(Scholarly, On topic): Sarasin, Lynne. Learning Style Perspectives: Impact in the classroom. Madison, Wisconsin: Atwood Publishing, 2006. Print.
This was an interesting source which covers all types of learning in every sense that I needed it to. There’s learning styles, nature & experience, learning how to learn and post-secondary studies. Its explanations of each type of visual, auditory, learning techniques is very detailed and concentrates on the student in the classroom: how they may react to different prompts and how they become encouraged or discouraged based on teacher approval, environment, and peers. The different learning views are sourced from multiple experts in the field of cognition and behavioural science, who have outlined the different types of learners and how the experts best believe certain learning styles fit specific types of people and brains.
(Scholarly, On topic): Zull, James E. The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2002. Print.
This book starts off with the brain structure and how information is passed between cortexes and lobes. The author connects neuroscience and education very smoothly in a readable, intelligible manner. Its approach is that of a person who is trying to understand the way cells send signals to each other. The use of interesting examples (Ham and Michelle) helped me better visualize what exactly a difference in learning styles can impact in mental processing abilities. Although it is an older source, it does ask all the right questions and provides insight to improving learning. It also makes the distinction between concrete learning, active testing, musical, visual, and auditory learning.
(Scholarly, On Topic): Garner, Betty K.. Getting to ‘Got It’: Helping Struggling Students Learn how to Learn. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2007. Print.
The book calls attention to “great mystery of teaching: Why do some students ‘get it’ and some students don’t?” The book reads very well in the way that it explains everything at a very basic and elementary school-like level, whilst still tackling the question in a completely academic light. It uses a plethora of examples, such as Tim and his colours, John and the block stack, Cullen and his conservation of area. They all demonstrate some sort of pattern in learning. How one student who may not understand conservation of area may present some trouble in reading maps. I learned that content and activities that students are engaged with will affect cognitive structure.
(Website, on Topic): https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/learning/exam-prep/efficient-effective-study
This website encourages students to follow four tips to effective and efficient study methods. These include study environment, time of day, the workload to study per week, practice testing, and engaging with the material. I already knew that all these factors affect studying, but this website gives me a good point of view as to how the author sees good study methods. The author says that most people prefer studying with a little bit of background noise in areas like group study places and coffee shops. I don’t like any noise at all in the background while I study, so a coffee shop is not for me. This is the question that I must look into further: What makes one way of studying better than another depending on the person? How does one learn how to engage with the material that they are learning?
Source 4 & ½ (Website, on Topic ): https://www.wellesley.edu/sites/default/files/assets/departments/pltc/files/students/Study%20Enviornments.pdf
This website really puts everything I’ve been wondering onto one page. It has all the questions about whether one likes to study with noise, no noise, lighting, time of day, with food, what kind of chair, etc. I’m writing this as half a source because it really isn’t a website with information. It’s an actual school/teaching center. This will help me look for examples about how many different factors can shape a person’s studying preference.
(Article, On Topic): How Does Music Affect the Learning Experience?
This article was perfect for the music aspect of learning that I was looking for. The article questions if music can enhance the learning experience. It references the ever present technology that offers a wide selection of tunes to jam out to while hitting the books. (However, the radio was always a popular music outlet before technology.) It specifies the nature of the music that students may listen to while studying—Bach, Vivaldi, pop with lyrics—and whether or not it’s an important aspect of the learning environment.
photo (on topic)
This is a piece of my experiential research. I went to the Dawson library on Thursday at 9:30am to observe how many people were studying. I saw about 3 people sleeping, half using computers or phones, and the other half with books. From what I observed, 2/3 of the people were wearing headphones, presumably listening to music. I also went and observed the group study areas. It was still morning, so not many people were there. Productiveness seemed high, however, for those who were concentrated on their work and not talking as much. Those who did talk were not as productive.
The librarian that I worked with is Stav Vitoratos. She is from the Dawson library and I actually worked with her previously. She helped me a lot with my Ancient Greece research during the Winter 2019 semester, showing extensive knowledge about which books and articles would help me the most. She showed the same helpfulness during my librarian visit by being kind and interactive. She liked to engage with the subject that I presented to her and helped me gather new ideas, such as searching how learning changes from childhood to adulthood and whether or not that affects learning patterns. I’d recommend her to any of my friends. She’s the most approachable librarian there.
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