Introduction
As compared to animals, human beings are said to be the most intelligent of all species. The term intelligence has been defined differently by a number of experts over the past years. However a general definition of intelligence would be the ability to learn from, learn about, interact with and understand one’s environment (Ackerman, 1999).
Intelligence is a person’s ability to comprehend relationships, capacity for reason and abstract thought as well as the ability to be able to judge and evaluate situations and circumstances (Brody, 1992). These abilities are usually acquired from one’s environment which includes the workplace, a classroom or families.
If one was to be asked to describe or define a person’s personality, more often than not they refer to their attitude and behavior. This can be due to the fact that one’s attitude represents one’s personality (Cervone & Pervin, 2010).
Personality can be defined as the most essential psychological aspect of a human being and incorporates motive, behaviors, thoughts, skills and feelings (Flynn, 2007). For a person to be intelligent and develop a personality they often undergo the learning process in education and life as a whole.
Learning refers to a lifelong process where information and experience is transformed into skills, attitudes, knowledge and behaviours (Murray, 2008).
Essay
Learning
Psychology and education refer to learning as a process which tends to bring together emotional, environmental and cognitive experiences and influences with an aim of enhancing, making changes in or acquiring one’s knowledge, values, world views and skills (Brody, 1992).
Explanation is given through learning theories which are attempts to describe the manner in which people as well as animals learn and help individuals understand the natural complex process of learning (Ackerman, 1999).
Learning theories are generally grouped into three main frameworks namely cognitivism which looks beyond behavior in an effort of explaining brain-founded learning, constructivism which views learning as a process where an individual is able to actively create or construct new ideas or concepts (Cervone & Pervin, 2010).
The third of the categories is that of behaviourism which pays close attention to the objectively observable aspects in relations to learning (Murray, 2008).
Education and Individual differences
As it has been the case since time immemorial, different people learn differently as they possess distinct intelligence, personalities, abilities and temperaments. The psychology of individual differences in education studies abilities and intelligence related to the personality of the learner or student as well as the learning styles and needs and interests of that student or learner (Ackerman, 1999).
The learning process becomes more effective when individual differences in learner’s cultural, social and language behavior are taken into consideration.
Despite the fact that key principles of learning, effective instructions and motivation may be applicable to all learners it is important to focus more on intelligence, group, race, socioeconomic status, language, race, ethnic group and belief of the students which tend to influence learning (Flynn, 2007).
Whenever students observe that their individual differences in background, cultures and abilities are respected and taken into account their motivation for learning is increased. It is therefore important for teachers to be sensitive towards individual differences, student’s cultural attitudes, view them positively regardless of their cultural backgrounds and generally be responsive to them in a sensitive manner (Brody, 1992).
There are a number of factors which contribute to individual differences in as far as education and learning is concerned for instance hereditary and environmental factors especially what is communicated and learned in different cultures (Ackerman, 1999). Individual differences are also as a result of influence from family, culture, previous knowledge, experience, socioeconomic status and gender differences (Murray, 2008).
People tend to differ in their working memory capacity and the knowledge they possess as they tend to invoke and provoke different strategies for learning (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Each individual is considered unique in part due to the knowledge they have making the content of memories to be one main source of individual differences especially for learners (Flynn, 2007).
There are a number of ways in which one can learn as all learning incorporates recoding where information or data collected must be transformed from the manner in which it is perceived to a form considered suitable for remembering (Murray, 2008). Even though people are different in terms of their learning and comprehension speeds they also tend to differ in their learning styles (Ackerman, 1999).
Education and learning in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is considered an Islamic state where Shari’ah or the Islamic holy law acts as the constitution and legal framework (Brody, 1992). Education in this country is segregated by sex meaning boys are not allowed to learn together in a classroom with girls (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). They each are designated different classrooms or schools.
Education is also divided into three main administered systems that is education for girls, traditional Islamic education which is mainly for boys and general education for boys (Flynn, 2007). Even though the Saudi Arabian government is currently making efforts to enhance the girl-child education, education for girls is not as valued or as important as education for boys in this state.
Traditional Islamic education trains Saudi boys to become members of the religious clergy where the school’s curriculum incorporates the general academic secondary school curriculum despite paying more attention to Arabic and Islamic studies (Ackerman, 1999).
The onset of western-oriented schools immediately after World War II went against the traditional Islamic educational system even though a larger part of this new curriculum is devoted to religion (Brody, 1992). The nation also offers free education to study abroad and allows foreign students to come study their language.
Having foreigners into the country and within their educational system has been slowly embraced as majority of Saudi Arabians do not believe in the corruption of their traditions and culture by the Westerners (Murray, 2008). They have been careful to educate the foreigners who come to their country to learn as to the importance of upholding their traditions.
How Teachers in Saudi Arabia view and deal with Individual Differences
Studies have revealed that the individual needs of students in Saudi Arabia are not particularly addressed in the classroom and that teachers or educators teach to a class collectively where there is little or no consideration of individual differences in as far as the learning process is concerned (Brody, 1992).
Since the development of the oil industry in the country in early 1930s the modernisation process made it so that the government would pay more attention to spreading education nationwide, rural or urban areas (Cervone & Pervin, 2010).
The Saudi Arabian educational system also experienced a number of educational challenges for instance being able to attract teachers who are foreigners to supervise as well as teach schools and the implementation of school textbooks of other Arabic nations.
Until recently most research has focused on individual difference characteristics of the learners for instance self-confidence, field independence, personality differences which include need achievement, risk taking and empathy, language anxiety as well as motivation (Ackerman, 1999).
Considering the fact that Saudi Arabia is slowly embracing and welcoming foreign students into their academic institutions this increasingly diverse population of students forces educators to differentiate curriculum and instruction (Murray, 2008). Teachers in Saudi Arabia have realised that the only way in which they can be able to handle individual differences that are currently in existence in their classrooms is by doing well.
As aforementioned there are a number of individual differences that must be taken into account by the classroom teachers for instance learning styles, ethnicity and culture and academic competence (Flynn, 2007).
Teachers view these individual differences as a challenge and have therefore strategised on ways of dealing with them among students. They have learned to modify or rather develop the events of instruction in a manner so as to specifically address individual differences (Ackerman, 1999).
Another strategy that they are implementing is that of grouping which consists of 4 main steps that is within-class ability grouping, between-class ability grouping, individualised instruction and cooperative learning (Brody, 1992).
Between-class ability grouping is so far not recommended as it has proven beneficial to those students assigned to the top level. However, within-class ability grouping is proving effective as it is considered more flexible and less stigmantising (Flynn, 2007).
On the other hand cooperative learning is a means by which teachers in Saudi Arabia deal with individual differences whereby students are placed in heterogenous groups as a means of enhancing their learning process (Ackerman, 1999). The individualised instruction is still under implementation as it has been recommended as the most appropriate way of dealing with individual differences in the classrooms.
The reason as to why it has not yet been fully implemented is because it is very difficult to accomplish considering the fact that teachers will have to pay attention to each and every student as an individual (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). The other approach that teachers in Saudi Arabia have put into consideration is that of changing the educational system within which instruction is given (Murray, 2008).
Under this particular advancement the environment in which the students are taught is designed in a manner as to enable the students increase mastery of the various required skills before they start on a new lesson.
General Information
Individual differences are currently the main subject in modern psychology where education is concerned (Ackerman, 1999). As earlier mentioned individual differences is the psychological difference that exists between individuals and what they share in common.
There are a few kinds of individual differences which include mental differences, differences in achievement, emotional differences, differences in beliefs, opinions and attitudes, learning differences, differences in social and moral development and differences in interests and aptitudes (Flynn, 2007).
It is therefore important for teachers to recognise these differences and respect them through provision of activities that are aimed at multiple learning styles.
Hereditary and environmental factors have been observed to be major contributors to individual differences in people and in order to provide adequate learning or schooling experience for every student as per their individuality, teachers need to become aware and have knowledge of the student’s potentialities (Ackerman, 1999).
This can be done through conducting frequent assessment that incorporates interest inventories, aptitude tests as well as cumulative record card (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). The lessons that are planned for the students should aim at different learning styles since the students tend to be different in all manner of ways.
Individual differences in the learning environment are not only limited to one’s personality but rather to one’s physical capabilities as well (Brody, 1992). It is therefore important for teachers to consider those who are physically challenged and establish a classroom environment that is easily accessible to such students and well spaced to enable them move around freely without any obstacles (Murray, 2008).
As is with the case in Saudi Arabian education there are those times where the needs of students in some subject areas cannot be fully met in a regular or normal classroom.
There may be students whose skills may be considered deficient in reading or math that they cannot benefit from small group instruction or some students may be so distracted by the stimulation of 25+ students in a normal classroom that they cannot be able to pay attention to assignments long enough to complete them (Murray, 2008).
There may also be those students whose first language is not English and may need extra tutorial from their teachers (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). In such instances, teachers and the schooling system should therefore consider providing programs where students can get regular instructions and be able to fully develop their learning skills (Flynn, 2007).
Conclusion
If educators in any given learning environment can provide instructions that are relevant to students’ learning styles then academic performances would greatly improve. When the students’ learning styles go hand in hand with instructional styles given by their educators, their attainments and motivation are also enhanced.
Teacher in Saudi Arabia should consider investing more on learning styles and applications especially under the context of traditional learning environments in order to better deal with individual differences.
References
Ackerman, P.L. et al., 1999. Learning and individual differences. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Brody, N., 1992. Intelligence. San Diego: Academic Press.
Cervone, D., and Pervin, L.A., 2010. Personality: Theory and research. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Flynn, J.R., 2007. What is intelligence? New York: Cambridge University Press.
Murray, C., 2008. Real education: Four simple truths for bringing America’s schools back to reality. New York: Crown Forum.