cool, dark, quiet classroom.
/ Yes No
  1. I prefer to work in sunlight or bright light with air movement
/ Yes No
  1. I need step-by step directions to follow to begin a project or activity for class.
/ Yes No
  1. I learn better when there is some quiet music or white noise in the background. (auditory)
/ Yes No
  1. I remember things by recalling the voices and words spoken in a discussion or lecture. (auditory)
/ Yes No
  1. I learn better if I listen to text read aloud while I follow along by reading text on the page. (auditory)
/ Yes No
  1. I remember things I have learned by visualizing where they are on a page or in a chart. (visual)
/ Yes No
  1. I prefer to look up and out at information presented in bigger formats such as charts, posters, overheads, instead of looking down at notes or book pages. (visual)
/ Yes No
  1. I learn better when you see information in diagrams, graphic organizers, pictures, videotapes, flow charts, etc. (visual)
/ Yes No
  1. I fiddle with my hands, string, paper, or I like to use a squeeze (stress) ball or doodle when I am concentrating on learning new tasks or information. (kinesthetic)
/ Yes No
  1. I learn best when doing “hands-on” types of activities. (kinesthetic)
/ Yes No
  1. I learn more easily if I can move around, stand up, sway, or pace while learning new or difficult curriculum. (kinesthetic)
/
Yes No
  1. I unpack my thinking and ideas by either talking out loud to a partner or in small group discussions. (oral)
/ Yes No
  1. I ask questions as I learn new ideas, either out loud to the teacher/others or to myself. (oral)
/ Yes No
  1. When I study, I concentrate better if I can drink water, or chew on an eraser or gum. (oral)
/ Yes No
  1. I learn better if I am given time to jot my ideas down on paper, or to write a reflection about what I have been studying and learning.
/ Yes No
  1. I prefer to sit at a desk or table to read, write, and work.
/ Yes No
  1. I prefer to be on the floor or in a chair to read, write, and work.
/ Yes No
  1. I like to receive only the first one or two steps of an activity, and check in with the teacher, before getting the one or two next steps.
/ Yes No
  1. I like to see someone else do the activity or demonstrate the skill before I try to do it.
/ Yes No
  1. I like to experiment with how to solve the problem or do an activity before I see how other people have solved the problem .
/ Yes No
Subject specific questions about possible projects or sense-making activities.
  1. Do you like to learn history by taking notes from readings in order to debate or discuss big ideas in history?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you prefer to show historically accurate information in visual ways: diagrams, illustrations, graphic organizers, cartoons, pictorial timelines, photographs, etc.?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to use music and rhythm activities, like a cheer, a rap, song lyrics, a chant, to help demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of historical information?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to prepare and orally present your understandings of history through a speech, a powerpoint, a debate, or other formats of oral presentations?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you prefer to use maps, models, or other movable ‘puzzle’ pieces to demonstrate big conceptual ideas from history?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you enjoy creating dialogue, stories, or examples of historical moments that could be performed in class or saved on videotape or audiotape?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you best learn and show your understanding of history by seeing the applications historical concepts in today’s contemporary issues?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to try to call upon an audience to embrace your beliefs or ideas through oral presentations to inform or persuade?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to create competitive ways to learn facts, as in a game?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you enjoy using art skills to illustrate historical content by creating a book, storyboards, political cartoons, poster, etc.?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you prefer to have small groups read and respond to texts or illustrations as a way to discuss big ideas of history?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like demonstrating with drama, role-playing, and acting historical events or different points of view of persons in history?
/ Yes No
  1. A simulation has a problem or situation presented that is historically related and then groups of students must decide upon problem solutions. Would this simulation format for working with historical facts and vocabulary be a good way for you to learn?
/ Yes No
  1. Do you learn best by reading and writing responses to questions?
/ Yes No
  1. Would you enjoying learning history if you take a particular point of view and create a particular scenario or response from that point of view? It might be a debate, a role play, a speech, a political policy statement, a law argument or even a proposed law.
/ Yes No
  1. Can you create mnemonics (little rhymes or songs) that help you recall difficult words or facts? (Example: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”: two & blue rhyme and help you remember the year and the event.)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to learn historical information by interviewing? You would need to prepare a set of focused questions.
/ Yes No
  1. Does it help you understand history when you are assigned to evaluate actual documents and artifacts from that period of time? This would be letters, tools, newspapers, photos, history museum items, diaries, and so forth.
/ Yes No
  1. Do you learn best and show your understanding of history by showing the sequence and order of what you are studying? (analytical)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to outline or diagram to better understand the historical concepts or vocabulary that we are learning? (analytical)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you learn best and demonstrate your understanding of history by making connections to other subjects or to other periods of time that you have studied? (practical)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you like to see examples, learn more about how people acted, or know similarities/analogies for the historical period you are studying? (practical)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you learn more easily if you consider “what if” statements about how this period of history could be applied to today’s issues? (creative)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you understand history more easily if you apply a story-telling or movie-making structure to learn the facts? (creative)
/ Yes No
  1. Do you have another preferred way of showing what skills, facts and understandings you have learned? Tell me more.

  1. Which of the following topics most interests you? Rank them 1 through ? (select 8 to 10 that suit your learning goals) with 1 being your favorite to learn more about.
  • Economics and banking
  • Manufacturing and industry
  • Labor and roles of people (men, women, children)
  • Technology (inventions)
  • Agriculture
  • Laws, Supreme Court, legislative issues
  • Transportation
  • Religion, ethics, philosophy
  • Politics and government
  • Arts (drama, music, literature), culture, architecture
  • Medicine and health issues
  • Sciences – issues and impact
  • Leisure and recreation activities, sports
  • Foreign policies and concerns
  • Important persons
  • Important events
  • Newspapers, magazines, books, and other public opinion /editorials
  • Photographic records of events
  • Links to past and/or to future events and issues
  • Fashion and design
  • Land use and environmental issues
  • Geography
  • Alternate Points of View
  • Exploration and discovery
  • Costs and benefits
  • Balance or shifts in power
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Triarchic Intelligence Theory Self-Assessment

byRobert Sternberg and Elena Grigorenko, 2000

Place a check mark by statements that reflect ways that you enjoy learning.

I Like:Creative

•Designing new things

•Coming up with ideas

•Using my imagination

•Playing make-believe and pretend games

•Thinking of alternative solutions

•Noticing things people usually tend to ignore

•Thinking in pictures and images

•Inventing (new recipes, words, games)

•Supposing that things were different

•Thinking about what would have happened if certain aspects of the world were different

•Composing (new songs, melodies)

•Acting and role playing

I Like:Analytical

•Analyzing characters when I’m reading or listening to a story

•Comparing & contrasting points of view

•Criticizing my own & others’ work

•Thinking clearly & analytically

•Evaluating my & others’ points of view

•Appealing to logic

•Judging my & others’ behavior

•Explaining difficult problems to others

•Solving logical problems

•Making inferences & deriving conclusions

•Sorting & classifying

•Thinking about things

I Like:Practical

•Taking things apart and fixing them

•Learning through hands on activities

•Making and maintaining friends

•Understanding and respecting others

•Putting into practice things I learned

•Resolving conflicts

•Advising my friends on their problems

•Convincing someone to do something

•Learning by interacting with others

•Applying my knowledge

•Working and being with others

•Adapting to new situations

After completing all three areas and checking any statements that apply to you, go back and select 1-3 statements from the entire list that are strongly representative of how you best learn. Place a star by these statements. The intelligence area with the most checks or with the starred items represent your intelligence preference. You may have one or possibly two dominant ways of learning.

Sorting Cards

  • Give each student a 3”x5” index card to gather individual interest and learning style information.
  • Decide what learning style and interest factors you are likely to use in your classroom and ask for that information here. If you will use Gardner’s 8 intelligences, you may want to ask for that information in one of these corners.
  • Do not ask students for information that will not be used for flexible grouping at some point during the semester.
  • Substitute for “genre of book” a category that fits with your subject: favorite person/leader; area of science (botany, zoology, aerodynamics) of highest interest; etc. This will allow you to group by topic interest for applications of skills and knowledge.
  • Use different color index cards for different periods of the day.
  • To allow groupings to be made quickly and easily, attach a small piece of sticky magnetic strip to the info side of the card. Then, arrange cards into groups on a magnetic whiteboard so that students can move smoothly into assigned groups. Alternatively, use cards placed on tables to indicate the groups. (An alternative to a magnetic strip is to use Velcro.)
  • Laminate cards for frequent use.
  • Use cards in a “pack” also as a way of randomly calling upon students during discussions or with questions.

Access some learner preference assessments at Look for the file entitled “Profile Assessments for Cards.”

Develop a Learning Preference or Intelligence Preference Activity

Learning Goals

  • What should students KNOW (facts)
  • What should students be able to DO (verbs)
  • What should students UNDERSTAND (concept statement)

Here are some possible prompts for a Sternberg Triarchic Intelligence preference:

Possible task or activity prompts / Write your own
Creative / See from another point of view … Use alternative materials or data to … Make connections of this lesson to … Use humor to show … Find a new way to demonstrate … Imagine … Predict … Suppose … Discover … Create …
Practical / Act as an expert would by … Show how this is used in real life …Apply to … Show how to solve the problem of … Develop a plan using knowledge of .. Show how this info and skills is like … Simulate …
Analytical / Break into parts… Explain why… Diagram… Present step-by-step … Identify key parts … Compare and contrast … Strengths and weaknesses of.. Deconstruct … Sequence … Write a set of directions … Outline …

Or develop a learning preference/modality preference activity:

Verbalwrite, tell a story, read & summarize, concept web, editorialize, song lyrics, etc. / Oralspeak, discuss, persuasive argument, debate, , give a radio address, ask a series of questions, etc.
Kinestheticact out, dance, move, model, graph, manipulate, puzzle, use symbolic objects, etc. / Auditoryset to music or rhyme, chant, rap, recite, cheer, readers’ theater, sing, mnemonic device, etc.

Learning Modality Preferences

What kind of learner are you? Check the ones that apply. There are four modality preferences given below, and you may be dominant in one or two if you have four or more checks in one area.

Kinesthetic:

  • you like to manipulate objects or pieces
  • you enjoy building and using models
  • you learn better when you have gotten into real-life, hands-on applications
  • you fiddle with your hands, doodle, beat out rhythms, etc. while learning
  • your preference would be to squeeze a stress ball, play with a ball of dough, or other quiet movements while learning
  • you learn more easily if you can move around, pace, sway, stand up

Oral:

  • you unpack your thinking by talking out loud
  • you learn more easily when you discuss questions and ideas with others/partner
  • if you say ideas and facts aloud, you are more likely to remember
  • you may prefer reading aloud in order to understand difficult text passages
  • you prefer having water (or other beverages), gum, or even chewing on paper or erasers to study and learn
  • you may forget what you have read unless you talk about it with someone

Visual:

  • you remember things you have learned by visualizing where they were on the page or in a chart
  • you organize your thinking by using graphic organizers, illustrations, diagrams, concept webbings, or by writing your thoughts downetc.
  • you learn best when you see information through video, storyboards, powerpoints, diagrams, pictures, etc.
  • when learning and studying, you prefer to look up and out at information presented in bigger formats (charts, posters, overheads), instead of looking down at notes or texts
  • you are distracted by movement or visual disorder
  • when reading, you easily visualize the characters, the rooms, the setting

Auditory:

  • you like to have soft music or white-noise in the background to help you study
  • you remember things you have learned by recalling the voices and words spoken in a discussion or lecture
  • you learn better if you listen to text read aloud while you follow along by reading text on the page
  • you remember names better than faces
  • you may sub-vocalize or think in sounds when you read
  • you prefer to listen to a discussion rather than participating in it

Developing a Contract

Things you might include:

  1. A Skills Component
  2. Focus is on skills-based tasks
  3. Assignments are based on pre-assessment of students’ readiness
  4. Students work at their own level and pace
  5. A content component
  6. Focus is on applying, extending, or enriching key content (ideas, understandings)
  7. Requires sense making and production
  8. Assignment is based on readiness or interest
  9. Categories of information, tasks, or criteria of work
  10. A Time Line
  11. Teacher sets completion date and check-in requirements
  12. Students select order of work (except for required meetings and homework)
  13. Are there any required meetings?
  14. The Agreement
  15. The teacher agrees to let students have freedom to plan their time
  16. Students agree to use the time responsibly
  17. Group work arrangements
  18. Guidelines for working are spelled out
  19. Consequences for ineffective use of freedom are delineated
  20. Signatures of the teacher, student and parent (if appropriate) are placed on the agreement
  21. The Learning Goals for the length of the contract
  22. What should students KNOW
  23. What should students be able to DO
  24. What should students UNDERSTAND


Sandra Page, ASCD Faculty Member on Differentiation1 of 10

3/05 919/929-0681