I really liked the MCM chapter on styles and strategies. Although I agree with everything the authors say, I think that there is one more thing to take into account. The student's learning style and preferred strategies will largely depend on the dominant intelligence. According to different studies there are 7-9 types of intelligence (verbal, logical, musical, naturalistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, visual, existential) with different preferred strategies and pedagogical implications. I was reading a lot about it for my project on the use of multi-genre in comp classes. Here are some useful links.
Multiple intelligences diagram.
Tapping into multiple intelligences.
Learning styles and multiple intelligences tests.
I can soooo relate to what MCm is saying about biological differences. I am a morning person. I work better at 5 am on 4 hours of sleep, than at 8 pm on 10 hours of sleep, but since all of my grad classes are 6-9:30 I had to reorganize my whole schedule and make myself go to bed later, and, consequentially, get up later. The result is a decrease in productivity (by at least 20%) and the ability to function at night classes. And I am still trying to figure why we don't have morning/afternoon classes.
It's been quite some time that I've been wondering if it would make sense to test all students for learning styles/dominant intelligences/strategies and use this as an additional factor in forming groups/classes.
I also agree enjoyed Brown's perspective on group work, since it is a significant portion of my teaching style. However, this year I found that not all classes enjoy it. I have received a lot of feedback from my students complaining about the large amount of group work and not enough lectures. Who would have thought THAT was a drawback?
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As you stated it is clear that there are a number of intelligiences and it is certain that we have not got a magic stick as a teacher but at least being aware of that there are individual differences among learners and bearing this in mind while making the lesson plan can still add contribution to teaching. or at least lets hope so:)
Graduate classes are mostly held at night to allow working adults, especially practicing teachers, to be part of our student population.
And certainly it's a good idea to test students in terms of their learning styles.
And finally, I wonder if explicitly explaining to your students about the advantages of groupwork (use research results as your evidence) would help encourage buy-in on the part of your students.
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