Do we find ourselves lost in what someone, whether our teacher, boss, parent or friend is trying to say? We ask "Eh ... what did you just say? Can you say that again?"

For some of us, there seems to be a natural "power-save" mechanism or a "screen-saver" mode that we switch on automatically after twenty minutes of listening, listening and more listening. It happens to us, our family and friends and it has to do with how we process information. The ways through which we receive information most effectively are also known as our learning styles.

How, where and with whom we prefer to study or learn is called learning style.

Many of us do not know about learning styles or how to use them to help us in our daily lives. If we understand our learning styles, we are in a better position to do better and excel. Rev. Dr. Phil Pringle from Christian City Church once taught that when we focus on our weaknesses, we obtain average results. It is when we use our strengths, we attain excellence. To use our strengths, we need to know.

The Bible talks about the power of knowing: "A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength" (Prov. 24:5).

The more general and self-knowledge we acquire, the stronger we become. The concept of learning styles is about strengths. It is about knowing how we can best process information through our strengths so that we can do even greater things for God.

PROFESSORS RITA AND KENNETH DUNN

Two of the early pioneers who carried out research in this area of learning styles are a couple known globally for their passion and love for children and education—Professors Rita and Kenneth Dunn.

With more than 27 books, 450 research papers and articles in journals, they are giants in the research arena. Prof. Rita and Kenneth Dunn are currently 77 and 79 years old respectively and are still actively working to contribute to learning style research.

In 1967, Prof. Rita Dunn was asked by the New York State Department of Education to help teachers teach better. As a result, they developed the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model (see figure below), currently used and taught in more than 30 countries all over the world.


In August 2006, both Prof. Rita and Kenneth Dunn made a trip to Singapore and held a hugely successful Dialogue Session at Kheng Cheng School. Over 30 school principals, heads of departments and teachers attended the talk. For an hour and a half, Prof. Rita gave a brief presentation on the concept of the learning style model and how she developed it through years of research.

There was also a time of interaction between the professors and attendees as several questions were raised during the Q&A segment.

THE LEARNING STYLE MODEL

There are 20 different styles grouped into five categories. We are affected by: