Why bother learning about learning styles and psychological types?

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that increased learning gains can be achieved with adult learners when instruction is designed with learning styles in mind 1-3. The adoption of any type of new teaching and/or learning approach has the potential to require a good deal of valuable faculty time and energy. In this paper, the question of why science and engineering faculty should learn about learning styles and psychological types will be addressed. A brief overview of two learning style models and assessment instruments will be presented. These learning style models are: The Dunn and Dunn Model and the Kolb Model. These models will be compared and contrasted in terms of their usefulness and application both inside and outside of the classroom. A comparison will also be made between these learning style models and one well-known application that has been developed to assess psychological type. To this end, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) will be described.