Cognitive Styles

Cognitive Styles: 'Intu' and 'Ana'

DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIT:

This 90-minute session starts with a short introduction explaining the background and the goal of the session. Different drama techniques are used during the learning process: Drama Games, Image Theatre, Continuum, Interviewing, Role Play, Reflection. The teacher acts in the auditorium as drama facilitator and at one point takes the role of the Joker (a technique from Forum Theatre practice).

The Purpose of this session is to establish knowledge on the concepts of learning style (knowledge from the group itself and from the facilitators) and to help the participants in finding their own individual preferences in the learning process.

OBJECTIVES:

to illustrate the theoretical material about learning styles, with participants’ personal examples
to raise students’ awareness about their own cognitive style and preferences in the learning process
to discuss how the knowledge and awareness could be used in participants’ teaching practice

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this unit learners will have...

…become aware of and reflected on their cognitive styles;
…received information on conclusions from research regarding learning and cognitive styles
…become aware of the possible uses of this information in a teacher’s everyday practice

APPLIED METHODOLOGIES (Examples, for more download file below):

At the beginning of the session, drama contract should be “signed”. It is important that everyone has the freedom to participate or have an observer’s position if one feels that the activities are too revealing or uncomfortable in any other sense. A game or drama activity for warming up the group, or discussion leading into the topic described below, would be useful to start the process with. The session will then use the following techniques:

Discussion in pairs or in small groups:

The first task for participants is to open the topic of learning. It is a short discussion in smaller groups about the concept of learning; what are the images that first come into mind when hearing the word ‘learning’?

Image theatre or other drama technique:

The next action is visualising the images discussed with human sculptures, or short improvisation etc and showing them to the other groups.

Sharing and short discussion:

The drama section is followed by another reflective discussion on what participants saw and what the groups intended to show.

Characters on the wall (Introduction to the topic):

The facilitator presents two big papers (A2) with the contours of the main characters INTU (Intuitive Learner) and ANA (Analytical Learner). The visualisation and discussion is followed by short overview of two polar cognitive styles (intuitive and analytical) in Allinson and Hayes’s CSI (Allinson, C. W. & Hayes, J. 2012. The Cognitive Style Index: Technical Manual and User Guide).

Continuum/Scaling:

The teacher marks down, on the floor, the continuum. One end would be for analytical learners and the other one for the intuitive learners. Participants are then asked to find the place on the line where they believe they belong to (what type of learners they consider themselves to be, simply following their own judgement). The continuum exercise will be summed up with short discussion about why each one had taken one or another position; basically, the reasoning behind the personal decision.

Characters on the wall:

Both drawings will be completed with the features and behaviour descriptions that the participants have pointed out during the discussion.

Physical Theatre or Role-play:

Now the whole row is divided into two groups, ones representing INTU, the other ANA. The facilitators mark down the contours of a huge imaginary tabletop – four corners and the seat for a character. The performing group’s participants are now asked to think of an object that their character will most probably have on that table; then, to place the object in the right place. They will then continue to imagine themselves to be in the role of the object – to see what it sees, hear what it hears... And so, the improvisations of objects on two tables, the table of INTU and ANA, will be played and observed.

Joker, Interviewing, Improvised Monologues:

Next, the facilitator acts as a Joker and gives every object a chance to introduce itself and tell about its life on that table – how INTU/ ANA treats it, what it has noticed about its owner’s habits during the study process etc. While the members of one group are improvising, the other group forms an audience and observes the improvisation.

Reflection:

The session ends with a debriefing where the emotions experienced during the activities, and the notions of what had happened, will be discussed. Also, the notions of what patterns were observed on the tables, what tendencies in thoughts of the objects (if any) etc. What did participants find out about themselves, about their preferences in their learning process? The debriefing also links the exercises back to the theory of cognitive styles and shows how we can use the knowledge in our work as teachers.

REFERENCES:

Coffield, F.; Moseley, D.; Hall, E. & Ecclestone, K. 2004. Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. <http://sxills.nl/ lerenlerennu/bronnen/Learning styles by Coffield e.a..pdf>, (10.12.2014).
Komsaare, A. 2014. Cognitive Style and a Field of Studies: Comparison of Art Students and Leisure Time Management of Students in Estonia. – International Journal of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 597–604.
Komsaare, Aurika (2016). Relations Between Students’ Cognitive Style and Their Learning Method Preferences. Journal of Teaching and Education, 06(01), 13−20.