ABSTRACT
The ideas of a subject constitute the material for learning. Ideas may be represented in a variety of ways. J. S. Bruner suggests three modes of representation: enactive, ikonic and symbolic. The distinction between serialists and holists is based on how students tackle assignments in contrived learning situations where they have freedom to choose how they will learn. These strategies reflect broader ‘operational’ and ‘comprehension’ learning styles: ‘operation learning’ is Pask’s term for that aspect of learning concerned with the mastery of procedural details, while ‘comprehension learning’ is concerned with ‘building descriptions of what may be known’. The Spy Ring History Test, and its parallel form, the Smugglers’ Test, were devised to provide shorter and more exact measures of learning styles and a score of versatility. The evidence on matching teaching to learning, on teachback, and on ‘learning to learn’ does suggest that students can be helped to develop more effective strategies which help them to think through their learning.
