Research tells us that children approach learning and thinking in variety of ways. There is no one or a single approach to learning and thinking, in-fact their are hundreds of learning and thinking style. However, in this article we will introduce one widely deliberated styles – impulsive / reflective learning style
Impulsive / Reflective Styles:
Impulsive student have a tendency to act or solve a problem quickly or impulsively rather than take time to respond or reflect on the answer. This in most cases result in an inaccurate answer or mistakes. Whereas, a reflective student takes more time to respond, reflect on the accuracy of the answer. Research has shown that reflective students are more likely to do well in a given task than an impulsive student, they learn effectively and do better in school. Some reflective students take forever to respond, as they ponder on a problem for long, and have difficulty finishing the task. (An example is perfectionism. Perfectionism has been linked to positive, but also to negative consequences – namely if perfectionism hinders completion of tasks.). In some cases impulsivity can be a result of learning disability like Attention Deficit Disorder. Their are number of strategies for helping students self-regulate their behaviour
Also, over a period of time the student is able to organise and structure knowledge, and thus able to faster retrieve required information, resulting in fast and accurate learning style. In-other words moving from being a novice to an expert.
Strategies for working with Impulsive Children:
- Determine which student in the classroom are impulsive.
- Talk with them and encourage them to take time to think before responding.
- Encourage them to label new information as they work with it.
- Demonstrate reflective style as a teacher in the classroom (be the role model)
- Help students set high standards for their performance.
- Recognise when impulsive students start to take more tie to reflect. Compliment them on their improvement.
- Guide students in creating their own plan to reduce impulsivity
