Learning Styles

Extraversion – Introversion

(Afective/temperament learning styles)

Niklas Grunwaldt

• Extraversion/introversion occurs along a continuum. (not bipolar)

• People who fall at the extremes have clear preferences.

• Those who fall in the middle are called "ambiverts" and can function well in many different situations.

Problem in education extreme extra/introvert learners.

• Learning environments that are stimulating enough for extraverts are too stimulating for introverts, and vice versa!

Extroverted learning styles

Approximately 60% of learners are extroverted learners.

Characteristics of Extraverts

• Talk more and tend to take action with less reflection

• Work better in groups than alone • Good at interpreting body language & facial

expressions • Excel during classes with high levels of activity • Respond well to praise and competition • Prefer quicker, less accurate approach • Good at tasks involving short-term memory • Highly resistant to distraction in interference

conditions involving divided attention • Prefer bright colors, loud music, and excitement

Extraverts motto is: Ready, Fire, Aim

• Extraverts find energy in things and people.

• They prefer interaction with others, and are action oriented.

• Extraverts are interactors and "on-the-fly" thinkers.

• For the extravert, there is no impression without expression.

Classroom

• Our culture and the face-to-face classroom seem to favor extraversion.

• Extraverted students learn by explaining to others. They do not know if they understand the subject until they try to explain it to themselves or others.

• Extraverted students enjoy working in groups. Consider in-class or outside-of-class group exercises and projects.

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• Extraverts have been found to enjoy the computer-mediated communication. They are more likely to use emoticons. 

• Videoconferencing, with its high sensory perception and attempt to replicate face-to-face interaction, may be favored by the extravert if the instructor includes social activities such as class discussion and group work.

Exercises fitting extroverts

• Group work • Videoconferencing • class discussions • Multimedia • Chat rooms • Thinking Aloud Paired Problem Solving (TAPPS)

method• Nominal Group Method

Famous Extraverts:

• Bill Clinton

• John F. Kennedy

• Captain James T. Kirk

Introverted learning style

Approximately 40% of learners are introverted learners.

Introverts motto: Ready, Aim, Aim, .....

• Introverts find energy in the inner world of ideas, concepts, and abstractions. They can be sociable but need quiet to recharge their batteries.

• Introverts want to understand the world.

• Introverts are concentrators and reflective thinkers.

• For the introvert, there is no impression without reflection.

Characteristics of Introverts: • Talk less and reflect more before acting • Like to be quiet • Better at reflective problem solving and tasks involving

long-term memory • Like to work independently or with one or two other people • Prefer slower, more accurate approach • May have trouble establishing rapport with others • Oriented toward inner world of ideas and feelings • Prefer low sensory input and low levels of activity • Excel at focusing attention for long periods of time in

situations if there are no distractions • Have a lot going on in their inner world

Classroom

• Introverted students want to develop frameworks that integrate or connect the subject matter. To an introvert, disconnected chunks are not knowledge, merely information. Knowledge means interconnecting material and seeing the "big picture."

• Teach students how to chunk, or group and interconnect, knowledge.

• Let students build a compare/ contrast table, flowchart, or concept map.

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• The introvert are at an advantage with asynchronous computer-mediated communication.

• Introverted, quieter students benefit the most from asynchronous CMC.

Exercises fitting introverts

• Individual work • Reading and writing assignments • Asynchronous computer-mediated

communication • compare/ contrast table, • Flowchart• concept map.

Famous Introverts

• Thomas Jefferson

• Al Gore

• Mr. Spock

The end

TAPPS

• Teacher poses question and provides quiet time for students.

• Teacher designates the explainer and listener within each dyad.

• Explainers explains ideas to listeners. Listeners can (1) ask questions of clarification, (2) disagree, or (3) provide hints when explainers becomes lost

• Teacher critiques some explainers' answers and provides closure

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Nominal Group Method

• Teachers pose question and provide quiet time for students.

• Each team member shares ideas with others in a round-robin fashion.

• Teams discusses ideas and reaches closure.

• Teacher critiques some team's answers and provide closure.

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