Today, I am presenting you the theorist learning style. This is my dominant learning style. I was surprised to learn a lot about myself when I did the test and discovered the features of this style. Of course, it is not all or nothing. If I/you have a dominant learning style, it does not mean that I/you do not use any other processes or that I/you cannot further develop features of the other styles. But, as theory says, the dominant style has been nurtured by the environment and personal circumstances of each individual during the first years of life.
The benefits of actually being aware and using the inside information of your own learning style are:
- If you understand your learning style you can use that knowledge to use the activities most appropriate for your own style and seek to improve your learning experience.
- You can become smarter and fitter while you are learning.
- You can improve you capability of learning to learn.
- You can also learn how to incorporate the tools of other learning styles.
- You can learn to appreciate why people next to you do very different activities during their learning process.
The characteristics of the Theorist are:
- Understanding the theory behind the action.
- Usage of models, concepts and facts in the learning process.
- Preference for analysis and synthesis.
- Organization of knowledge into a logical scheme.
The activities that theorists usually perform are:
- Applying different theories that provide explanations
- Building models
- Using statistics
- Gathering much background information
- Spreading quotes and stories
To prove that I do like theories and quotes, please see below the actual definition given by Honey and Mumford:
Theorists adapt and integrate observations into complex but logically sound theories. They think problems through in a vertical, step-by-step logical way. They assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories. They tend to be perfectionists who won’t rest easy until things are tidy and fit into a rational scheme. They like to analyse and synthesize. They are keen on basic assumptions, principles, theories models and systems thinking. Their philosophy prizes rationality and logic. “If it’s logical its good.” Questions they frequently ask are: “Does it make sense?” “How does this fit with that?” “What are the basic assumptions?” They tend to be detached, analytical and dedicated to rational objectivity rather than anything subjective or ambiguous. Their approach to problems is consistently logical. This is their ‘mental set’ and they rigidly reject anything that doesn’t fit with it. They prefer to maximise certainty and feel uncomfortable with subjective judgements, lateral thinking and anything flippant (Honey, P. & Mumford, A. (1982) Manual of Learning Styles).
While writing this post, I acknowledged my passion for writing. It does not necessarily fit in with the theoretician style, but it actually developed along with the practice of other skills. I am now transitioning from a passionate reader to an inspired writer. At some point, I liked reading short romantic novels, which always had a happy turn out. Only now do I actually realize the powerful message those novels had about dealing with your mind, or having a mind open for self-introspection. Most of those novels presented inner dialogues of the main characters. Sure, it can be considered a trivial subject, but dwelling in continuous suffering can end by making a change. And, change implies actually dealing with your thoughts and feelings, in other words, dealing with your own mind.
On the other side, while reading the book A new earth, by Eckhart Tolle, I am discovering further dimensions of the mind, such as the Ego, that voice that goes on and on in the mind. But this book will be discussed at a later point. I will first present the other three learning styles, then the tool developed by the authors presented above to test and find your learning style out, in case you did not figure it out already intuitively.