Types of Students and Learning Styles for Effective Learning

This article discusses the four different learning styles - activist, reflector, theorist, and pragmatist - and how they can be adopted by students to learn new topics. It also categorizes students into six groups based on their reasons for attending lectures. The article emphasizes the importance of identifying one's personal learning style to adopt the most suitable learning process for effective learning.

Types of Students

INTRODUCTION
The initial years of my learning included developing my motor skills, emotional skills,
cognitive skills, speech and language skills. During my schooling days, I had to learn various
subjects in order to gain high grades in my examination. My school helped me develop my
learning style and also understand ways to effectively retain and understand content in classroom
content. I was able to understand effective ways of note raking and participate in classroom
discussion to enhance my learning. I was able to develop logical reasoning and critical thinking
skills during my schooling which also helped improve my learning processes. University level
education supported development of my learning processes and styles. This is because university
level education provided me knowledge of reflective learning and enhanced my problem solving
skills. I am now able to reflect on my past experiences and learn from them to improve on
personal and professional level. Apart from this attending educational institutions have also
helped me develop comfort in learning in group situations. Development of my critical thinking
skills through university level education has helped me understand and dissect arguments made
by others to learn effectively.
MAIN BODY
Learning Style analysis
Activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatists are the four different learning styles. The
activist learning style involves learning by actively participating in the learning content and
understanding the content through experience (Elihami, 2021). Students with reflector learning
style learn through observation, thinking, collecting data to reach effective conclusion. Theorists
learners focus on understanding the theory behind experiences. Understanding models, theories
and facts is part of their learning process. Pragmatists lean by applying practices and theories in
the real world and relate educational content to reality.
My personal learning style is reflector learning style because I like to engage in reflective
and critical thinking to understand various concepts. In addition to this, I also take time to learn
various concepts which is another indicator of reflector learning style. I focus on understand
others opinion and arguments through critical thinking and using available data to reach
conclusion. This helps me retain knowledge for long time period. In addition to this, I also prefer
doing assignments without deadlines because I tend to be thoughtful and cautions before taking
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any decision on the assignment. This is because I consider all angles and implications related to a
specific topic before taking any further steps. This helps me develop deep understand of all the
variables associated with particular subject matter identify solutions quickly.
The first type of attender are idealist who participate in lectures enthusiastically and
believe that lectures play meaningful role in education. Pragmatist attendees seek to gain
knowledge which leads to practical results in life (Huang, Chen and Hsu, 2019). The third
category is of averagely motivated students who ave similar mindset as pragmatist students with
one difference. The difference is that these students think that lectures are more meaningful and
better than learning single-handedly. Fundamentals oriented students is the fourth category of
attendees who focus on developing their basic knowledge on various topics by attending lectures.
The next group of students to attend lectures consists of minimalists. These students attend
lectures for the only reason to not miss and significant information. The final group of students
who attend lectures are 'everything but pleasure'. Students who are part of this group attend
lectures to understand fundamental topics, avoid missing essential information, gain meaningful
education and attain some external goal. The only reason for which they do not attend lecture is
to gain enjoyment and enthusiasm (Holmes and Prieto-Rodriguez, 2018).
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that there are four learning styles which can be
adopted by students to learn new tropics. These four learning styles are reflector learning style,
theorist learning style, activity learning style and pragmatist learning style. Pragmatist learners
learn through real life application of the topic and activists learners use experience to learn new
subject matter. Reflector learner observe and think to learn new subject matter while theorists
learn understand theories and models to leant. It is important to identify personal leaning style as
it helps adopt the most suitable learning process to quickly understand and retain knowledge.
Students can be categorize into different groups on the basis of the reason for the they attend
lectures. There are total six identified groups of students who provide different reasons for
attending specific lectures. These groups are idealists, pragmatists, averagely motivated students,
fundamentals oriented students, minimalists and everything but pleasure students.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Elihami, E., 2021. Teacher Guidance and Counseling with Al-Islam and Kemuhammadiyahan in
Ajatappareng Region: Learning Styles and Models of Islamic Education. EduPsyCouns:
Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling, 3(2). pp.1-1.
Holmes, K. and Prieto-Rodriguez, E., 2018. Student and staff perceptions of a learning
management system for blended learning in teacher education. Australian Journal of
Teacher Education (Online), 43(3). pp.21-34.
Huang, T. C., Chen, M. Y. and Hsu, W. P., 2019. Do learning styles matter? Motivating learners
in an augmented geopark. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 22(1). pp.70-
81.
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