Learning stages are, by definition, not permanent. Indeed, it is not unreasonable to set a conscious goal of trying to get students to make the transition through one or more Perry or Belenky stages. We have not stated our goals that way, partly because such goals would not be recognized by most of our colleagues, but mainly because the stages don't describe adequately the specific mathematical and other abilities we intend for our students to develop.
Learning styles are also not permanent, although many teachers and students act as if they were. In fact, it is important for a learner to develop a repertoire of learning styles, and it is important for teachers to encourage that development. I occasionally have a student, usually male, who complains (not necessarily in these words) that our course does not accommodate his preferred learning style, which includes working alone and being rewarded or penalized solely on his own ability to “solve problems,” not to write about the process. Such a student is seldom swayed by the argument that he will have to make a living by working with other people and by explaining his work to others -- that it is time to learn how to do those things. I can empathize, because I retained the working-alone mode for much of my professional career -- never letting others see me make mistakes if I could avoid it. My professional life became much richer when I learned that I could share work and learning (and mistakes) with other people, and I can quite honestly recommend that my student not wait as long as I did to make this discovery. I see no disservice in requiring that student to work with others and to explain what he is doing.
Actually, this student and most of his peers have a lot of unlearning to do before any significant learning can take place. In particular, we have to make the price too high for them to continue their mode of constructing coping skills for passing the next test. There are two things we can do about that:
One way we encourage students to learn new learning styles is by placing them in heterogeneous groups to solve problems that may be too hard for any individual in the group. Each student brings to the group activity her or his prior problem solving experiences, and the mix is often richer than the sum of the parts. As students learn from each other, they also learn the value of others' learning styles, and they begin to add aspects of those styles to their own view of learning.
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Send comments to the author <das@math.duke.edu>Last modified: May 17, 1997