Learning Styles.

According to Felder and Soloman, I am an Active and Sensing learner with extremely high scores of 11 for both categories. Visual and Sequential scores were 7 and 3, respectively. I thoroughly agree with the experts.

They go into say, Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. "Let's try it out and see how it works" is an active learner's phrase. Active learners tend to like group work more. Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is particularly hard for active learners.

Sensing learners tend to like learning facts. Sensors often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications and surprises. Sensors are more likely to resent being tested on material that has not been explicitly covered in class. Sensors tend to be patient with details and good at memorizing facts; doing hands-on work; rather than grasping new concepts and surrounding abstractions and mathematical formulations. Sensors tend to be more practical and careful and less innovative. Sensors don't like courses that have no apparent connection to the real world.

Visual learners remember best what they see--pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations. In most college classes very little visual information is presented: students mainly listen to lectures and read material written on chalkboards and in textbooks and handouts. Unfortunately, most people are visual learners, which mean that most students do not get nearly as much as they would if more visual presentation were used in class. Good learners are capable of processing information presented either visually or verbally.

Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step following logically from the previous one. Sequential learners tend to follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions.

References
Barbara A. Soloman & Richard M. Felder. Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. Retrieved on July 23, 2009, from http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html