Learning outcome 1: Understanding teaching and learning strategies in lifelong learning
I am a Dental Sister at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital. I will be teaching 1st year Undergraduate Bachelor Dental Students (BDS). The 1st year BDS have to have certain criteria when enrolling on the 5 year BDS course the academic entry requirements are Biology and Chemistry A-level grade A, Mathematics A-level grade A, GCSE grade B in both English and Maths and all applicants must take UKCAT. There is also some non-academic entry requirements which include scholastic activity, community activity, general activity/interests and work shadowing/observation experience. The student also has to have an interview before being accepted onto the course.
1.2 Evaluate the effectiveness of approaches to learning and teaching in own specialist area in meeting needs of learners
When meeting a group of new students it is important to find out each student’s particular learning style, this is so I can meet the learning needs of each student individually. Learning styles are individual’s natural pattern of acquiring and processing information in learning situations. There are many models of learning styles David Kolbs, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford, Anthony Gregorc and Neil Flemings VAK are some of the most popular. Honey and Mumford suggests that “learners are a mixture of four styles Activist (likes to keep busy, new challenges) Pragmatist (likes practical situations), Theorist (needs time to take in information) and Reflector (thinks deeply about what they are learning)” (2006) These are assumed to be acquired preferences that are adaptable, either at will or through changed circumstances.
Neil Flemmings VAK is one of the most common and widely used learning styles model, Fleming claimed that “visual learners have a preference for seeing (thinking in pictures; visual aids such as (overhead slides,