Name: Naila

CMS: 231-22-0020

Assignment: Teaching Pedagogy

Instructor: Prof. Dr. Sarwar Mehmood Azhar

Date: 06-12-2022

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Curry’s Onion Model

Introduction:

Scholars in the education field are increasingly convinced that a “one size fits all” paradigm is no
longer effective model for today’s students as learner’s approach learning in different ways
(Evans, 2010). This implies that instructors today have to use various methods, didactics and
educational interventions as per the preferences of students learning styles. To reach this
objective, it is essential to develop a good understanding of diverse learning styles of students
and how it impacts the learning outcomes.

The diversity in learning styles in higher education has continued to expand. Learners belongs to
varied ethnic and cultural background, from a multiple of training programs and institutions with
differing learning styles. These differences in learning styles has emphasized educators to
reconsider traditional, uniform instruction methods and stress the importance of considering
student learning styles in the design and delivery of course content. Transformation from
traditional learning to student centered learning has stressed educators to provide learning style
models.

The concept of learning styles has been used to assign a wide variety of student attributes and
differences. Marton & Saljo, (1976) has identified the two approaches; the surface approach and
deep approach. However, it is generally believed that the use of a deep learning approach
associated with higher quality outcome and surface learning approach with lower quality
learning outcomes. Therefore, it is considered important that students be encouraged to adopt a
deep learning.

Initial attention in individual differences led to the development of learning style studies. These
topics were quite popular within investigatory psychology in the 1960s, continued to be so in the
early 1970s, but sadly have fallen out of favor since then due to a shift in our society's priorities
or a change in professional interest. Racial and socioeconomic class inequalities are among the
between-group distinctions that society and the field of psychology have grown. Unfortunately,
this reduction in learning style research was premature, leaving the entire field of study
disjointed and unfinished. Additionally, the field was left without a definite purpose or
connection to any of the primary issues in education. In an attempt to understand learning styles,
Curry (1983) designed the Onion model, which situates existing style theories in an integrated
model that distinguishes three levels, organized as the layers of an onion: an inner ‘cognitive
personality style’ layer, a middle ‘information-processing style’ layer and an outer ‘instructional
preference’ layer.

Curry’s Onion model’s each layer is connected with theories. All three of the scales that make up
the "Model of Instructional Preference Theory" contain the idea that students prefer to work at
their own pace and on their own material rather than that chosen by the teacher or a group of
their peers. These three measures are also interested in how involved a student wants to be in

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their education and how much self-organization they prefer. Moreover, the deep structural
aspects of personality are a concern of the "Models of Cognitive Personality." Each of these
measures particularly includes learning behavior within its scope, despite their claims to have
broad usefulness in forecasting behavior. As a result, there are elements of each measure that are
reflected in the others. For instance, Witkin's interest in field dependence-independence is likely
related to Kagan's dimensions of impulsivity-reflectivity, which are known as "time to closure"
in a therapeutic environment (the data gathering phase in problem solving). The MacCaully work
with the Myers-Briggs Type Instrument across all four bi-polar scales, notably the thinking-
feeling scale, reflects this issue of time or quantity of detail checking once again.

This report aims to provide understanding of Onion model. Humans possess the onion inside to
different degrees and this contributes to our own individual learning styles. Each student has
different capabilities to adopt various influences. It is necessary to understands and adopt the
range of strategies that can improve the effectiveness of the way they improve. So this report
consists origin, evolution and application of Curry’s onion model.

The model of Curry’s onion can be used to classify learning theories. It has used metaphor of an
onion, which has three layers; each learning style corresponds to a particular layer. The main
classification criterion in the onion model is the degree of stability over time of the preferences
represented by each layer. the outermost layer of the onion represents instructional preference. It
is concerned with various modes of information delivery and may change frequently;
instructional preference is assumed to be the least stable over time. The middle layer represents
information processing styles. They are concerned with the way the brain processes information,
which can influence the way learners remember, think and elaborate on information. Information
processing styles have greater stability over time than instructional preference. The innermost
(core) layer of the onion represents cognitive personality styles; these styles are based on
personality traits that have an indirect impact on the way learners interact with the learning
environment. Cognitive personality styles are believed to be the most stable over time. Onion
model was further extended by Brown, et, al (2005) by adding “prior knowledge layer”. This
layer is necessary to add because before further processing information, student has prior
knowledge which has come from innate believes and from family.

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Educational Scholars has now embrace the idea that drills, repetition and rigidly planned
activities are no longer viewed as a successful teaching strategy for today's pupils since they
approach learning in different ways, according to educational researchers (Evans & Peiris, 2010).
Curry, (1999) has employed curry model on first year medical students. She explores the range
of ways learning style can be applied in medical education, including ways to use information
about student’s learning styles which help them cope with the challenges of content
understanding and professional development. It has been essential to consider the psychological
development during learning. How information is perceived and processed during learning.
Eagleton & Muller (2011) have used curry three layer model with the personality traits central to
learning different quadrants of brain. These personality preferences are encircled by the different
information processing preferences for each brain quadrant. It has merged, personality traits,
information-processing strategies, instructional and environmental preferences to design learning
procedure along with learning interventions. They had proposed a model, information-processing
styles are represented in the second layer of Curry’s Onion model and integrate the Kolb’s
experiential learning styles.
Moreover, Rashtchi et al., (2015) critically analyzed the inner layer of personality can predict
outer layers. The study was conducted on Iranian (English Foreign Learner) EFL learners based
on four layers of Curry onion model. The outer social interaction and instructional preference
types are unstable and the inner cognitive styles are stable were supported. It means that teachers
should be more concerned that individual differences that learners bring to the context of
learning. following the recent debate on different needs of individual pupils for choosing
appropriate tools and provide good learning environment to students. Every field has adopted
various learning styles, including learning style in physics education, that can enhance chance to
improve the educational process of this subject and increase the motivation of students for
learning (Gurcay, 2015). Moreover, the increased customization in e-learning system, learner
plays essential role in variability. Consequently, learning models used to characterize
psychological differences and learner’s personality traits. In this regard Labib et al., (2017) has
used onion model to present a learner's characteristics ontology based on creating connections
between the various learning style model dimensions and learning styles with the pertinent
learner's characteristics, that can help instructors improve and customize the learning content,
recommend learning materials to learners in accordance with their learning characteristics and
preferences and give both educators and students in-depth knowledge about how the learning
process works.

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References:

Curry, L. (1999). Cognitiveandlearningstyles.Pdf. In Academic Medicine (Vol. 74, pp. 409–413).

Eagleton, S., & Muller, A. (2011). Development of a model for whole brain learning of
physiology. American Journal of Physiology - Advances in Physiology Education, 35(4),
421–426. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00007.2011
Evans, J. R., & Peiris, D. (2010). The Relationship between Environmental Social Governance
Factors and Stock Returns.
Gurcay, D. (2015). Preservice Physics Teachers’ Beliefs Regarding Their Teacher Efficacy and
Classroom Management. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 197(February), 1101–
1106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.353
Labib, A. E., Canós, J. H., & Penadés, M. C. (2017). On the way to learning style models
integration: a Learner’s Characteristics Ontology. Computers in Human Behavior, 73, 433–
445.
Marton, F., & Saljo, R. (1976). On qualitative differences in learning: I. Outcome and process.
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46(1), 4–11.
Rashtchi, M., Panahzade, V., & Qaracholloo, M. (2015). An empirical inquiry into Curry ’ s
Onion Model : Do inner layers of personality predict outer layers ? An Empirical Inquiry
into Curry ’ s Onion Model : Do Inner Layers of Personality Predict Outer Layers ?
December.