Teaching Students with Different Learning Styles

Here we discuss (1) the four dimensions underlying the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and (2) several teaching approaches that will appeal to different MBTI profiles.

The 126-item Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Form G, is the most reliable method for assessing student-learning style. The MBTI provides data on four sets of preferences. These preferences result in 16 learning styles, or types. A type is the combination of the four preferences. The most common MBTI type for business undergraduates is the ESTJ, the Extraverted-Sensing-Thinking-Judger.

Administer the MBTI instrument in the first or second-class period. Contact your counseling center at your school. It takes about 45 minutes to complete the instrument. The counseling center can score the MBTI and share the data with the students. Students enjoy learning about themselves and find the MBTI data informative.

Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I)

This preference tells us how people "charge their batteries."

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. Their learning mantra is: "There is no impression without reflection or quiet thinking time.

Extraverts find energy in things and people. They prefer interaction with others, and are action oriented. Extraverts are interactors and "on-the-fly" thinkers. Their learning mantra is: "There is no impression without expression or speaking.

The majority of undergraduate students are extraverts. Based on data from the Center for Applied Psychological Type (CAPT) between 56% and 58% of over 16,000 freshman students at three state universities were extraverts. Interestingly, over 83% of college student leaders were extraverts, while over 65% of Phi Beta Kappa students were introverts. Our own database indicates that over 65% of business students are extraverts. This is not surprising. Students may decide to major in business administration because the business world appreciates and rewards action that coincides with the extraverts' strength.

The majority of university teachers are introverts. CAPT reported that almost 55% of 2,282 faculty members are introverts. Our own database for business faculty indicates that over 60% are introverts.

Teaching Extraverted Students

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 have told us that they thought they knew the material until they tried to explain it to a fellow student. Only then did they realize they did not understand the subject.

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

1. Thinking Aloud Paired Problem Solving (TAPPS) method and
2. Nominal Group Method.

Both support learning through explaining, but provide quiet time for introverted students.

The TAPPS Method (2-person team)

1. Teacher poses question and provides quiet time for students.
2. Teacher designates the explainer and listener within each dyad.
3. The explainer explains his or her ideas to the listener. The listener must (1) ask questions of clarification, (2) disagree and provide his ideas, or (3) provide hints when the explainer becomes lost.
4. Teacher critiques some explainers' answers and provides closure.

The Nominal Group Method (3 to 5-person team)

1. Teachers pose question and provide quiet time for students.
2. Each team member shares ideas with others in a round-robin fashion.
3. Team discusses ideas and reaches closure.
4. Teacher critiques some team's answers and provides closure.

Teaching Introverted Students

In a seminal study, George Miller noted that people could hold 7 + 2 chunks of knowledge in their minds at any given time. If each knowledge chunk contains a specific fact, then the amount of knowledge possessed is limited. But if each chunk contains many interconnected facts, a network or framework of facts, then the amount of knowledge is almost unlimited.

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."

Teachers should teach their students how to chunk, or group and interconnect, knowledge. Introverted students will find it valuable. We recommend that faculty teach students how to build a compare/ contrast table, flowchart, or concept map. Here is a concept map for a graduate course in the Decision Science area.

Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N)

Some of us choose to rely on our five senses. Some prefer taking in information through our "sixth" sense. Sensing people are detail oriented, want facts, and trust them. Joe Friday from the TV show Dragnet epitomizes the extreme sensing detective. All he ever wanted was "just the facts".

Intuitive people seek out patterns and relationships among the facts they have gathered. They trust hunches and their intuition and look for the "big picture." The quintessential intuitive was Albert Einstein whose fanciful thought experiments revolutionized the 20th century. He could see patterns where others saw randomness or chaos.

The majority of undergraduates are sensing students. Based on data from the Center for Applied Psychological Type (CAPT) between 56% and 72% of over 16,000 freshmen at three state universities were sensing students. Interestingly, almost 83% of national merit scholarship finalists and 92% of Rhodes Scholars were intuitive students. Our own database indicates that over 65% of business majors are sensing students.

The majority of university faculty members are intuitive. CAPT reported that almost 64% of 2,282 faculty members are intuitive. We obtained the same percentage from our business faculty database.

Teaching Sensing Students

Sensing students are "why before what" learners. That is, you must get them to see the material's relevance before actually teaching the subject matter. You can establish subject relevance by showing students (1) the power of the material they are about to learn or (2) that without the new material that may incorrectly attack problems or decisions in their chosen field.

Here's an example of the second strategy. You are about to teach a problem solving method. Before actually teaching the method give them a case to work on in class. Have them ask questions as if they were trying to solve the problem in "real time." My experience is that they will quickly realize that they are rather poor problem solvers. Now that they recognize their deficiency they are now ready and motivated to learn the problem solving method. We have hooked the students in by demonstrating a weakness in their problem solving skills. We call this idea - the hook.

Sensing students learn best when they can anchor the to-be-learned material into what they already know. David Ausubel's advance organizer is a brief lecture or demonstration during the lecture's introduction that provides a mental scaffolding to anchor the new material. The advance organizer provides a set of highly general concepts that subsume the material about to be learned. An advance organizer taps into students' existing knowledge structures. It helps cross-list new information with already existing information and thus aids learning and knowledge retrieval. It makes the unfamiliar more familiar; it makes the abstract more concrete.

Suppose you are teaching British Commonwealth history at a predominantly black university. Your next topic is Gandhi's march to the sea to protest the British policy on taxing salt. You might begin with a mini-lecture on Dr. King's march on Washington. Afterwards you would begin your lecture. The discussion of Dr. King's march acts as mental scaffold to encapsulate the Gandhi lecture. The advance organizer is not an overview. An overview would have introduced the students to the lecture's key ideas: Gandhi, salt monopoly, British policy, boiling seawater, and so forth.

The advance organizer provides a familiar setting to anchor new, and potentially strange, material. The organizer works because at a very general level, the marches of King and Gandhi dealt with charismatic leaders in a struggle against oppressive forces. For an African-American audience, the MLK organizer transformed an abstract lecture into a familiar and more concrete setting.

Teacher can develop advance organizers by answering the following questions:

1. What do students know that at a very general level is similar to the subject matter about to be taught?
2. How can I demonstrate the connections between what is known and what is to be learned?

Teaching Intuitive Students

Intuitive students prefer either the traditional lecture that begins with an overview and then presents the topic. They don't object to using hooks but don't find it as critical to motivating the lecture. Intuitive students are more inquisitive and thus don't need to be motivated to learn the subject up front.

Like Introverted students Intuitive students must have the BIG PICTURE, or an integrating framework, to understand a subject. The big picture shows how the subject matter is interrelated. Intuitive students can develop reasonably correct BIG PICTURES or CONCEPT MAPS. Fortunately, sensing students can be taught to do the same.

Here is an instructor-developed concept map for an entire course. Note how it shows how all the subject matter is interconnected. The instructor has placed every topic within the course into "file folder." This aids subject mastery and retention. You (or your students) should also develop concept maps for each presentation within the course. For example, you should develop a concept map for the regression analysis, problem solving, creativity, decision analysis, and decision support models presentations.

Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F)

Some of us choose to decide things impersonally on analysis, logic, and principle. Some of us make decisions by focusing on human values. Thinking students value fairness. What could be fairer than focusing on the situation's logic, and placing great weight on objective criteria in making a decision? Mr. Spock, science officer of the starship Enterprise, had an extreme preference for thinking.

Feeling students value harmony. They focus on human values and needs as they make decisions or arrive at judgments. They tend to be good at persuasion and facilitating differences among group members. Dr. McCoy, Spock's colleague aboard the Enterprise, demonstrated a preference for feeling.

Unlike the two previous sets of preferences, CAPT reports that on this dimension, the proportion of males and females differ. About 64% of all males have a preference for thinking, while only about 34% of all females have a preference for thinking.

Our own database indicates that over 70% of male and female undergraduate business students are thinking students. It is not surprising that the majority of business majors are thinking students. Business is, after all, the domain of logic and analysis.

The majority of university teachers have a preference for thinking. CAPT reported that almost 54% of 2,282 faculty members are thinking. Seventy percent of business teachers have a preference for thinking. Thus, on the thinking versus feeling preference, business faculty and students are similar.

Teaching Thinking Students

Thinking students like clear course and topic objectives. Clear course or topic objectives avoid vague words or expressions such as "students will appreciate or be exposed to." Rather, objectives are precise and action-oriented. By precise we mean that teachers can write objectives at three meta-levels of learning: rote, meaningful and integrated, and critical thinking. By action oriented we mean that the verbs describe what students must do, not what faculty will do. The Bloom et al. taxonomy provides guidelines for writing clear and meaningful objectives.

Teaching Feeling Students

Feeling students like working in groups, especially harmonious groups. They enjoy the small group exercises such as TAPPS and the Nominal Group Method. To promote harmonious groups, we sometimes provide students with the following guidelines on how to facilitate small group meetings inside or outside of class

1. Make process suggestions to regain session focus.
2. Keep individuals from personally attacking one another.
3. Monitor time remaining within a session and gently remind members.
4. Encourage equal participation among members in discussion phase.
5. Demonstrate collaborative-seeking (WIN-WIN) behaviors.
6. Assure that recorder writes legibly.
7. Respond to group member's questions to you by restating the question and asking other group members to respond.
8. Recognize that all the objectives and goals within a session may not completed. Get group to do the possible given the time constraints.
9. Use light-hearted (or self-deprecating) humor to break tension.
10. Keep group enthusiasm high and sell ideas to members.

Judging (J) versus Perceptive (P)

Some of us like to postpone action and seek more data. Others like to make quick decisions. Judging people are decisive, and self-regimented. They focus on completing the task, only want to know the essentials, and take action quickly (perhaps too quickly). They plan their work and work their plan. Deadlines are sacred. Their motto is: just do it!

Perceptive people are curious, adaptable, and spontaneous. They start many tasks, want to know everything about each task, and often find it difficult to complete a task. Their motto is: "on the other hand."

The majority of undergraduate students are judging students. Based on data from the Center for Applied Psychological Type (CAPT) between 46% and 60% of over 16,000 freshmen at three state universities were judging students. Interestingly, almost 64% of Rhodes Scholars were perceptive students. Our own database indicates that over 70% of undergraduate business students are judging students.

The majority of university teachers also have a preference for judging. CAPT reported that almost 65% of 2,282 faculty members prefer jWe obtained the same percentage from our business faculty database.

Teaching Judging Students

Judging students often reach too-quick closure when analyzing cases. Thus we recommend a second-look meeting. After completing the case, the group reviews their analysis. A student plays a "gentle" Devil's Advocate (DA) and challenges the group's conclusions. The DA should be prepared to recommend an alternative solution. This will force the group to consider the pros and cons of both approaches. The DA can also ask team members to state assumptions about stakeholders (those who are affected by or will affect the case solution) that must be true for the group's solution to be effective. The DA can then challenge the group to provide evidence that the assumptions are true. Guidelines for a second-look meeting should be included in the case preparation hints provided to students.

Teaching Perceptive Students

Perceptive students often postpone doing an assignment until the very last minute. They are not lazy. Quite to the contrary, they seek information to the very last minute (and sometimes beyond). We recommend decomposing a complex project or paper into a series of sub-assignments and providing deadlines for each sub-assignment. The deadlines may keep the perceptive students on target.

Decomposing a major project into sub-assignments provides the opportunity for continuous feedback to the student. Have students hand-in an audiotape with their sub-assignments. The teacher can then provide detailed audio (we speak faster than we can write) comments on content and grammar. When we have used the audio feedback approach, final papers are clear and readable, and thus less aggravation to read. Moreover, without the teacher's interim feedback, students lose an opportunity to improve their writing skills during the semester.