MANILA, Philippines -- Learning style is the way people begin to concentrate on, process, internalize, and remember new and difficult information. It is comprised of both biological and developmental traits that make the same environments and resources effective for some people and ineffective for others.

Like fingerprints, no two individuals are exactly the same or possess the same learning style. People prefer to use different sensory modalities when they process information and demonstrate a distinct ability for remembering complex information better or less well by hearing, seeing, or experiencing or mastering it through hands-on learning.

Over the past three decades, Dr. Rita Dunn, professor of Education and Director of the Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles at St. John’s University in Jamaica, New York and her colleagues, produced a massive body of academic research on the relevance of learning styles of children in international settings, adults, and workers to help them learn and function better.

The proposition is simply this: when we present according to the learning style of our audiences, the happy result is marked improvement in their attitudes toward learning.

The Dunn and Dunn model lists 22 LS preferential elements grouped under 5 major categories. A speaker must proceed from the assumption that, in every presentation, people will have preferences diametrically opposite from each other or from that of the speaker. As a change agent, it is your duty as speaker to provide for all preferences as much as possible.

Theoretical foundations of  The Dunn and Dunn Learning styles model

1. Personal learning style is the biological and developmental set of characteris¬tics that makes the identical instructional environments, methods and resources effective for some learners and ineffective for others.

2. Most people have learning style preferences, but they differ significantly from each other.

3. The stronger the preference, the more important it is to provide compatible instructional strategies

4. Accommodating individual learning style preferences through complementary educational, instructional teaching, and counseling interven¬tions results in increased academic achievement and improved learner attitudes toward learning.

5. Given responsive environments, resources, approaches, learners attain statistically higher achievement and aptitude test scores in congru¬ent (matched) rather than dissonant (mismatched) treatments.

6. Most speakers and counselors can learn to use learning styles as a cornerstone of their instructional and counseling programs.

7. Most learners can learn to capitalize on their learning style strengths when concentrating on new or difficult information.

8. The less academically successful the individual, the more important it is to accommodate learning style preferences.

(The author, Henry S. Tenedero is the president of the Center for Learning and Teaching Styles, an affiliate of the International Learning Styles Network, based at St. John’s University in New York. He is a graduate of the AIM Masters in Development management and of the Harvard Graduate School for Professional Educators. He is the author of the following books: Cooking Up A Creative Genius; The HI CLASS Teacher, Breakthrough Ideas in Education; and Using Passion and Laughter in Your Presentations. He can be reached at htenedero@yahoo.com)