In an attempt to level the classroom playing field for students, Sacred Heart Prep school in Atherton joined nine schools nationwide to participate in the High Schools Attuned program. This pilot program aims at implementing teaching strategies in the classroom that address different learning styles.
Dr. Mel Levine, professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill and director of the university's clinical center for the study of development and learning, founded the nonprofit All Kinds of Minds Institute that is funding the project. He first pioneered the Attuned program at the elementary level nine years ago.
Levine said he believes students struggle needlessly with the learning process because the way they are taught is not the way their brains are wired to learn.
"Far too many kids have been told they will never amount to anything because of their learning difficulties," Levine said. "Understanding depends upon how information enters your mind."
Teachers and parents sometimes have difficulties recognizing those struggling teens who fall through the cracks, he said. Learning to pinpoint where a student's learning breaks down is key, he said.
Through the program, Levine said he hopes educators will be able to recognize variations in the way children learn and use the program's models to accommodate those with learning differences.
Levine met with the school staff June 15-17 for one of three seminars he is scheduled to conduct at Sacred Heart as part of the program.
Levine told the staff that a student's understanding depends on the way that person processes information, which explains why some students succeed in a class and others don't.
He said some students, for example, have strong spatial abilities, which help them develop analogies when new information is introduced. Other students may have specific memory weaknesses that are amplified when absorbing new information.
Levine said presenting the same information in various ways is one strategy teachers may use in order to reach more students. He said teachers may present new information through verbalization, imagery, hands-on lessons or teacher demonstrations.
He also suggested evaluating students in more than one way. He said certain kinds of tests may discriminate against some types of learners.
"There's lots of levels of understanding. If you have a student in class who doesn't understand, shift to another mode. That's the key to understanding for very student," he said.
Organizers said they plan to collect data over the next two years to measure the program's success.