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How to Use Learning Preferences to Optimize Teaching Effectiveness

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Abstract

Learners differ in their preferences and aptitudes for acquiring, consolidating, and integrating new information. Similarly, teachers have a variety of preferences, strategies, and strengths for teaching. While it is conceptually attractive to imagine that simply matching “learning styles” and “teaching styles” will lead to better educational outcomes, this conclusion is not supported by the available research. Rather, understanding learning and teaching styles allows the clinical teacher to improve educational outcomes by (a) presenting information in a variety of styles and (b) troubleshoot challenging teacher-student interactions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Campus Box 359968, 325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Paul R. Sutton MD, PhD

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, 4800 Sandpoint Way NE, Mailstop OC.7.830, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Heather A. McPhillips MD, MPH

Authors
  1. Paul R. Sutton MD, PhD
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  2. Heather A. McPhillips MD, MPH
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul R. Sutton MD, PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Somnath Mookherjee

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Medicine, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    Ellen M. Cosgrove

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Sutton, P.R., McPhillips, H.A. (2016). How to Use Learning Preferences to Optimize Teaching Effectiveness. In: Mookherjee, S., Cosgrove, E. (eds) Handbook of Clinical Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33193-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33193-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33191-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33193-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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