This presentation explores some of the ways in which cognitive styles intersect with learning throughout the life span.

1. Presented by Doreen D’Amico

2. Needs
Learn
Change

3. Learning
Style
Preference
Motivation
Auditory
Ability
Memory
Visual
Ability

4. 3 Months
Babies have recognition
memory, i.e. toys
6 Years
Memory strategies begin,
i.e. telling a story
Early Teens
Working memory evolves
into storing and building

5. 18-25 Years
Critical
Thinking
Develops
Rapidly
22-35 Years
Full Brain
Development
Occurs
25- 30 Years
Critical
Thinking
Peaks

6. Practical
(Sensible)
Personal
(Significant)
“Stickiness”
of
Information

7. Stabilizes
Thinking
Critical

8. 1960
69.8 Years
2008
78.4 Years
2050
82.6 Years

9. Children
Kinesthetic Tactile Visual Auditory
Adolescents

10. College-age Freshmen
 Abstract Approaches
College-age Seniors
 Concrete Approaches

11. Traditional-age
College Students
 Kinesthetic
 Hands-on experience
 Listening
 Reading
Non-traditional age
College Students

13. Acquisition
• Birth through adolescence
• Acquiring basic learning abilities
Specialization
• Early adulthood, formal education , career
training
• Primary time for forming style
Integration
• Mid-career to older adulthood
• Non-dominant styles develop

14. Approach a
Problem
Learn a New
Skill
Training &
Retraining
Intellectual
Stimulation
Social
Connections

15. Hearing Loss
Higher
Sound
Frequencies
Consonant
Sounds
Distinguish
Speech
from
Background
Noise

16. Loss of
Visual
Acuity
Inhibits
Night
Driving
Inhibits
Reading

18. Observed (MMPALT II)
 Visual
 Interactive
 Print
 Interactive
 Aural
Preferred (PMPS)

19. • Accommodator
• Feeling & Doing
55-65
Years Old
• Diverger
• Feeling & Watching
66-74
Years Old
• Assimilator
• Thinking & Watching
75 Years
and Up

20. “People can change, and those changes –
not just the accumulation of
information - represent true
learning.”
(Bain, 2004).

21. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, B. F. (1984). A descriptive analysis of perceptual modality learning styles in older adults.
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation.) Oklahoma State University, OK. OCLC Number:
19099190.
Manheimer, R.J. (2007). Allocating Resources for Lifelong Learning for Older Adults. In R.A.
Pruchno & M.A. Smyer (Eds.), Challenges of an aging society: ethical dilemmas,
political issues. (pp. 217-237). Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.
Sprenger, M. B. (2007). Becoming a “Wiz” at brain-based teaching: How to make every year
your best year. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Truluck, J.E. & Courtenay, B.C. (1999). Adults. Educational Gerontology, 25. 221-236. doi:
0360-1277/99.
World Development Indicators, The World Bank. (2011) Retrieved from
http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators?cid=GPD_WDI.