Research

Scholars are increasingly rising to the challenge of researching best practices in Native American Indian Education. They are providing a wealth of information that is lengthy, hard to access, and hard to read. The effort required often prevents educators of Native American students from accessing and applying research proven practices.

Native Education Solutions makes it easy for you to access this information by summarizing the available research for you .  Read and enjoy.

Title:

Learning Styles of American Indian/Alaska Native Students: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Practice

Author:

Cornel Pewewardy

Location:

Journal of American Indian Education, Volume 41 Number 3, 2002

• Indian populations are just as diverse as all others, with a variety of learning styles
  • Learning styles are influenced by social, environment, heredity, values, degree of acculturation and assimilation, language and other factors;
• Learning is successful when the learner’s culture and home teaching practices are applied.
  • Learners tend to seek out learning opportunities suitable to their learning style.
• Individuals learn how to learn through socialization within their cultural group.
• Learning style refers to cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that, when combined, predict how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to their learning.

• Field-Dependence/Field-Independence (influence of surroundings on learner)
  • Refers to how (not what) students learn;
  • Teaching styles in American classrooms tend to be field-independent;
  • Native students tend to be field-dependent in learning style.
    • Things/self are viewed only in context of the environment;
    • Meaning is achieved only when it starts with the whole picture (holistic or global learning) & concepts can be linked to the whole.
    • Background must be clear before details can easily be perceived.
    • Traits when combined with right brain dominance tend to include visual & spatial, integrative, relational, intuitive, and contextual.
    • Focuses on life & relationships rather than linear/hierarchy.
• Perceptual Strengths (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic)
  • Native students tend to be visual learners (especially in math);
    • Graphs, films, demonstrations, & pictures with lots of demonstrations.
  • Teaching in American classrooms tends to focus on auditory learning.
• Reflectivity vs. Impulsivity
  • Native students tend to be reflective;
    • Tries to be “correct” before speaking, resulting in longer response times;
    • Concept of time reflects this tendency also, since time is less important than being right in choices (will be late to class if situations demand, etc.);
    • Teaching in American classrooms tends to rely on trial & error inquiry methods.
• Classroom Management & Behavior
  • Causes for disciplinary problems are culturally attributed as are the methods used to motivate acceptable behaviors.
  •  Research on Navajo populations indicates students are defiant against overt attempts to manipulate them.
  • Behavior management techniques relevant to many Native American cultures include ignoring misbehavior or lowering one’s eyes, indirectly referring to the misdeed and praising honorable behavior, shaming & embarrassing, and humor.
  • Families demonstrate varying levels of traditional behaviors, but traditionally, grandparents are often the disciplinarians who teach children values, acceptable behaviors, and morality and rarely, if ever, do adults strike children.
• Role of the Family, Tribe, & Elders
  • Family, Tribe, & elders play significant roles in educating Native children.
  • Children see their family members as extension of themselves, and relatives all play major roles in raising children, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and even foster/adoptive members.
  • It is common for Native children to live in multiple homes in a family system of interdependence.
  • Respect for family, especially elders, is a value taught to Native students.
  • Traditionally, the tribe (through the extended family system) is responsible for educating all children.
  • Tribal collectivism conflicts with a school culture that tends to value independence, capitalism, youth, & self.
  • Teacher/Pupil Relationships.
  •  Findings demonstrate how important teachers are to the learning process and the teaching style significantly impacts student success or failure.
    • Many teachers have no understanding of cultural learning styles;
    • Many teachers can’t identify learning style differences much less apply culturally relevant teaching practices.
    • Often teachers blame the student for learning problems rather than themselves.
    • Many teachers simply ignore cultural relevance in both instructional content and methods of instruction.
• Cooperation vs. Competition
  • Traditionally, Native people view people, not possessions, as important and possessions are important only in that they can be shared with people.
    • Status above or below another is not valued.
  • COMPETITION DOES NOT PRODUCE MOTIVATION!
    • Teachers who single out an individual’s work could cause them to perform poorly in order to restore their status in the group.
    • Activities where individuals perform to demonstrate superiority over peers cause shame.
    • Bragging is typically not culturally acceptable.
    • Group activities, including group competitions where individual performance benefits the group, tends to highly motivate Native student performance.

• Teachers should gain skills to assess learning styles and match their teaching styles;
• Pre-service programs should require experience with Native Students as part of their teacher preparation.
• Teachers must view individual students’ cultural backgrounds as dynamic & inseparable from their learning.
• Teachers must present new concepts in their entirety before attempting to study the details.
• Teachers should rely on oral literature to teach details, incorporate social values into lessons, use for beginning reading & writing, include Native heroes (historical & current), and involve grandparents and other elders in instruction.
• Teachers should use cooperative methods (group games, team activities) and avoid singling out individual students or making class participation in individualistic activities a requirement.
• Teachers should apply a variety of assessments to any learning activity (good practice for all students to gain an accurate picture of student ability) to ensure testing results are not the result of incompatibility with learning styles, language, or culture.
• Teachers to realize and plan for factors that prevent full participation in learning, such as poverty, family dysfunction, societal injustices. These cause feelings of anxiety, low self esteem, even isolation and rejection that appears as low motivation and can be countered when teachers ensure their activities are culturally relevant, builds self-confidence, & builds their sense of pride.
• Learning style should not be accepted or rejected until all the evidence is in. Tribal & family influences on native learners dictate the need for research on learning styles to include researchers from disciplines who can look beyond the individual.