Characteristics of Children’s Learning Style: Learning Theories

 

INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background

Every child born has different characteristics of the brain’s capacity to absorb, process, and communicate information. Learning is mental activity that involves the brain’s ability to absorb, process, and communicative information. Of course, learning is not merely memorizing activities. Much will be lost (impermanent) in a few hours. To remember what has been taught, learners must process the information and understand it. As we know that we have a brain with a unique characteristic between the left brain and the right human brain. The right brain has a long term memory characteristic while the left hemisphere is ranked as in short of memory.

One of the characteristics of learning associated with absorbing, processing, and transmitting of that information is the learning style of learners. Learning style are important study modalities. Some learners can study very well only by seeing other people do it. They like the way the information relates. During the lessons, the learners liked to write what the educators or teachers say. These visual learners are different than auditory learners, who rely on ability to listen. While the kinesthetic learners like to learn by being directly involved. If a child picks up information or material according to their learning style, then there will be not difficult to understand the material.

In this paper, we will explain about the characteristics of children’s learning style, what are the learning style’s that are meant and what the theories of young learning development.

 

1.2  Problem Statement

1.2.1        What is Learning Style?

1.2.2        What is Characteristics of Children’s Learning Style?

1.2.3        What is Theories of Young Learning Development?

 

1.3  Objective Case

1.3.1        To know Learning Style.

1.3.2        To know Characteristics of Children’s Learning Style.

1.3.3        To know Theories of Young Learners Learning Development.

 

CHAPTER II

DISSCUSSION

2.1  Learning Style

Learning is a process, it means that learning happens dynamically and continuously that causes a change in the child. The intended change can be knowledge or behavior. Example like two children who grew up in the same condition and environment and despite the same treatment will not necessarily have the same understanding, thought, views of the world around them. Each has his own way of looking at every event. This view is what we know as a “learning style”.

Learning actually involves how we receive information from the world around us how we process and use the information. Remember every individual has its own uniqueness and there are never two people who have the exact same life experience, it is almost certain that each person’s learning style different from the other. However, at amid all that diversity of learning style, many expert try to use classification or grouping of learning style for make it easy for all of us, especially teachers to carry out more strategic education assignment.

Each person learning style is influenced by both natural and environment factors. So there are certain things cannot be changed in a person even with practice. But there are also things that can be trained and adapted to an environment that is sometimes just irreversible. Getting to know our own learning styles, not necessarily makes us smarter. But by recognizing the learning style, we will be able to determine how to learn more effectively. You will know how to optimize learning skills, so that learning results can be optimal.

2.2  Characteristics of children’s learning style

Classically there are three learning style in the learning process, namely visual, kinesthetic and auditory learning styles. Learners with visual learning style are usually easy to receive information or lessons with visualization in the form of picture, tables, diagrams, charts, mind maps, impressions, or symbols. For learners who have auditory learning style love it when learning is done in form stories, songs, poem and lyrics. While learners with a kinesthetic learning style, it is easy to receive lessons accompanied by motor activity, such as in the concept of application or experience, drama and motion.

Some of the characteristic of children’s learning style:

1.      The characteristics of a visual learning style.

a.       The child will try to see their teacher face when giving the material.

b.      Children do not like to be in forefront in talking and children do tend to resent the explanation of others.

c.       Children are not quick to understand the lessons that are delivered expressly.

d.      The child can keep quiet and concentrate during a loud and crowded environment.

e.       When a child is struggling to say something, the child will use body movements to help out in delivery.

f.       Concerned appearance.

g.      Children’s appearance is easy to remember what they read and children love to read.

2.      The characteristics of a auditory learning style.

a.       The child prefers learning by method of discussion and the child will able to remember lessons that are delivered orally.

b.      The auditory child was more likely to talk and be fluent in delivering.

c.       Children can easily remember the words of songs or jingle ads that their listen and can follow it in full.

d.      Children are not good at making essays or writing.

e.       Children are not good readers so that children have difficulty remembering what they have read and children usually turn up reading.

f.       Children do not like seeing new things around them like a new child, a school board and so on.

g.      Kids like to talks themselves.

h.      Children have difficulty concentrating when in noisy and noisy places.

3.      The characteristics of a kinesthetic learning style.

a.       The child will not be able to stand still and tend to like the to movement.

b.      Their hands are always active.

c.       Kinesthetic children will have a good body coordination.

d.      Kinesthetic children tend to be more difficult to understand and learn the nature of abstract. For example regarding symbols mathematics, see maps, chemical formulas, etc.

e.       Children prefer to touch and hold objects that their see.

f.       Use fingers as a clue when reading.

g.      Likes to express with movement.

2.3  Theories of Young learners Learning Development.

a.      Jean Piaget (Cognitive Development Theory)

According to Piaget, children learn from their surroundings environment. A child learns by developing what they already have and always interacting with what are around them include how to solve problems that they found in the environment. By taking some action, a child will solve problems and take part in a learning process.

Children are active learners and knowledge gained from their actions is knowledge that they developed themselves instead just imitating or already they have. New knowledge is a knowledge that the children is actively gathering. At first, this happens with concrete objects around it, then in their mind following some further act of being digested or understood. In this way mind is seen as something derived from action and in this way the mind develops. The child’s actions and knowledge adapt and something new happens

According to Piaget, there are four developmental stages, which follow:

1.      Sensory motor stage (born to 2 years). The sensory stage is an early stage of a child’s development.

2.      Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years). The development of the ability to use symbols to express the objects of the world.

3.      Concrete Preoperational Stage (7 to eleven years). This may be considered operationally concrete, considered to be the first scientific type.

4.      Formal Stage (11 years to adulthood). In this stage problems can be solved through the use of systematic experimentation.

By looking at these four stages of development, we can certainly see at what level children are studying in elementary school or children age 6 up to 12 years. Surely they are at the end of the preoperational stage period up to concrete stage, even to the beginning of formal stage.

b.      Vygotsky (Social Development)

A theory developed known as one that focuses on social aspects. Vygotsky believes that social interaction with others will lead to new ideas and increase the intellectual development of learners. Vygotsky’s theory is mainly known for its focus on social often referred to as sociocultural theory. Language is a tool for children to open up opportunities to go things and to organize information through language use. Therefore, it is not surprising that often we find a child who speaks alone while playing, it is often referred to as personal language or private speech.

Language development and learning occur in a social context, which is in a society of people who interact with children. The people around these children have an important role to play in help them to learn to use language. Child is active learners who have lived among others since they were babies. Through these social interactions, adults act as intermediaries what is around the world for the child. With the help of adults, children can do and understand more than if they do it alone.

Vgotsky uses the term ZPD (zone of proximal development) for give meaning to intelligence. In this case intelligence should be measured by what a child can do with that good help. Learning to do something and learning to think are both helped by interacting with adults, parents, neighbors and teachers.

There are three main things Vygotsky emphasizes: 1) the ability to think (intellectual) develops when people are confronted new ideas and problems, then related to what was previously known. 2)  Interactions with other people spur the intellectual or way of thinking. 3) A teacher’s leading role is as a helper to a child in the learning process.

c.       Jerome Bruner (Discover Learning and Scaffolding)

Bruner believes that the most important for cognitive development is language. To do this, he investigated hoe adults use language to connect the real world to children and help them solve their problems. Talking with child in activity is a form of verbal help with a child. Activities help this kind of activity be diverted to class in conversations between teachers and students. These activities are often referred to as scaffolding to support the student learning process.

Bruner conducted experiments on mothers and their young. It turns out that parents who help and support effective tasks for children, in part by doing the following:

1.      Get them interested in their task work.

2.      Simplifying tasks, such as dividing them into tasks or smaller ones.

3.      Always reminded what the purpose.

4.      Show the child which parts are important to work on and tell the other ways to work those parts of the task.

5.      Keeps out child’s frustration when doing a job.

6.      Demonstrating one ideal form of duty, such as how to “apologize”, “say goodbye”.

Scaffolding can be done by teachers in various ways. For example, teachers can help children to understand what is learned by giving advice, remind them of something and give exemplify. And it is called as a thing that is repeated every time or routine. One of the examples of routine studied by Bruner is of parents who had read stories to children when they are young.

 

 

CHAPTER III

CLOSING

3.1. Conclusion

Learning style is very important to know by the teacher or parents so that the children can learn easily. The importance of this learning style will affect the study process of children and learning outcomes. With this students will not find a difficult to communicate with their friends and the environment. By recognizing the learning style, we will be able to determine how to learn more effectively. You will know how to optimize learning skills, so that learning results can be optimal.

Theories of young learners learning development: 1) Jean Piaget, cognitive of development theory. 2) Vgotsky, social development. 3) Jerome Bruner, discover learning and scaffolding.

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