Every group formed has different aspects to it (Merriam-Webster, 2012)and thus different groups exist for different reasons. But it is obvious and common knowledge that every group that exists, does so for a purpose which is the reason for the unity of the stated group. A group cannot be formed without a common purpose as randomly selected people have no reason to unite with others, unless it is for a common cause. Group theory studies the various groups that exist. Groups are usually a group of people or things that are together for a common purpose and reason and thus are together for a reason. Every group has distinct dynamics and traits which separate it from other groups. Some groups can also be rivals of other groups and history contains various examples of such.
As already stated a group cannot be formed without a reason and a group formed without a reason or common interest is highly unlikely to survive. A group without a common purpose is technically not even a group and so unless people are bound by a common interest, they are not part of a group. The stated interests range from being fans or supporters of the same team or students of a class. Other reasons may bind people together too and they include factors like religion and beliefs but just because people have a common purpose or interest does not mean that they can form an effective group. A group can vary in size but renowned social psychologist Muzafer Sharif classified it as being with a minimum of three (Sherif, 1948). Groups are a phenomenon that is quite different from normal social studies.
Despite being united, interests may differ or vary within a group. For example for a group of people standing at a bus stop waiting fro the bus, each individual there may be wafting for a different bus and so although the group is waiting for a bus, each person has a different bus to catch, making them more different than alike. Similarly mostly every country (with some exceptions) in the world today is a democracy but despite that, almost every nation has a different foreign, trade and economic policy. The dynamics of every country vary as the globe is circled and so uniting people can become just as difficult as it seems easy. Formulation of a common purpose and unification through one way does not combine a group to people to make them one; this requires a lot more than just the definition of a single factor binding a few people together. But the conversion theory holds significance here as it states that people of a minority can convert the majority to their side.
At the same time some groups live with the most simple and general relationships between then. Groups s exist to preserve the planet, they also exist to protest against racism. Thus groups exist for fairly simple as well as complex purposes but the effectiveness of a group is determined by none other than the people that constitute it as well as how achievable its goals are as well as how relatable the goals and missions of the group is with the masses. In a country stricken with inflation and corruption, not many citizens would be willing to stand up for animal rights or in a society where the crime rate is very high and violence is extremely common, not many people would be bothered about voting for the next elected representative.
Learning styles are varied approaches to learning. David Kolb introduced an experimental learning theory which highlighted two ways to absorb an experience. The first being the ‘Concrete Experience’ while the second was the ‘Abstract Conceptualization’. along with two more approaches which aimed at transforming the experience and were namely ‘Reflective Observation’ and ‘Active Experimentation’. According to Kolb, in order to participate in effective learning all four of these techniques or approaches needed to be used together. Following Kolb’s model, Honey and Mumford released their own with certain changes. Honey and Mumford first of all changed the name of the cycles according to the decision making or problem solving experiences that a manager has. They were named the ‘Activist’, ‘Reflector’, ‘Theorist’ and the ‘Pragmatist’ and instead of reflecting fixed personality traits they showed preferences that change with circumstances. Further Honey and Mumford released the “Learning Styles Questionnaire”(Honey, 2006) which invited managers to complete a checklist of work related tasks without asking them how they learned to perform the tasks. This is a self assessment tool and allows managers to assess themselves and move on to learn from how they did and enhance their performance in the future by learning on their own.
As stated earlier, learning styles are varied approaches to learning and not even monozygotic twins are 100% identical. Each individual varies from preferences in food and drink to colors and even cartoon characters. With such diversity and option in the world, it is clear how different people have different preferred learning styles. It has already been stated that since people differ in opinion and taste, their preferences vary. Other factors that are specific to the learning style choice include IQ and general intelligence as well as abilities to focus and concentrate. Someone who is smarter than most people or who scores above average on most tests will generally comprehend new concepts better and thus will take less effort to teach. On the other hand a student that scores below average on most tests will be the exact opposite and will require more effort to teach. That being said, it is possible to quite an extent that a student that scores below average on most tests prefers to be taught by methods that are more complex, simply on the basis that he may comprehend from them better.
Students with a lower IQ and general level of intelligence may also face a similar situation and thus may not prefer for example being taught from books inside lecture vast halls. The same goes for students that may have trouble focusing and thus cannot sit in a lecture hall and listen continuously to lecture for 45 minutes. Every style is unique and so is every person, thus no one style of learning can be said to fit everyone, though distinctions can be made between the minority and majority. The Honey and Mumford Learning Styles Questionnaire proved to be extremely popular and effective in the United Kingdom and still is to date.
Aristotle Said: ’It is the mark of an educated man to entertain a thought without accepting it”. While George Bernard Shaw said:”A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.” Education is an invaluable tool and is something that never causes harm to he who possesses it. But it is important to gather it effectively and in order to do that effectively is to select a learning style or technique that one can comprehend to.
References:
Honey, P & Mumford, A 2006 The Learning Styles Questionnaire, 80-item version. Maidenhead, UK, Peter Honey Publications
Sherif, Muzafer and Sherif, Carolyn W., 1948 An Outline of Social Psychology rev.ed. Harper & Brothers: New York
Merriam-Webster, 2012 Group [online] Available at: < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/group > [Accessed 21 April 2012]
