Using Student Learning Styles and Adapting Teaching Styles in the Context of a Standardized Curriculum

<p>Too often our students are placed in classrooms where one teaching style is supposed to reach every student. With the influx of national and statewide curriculum, teachers are being pressured to teach a vast amount of academic material specific to their grade level each year, and unfortunately the bulk of that material is aligned to only linguistic and logical-mathematic styles of learning. Research shows us multiple ways to identify, implement, and assess students’ learning styles, but what role does standardized curriculum and testing play in this process? This qualitative study explores how various teachers are identifying their students’ many learning styles and adapting their teaching practices to include those styles, while still teaching to the standards. One teacher at each grade level, k through 5, in an urban school in northern California was interviewed .They were asked how they identify student learning styles and implement this information into teaching practice within the context of a standardized curriculum. Results of the interviews indicate that these teachers are using multiple methods to identify and implement students’ learning styles in the classroom, and that standards are impacting this process both positively and negatively.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year

2006

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Anelie

• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/288

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:education-print-theses-1287