The very idea of learning styles refers to the fact that people tend to have their own ways of accepting, evaluating, and learning information. The theories of human learning and memory retrieval subdivide the abundance of different learning styles that people use into two main categories – implicit learning and explicit learning. Implicit learning styles are based on memorizing the pieces of information, which an individual encounters during the process of learning, and the explicit learning styles come from creating and assessing different assumptions during this process. In the following paper, the variety of learning styles will be evaluated in relation to theories of human learning and memory retrieval on the basis of the findings currently made by academic researchers.
Modern specialists on cognitive psychology in education express the opinion that the success of any particular individual in education depends on which particular approach and methods related to it one is going to utilize in the educational process (Fenn & Hambrick, 2012). The approach, which an individual may utilize in one’s studies, largely depends on his or her mental abilities. Mental abilities come from the brain’s capacity and include such important skills as the skill of memorizing (Farooq & Regnier, 2011). Thus, memory is an important characteristic of one’s potential in education.
The theories of human learning and memory retrieval, which became popular over the last few decades, explain that humans tend to have different approaches to learning styles, which is explained by their cognitive peculiarities (Weng, 2012). According to the specialists in those theories, the differences in people’s learning styles should be considered by teachers when they try to adapt the requirements of the curriculum to their students’ abilities. In case they do so, the probability of greater success among students is much greater (OMIDVAR & Bee Hoon, 2012). Therefore, it is important for educators to evaluate the learning styles of their students. For example, if it appears that an individual tends to utilize implicit learning style, teachers should offer this person studying methods based on theoretical concepts, and it appears that an individual tends to utilize explicit learning styles, he or she should be offered more practical tasks aiming to research different hypotheses on the basis of results acquired in practice (Weng, 2012).
My personal learning style is a sort of combination of implicit and explicit learning with a tendency to have more characteristics of an explicit approach. This means that I try to have my vision of any subject matter that I am studying, and then I try to find evidence showing whether I am right or not to support or confute my own hypothesis. Such a learning style appears to be effective for me as I have a strong stimulus in the process of obtaining knowledge and skills. This approach also has a positive influence on my memory characteristics.
In conclusion, it should be stated that evaluating learning styles in relation to theories of human learning and memory retrieval, it appears that all humans have their own approaches to acquiring knowledge and learning, and those who use more effective learning strategies are capable of achieving better success in education. Generally, theories of human learning and memory retrieval subdivide the variety of learning styles that people use into implicit and explicit ones. Further research of a variety of academic sources and my own experience help see that explicit learning styles seem to be more effective than implicit ones.
References
Farooq, M., & Regnier, J. (2011). Role of Learning Styles in the Quality of Learning at Different Levels. Informatica Economica, 15(3), 28-45.
Fenn, K. M., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2012). Individual differences in working memory capacity and learning styles. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3), 404-410.
OMIDVAR, P., & Bee Hoon, T. (2012). CULTURAL VARIATIONS IN LEARNING AND LEARNING STYLES. Turkish Journal Of Distance Education (TJDE), 13(4), 269-286.
Weng, P. (2012). The Effect of Learning Styles on Learning Strategy. Journal Of Social Sciences, 8(2), 230-234.