Learning style = teaching style?
Upon reflection, I can see that my learning style definitely impacts my teaching style. When teach CHGN 126 lab I would often demonstrate skills that the students would need for the day’s lab before them, then have them return to their bench and practice while I walked around and gave pointers. For example, when they had to learn titrations I showed them an example titration, then had them put some indicator in water and titrate it as a practice while I came around and watched them. If I were more of a “diverger,” prone to learn by “reflective observance,” then I might have thought that most students would get it the first time simply by watching someone else perform the operation. It would be difficult to learn titrations by “concrete experience” as there is very little to “feel” in the process, but perhaps that speaks to the reason why so many students have a tough time learning this relatively simple lab technique. In teaching this technique I would often ask students to think about what was actually going on in the flask when they saw the color change indicating the end of the titration. In this way I would like to think I was promoting deeper learning, but it may not have helped anyway. You really don’t need to know anything about the concept of acid/base chemistry to make a solution turn pink by adding another solution.
