Judging and Perceiving

Judging and Perceiving preferences, within the context of personality types, refers to our attitude towards the external world, and how we live our lives on a day-to-day basis. People with the Judging preference want things to be neat, orderly and established. The Perceiving preference wants things to be flexible and spontaneous. Judgers want things settled, Perceivers want thing open-ended.

We are using Judging when we:

• Make a list of things to do
• Schedule things in advance
• Form and express judgments
• Bring closure to an issue so that we can move on

We are using Perceiving when we:

• Postpone decisions to see what other options are available
• Act spontaneously
• Decide what to do as we do it, rather than forming a plan ahead of time
• Do things at the last minute

We all use both Judging and Perceiving as we live our day-to-day life. Within the context of personality type, the important distinction is which way of life do we lean towards, and are more comfortable with.

The differences between Judging and Perceiving are probably the most marked differences of all the four preferences. People with strong Judging preferences might have a hard time accepting people with strong Perceiving preferences, and vice-versa. On the other hand, a "mixed" couple (one Perceiving and one Judging) can complement each other very well, if they have developed themselves enough to be able to accept each other's differences. 

(excerpted from:  <http:// The Four Preferences >

     a)  How can we use type to teach writing?

1.  "Personality and Writer's Block"( DiTiberio, J. and Jesse, G. Writing and Personality 1995.)

Here the authors look at difficulties each of the types may have in approaching a writing assignment.  For example, Introverts might plan their essay to an extreme before they can begin writing, and Extraverts may fill pages of writing but without going anywhere.  Better not to waste time, the authors say and walk away from it for a while.  Interestingly, types can overcome their writing anxieties by adopting the writing methods of their opposites.  Introverts can try free writing, putting down whatever comes into their heads.  Later they can go back and decide what is most appropriate for the assignment and begin to build their essay from the rough draft. 

Sensing types tend to approach writing as a craft.  They tend to adopt one method and adapt it to their needs, then stick with it.  To widen their skills, Ss should try and break the rules sometimes, see what happens.  Also, Ss tend to want explicit guidelines for writing, and they would do well to remember they are not rules, but general suggestions.  All the same, the S will feel more comfortable if they seek clarification from the teacher if the assignment is not clear.

Intuitive types are the most original writers, and yet they can become blocked if they feel their approach is not unique enough (!)  Ns can get past this if they become more like S types:  go back to tried and true methods of writing and stick to the criteria of the assignment.  KISS!  Keep it simple, stupid!

Thinking types are strong on objective analysis but have more trouble when it comes time to write on personal topics.  If they can access some personal opinions or appropriate memories or expereinces, they can bring in more of a Feeling approach.

Feeling types are most comfortable writing from personal experience but have to remember to get to the point and relate their topic clearly to the assignment.  If Fs can find personal meaning in a more abstract or analytical analysis of a topic, they will be able to get past blocks.

Js have to be wary of ending their research too soon, or settling on the limitations of a topic prematurely.  Their natural goal is to complete the task on time and they may overlook important information.  Js might consider adopting the P's method of exploring further on related topics and then judging if they add more to the topic.

Lastly, Ps are known as the "procrastinators", not because they are lazy or unmotivated, but because they are reluctant to end their exploration of information.   Ps need to set a limit and then get down to the writing.  Adopting more of a Js awareness of time and efficiency will aid the P.

In conclusion, we all have areas in our writing where we could improve.  In view of the functions and knowing our own type, we can now look for weaknesses and use our opposite type's methods to strengthen our work.

2.  "The Basics of Type Theory" (Mamchur, Carolyn. Cognitive Type Theory and Learning Style. 1996)

In this book, Dr. Mamchur asks teachers to consider their own types in dealing with students in the classroom and also offers suggestions on how to teach students with different type.  If a teacher is Extraverted, she may not mind a high level of noise and activity in her classroom, but she will have to reserve quiet areas for her Introverted students.  If Introverted, the teacher will enjoy working in small, intense groups in a well-ordered classroom, but she will have to allow physical breaks, group activities and a variety of experiences for her Extraverted students. 

Sensing students learn best when they can participate in hands-on activities that are practical and relevant to their lives.  They pay careful attention to details, one at a time, and want to involve their senses in exploring ideas.   The teacher is most successful when she can break down information into component parts, teach slowly and allow time for observation and practice.  Tests should offer multiple choice, T/F questions, and when teachers ask more open ended questions, the sentence should begin with a review of related material.

The Intuitive learner causes the student to scan situations for patterns and possibilities.  Ns crave intense experiences where they can take the assignment further and add their own creative endings or tangents. Intutive teachers are able to inspire students with their idealism and they tend to take on big projects.  N teachers will have to offer S students some concrete tasks within these activities.  N students get bored easily and reject these limiting tasks, so they must be offered choices within the projects.

The Thinking student wants to know that the teacher is the "expert" on the subject and that ideas will be presented in an analytical and objective manner. T teachers will have to be wary of appearing distant or aloof to their students and remember to include personal anecdotes or responses to material.  T students expect fair treatment and value the truth above all else.  Teachers must be careful to respect T students' need to be seen as competent and allow them to compete in appropriate ways with their peers.

Most elementary school teachers are Feeling types, as are their students.  Fs value finding personal meaning in class activities and being understood empathetically by those around them.  The atmosphere in the classroom should be one of harmony between all participants.  Relationships are the main focus of the class.  For older students, Fs may be seen as warm and fuzzy by other students but often they remind others of what is best for them as people.  For Fs, the teacher needs to be sincere and understanding of them as a person and criticisim can be taken more personally than the teacher intended.  Fs want the teacher and others to help them grow in a personal way.  F teachers will have to remember to include factual analysis of personal experiences to hold the attention of their T students.

Teaching Writing 

Education shares with philosophy similar goals, practical goals, that were defined long ago, on how to improve oneself and live a better life.  More than this, one aim of education is to reduce the distance between the self and “the other”.  We undergo more than a dozen years of education in the hopes that we will find ourselves in the good company of people with whom we can live together afterwards in that familiar collective called civilization.  It is an attempt to create a space that is conducive to the dissemination of knowledge, to bring about an awareness of more options in life and find what is best for each person. 

The origin of education was likely motivated by the desire to impart information useful to others that would benefit their existence.  Late Paleolithic cave paintings were a way of communicating the hunt, the brute force and the joy of cooperation that could reduce the menace and advance the interests of the group.  In the paintings Steiner (138) reads the emotions of courage, determination, beauty, exhilaration, respect for the animal and thanksgiving, as well as an acknowledgement of the continuation of life.  It is an intelligibility or at least a dialogue of the common struggle, he says, with qualified observation and a willed form.

In this description we hear much more than communication of simply useful information.  In fact, much of it satisfies the definition of the aesthetic and justifies its inclusion in what constitutes art.  In Lascaux someone cared enough about his or her experience of life to want to share a cognitive and emotional response with others.  It is all there in a few images:  the physical animal, the landscape, technical skill, energy and motion, a place, time, forms of expression and a total impression that tells its story to us.

Education seventeen thousand years later was to become more expansive, more detailed and therefore in need of being broken down, so that now we concentrate on the science of things, the history, geography, art and literature as separate disciplines.  We’ve lost the larger picture, the cohesion of the parts but gained more information in each subject than any one person can master in a lifetime.

Nussbaum (103) says that that “education is seen as a way of modifying life and making it more humane”.  Aristotle qualifies this by reminding us that education aims at producing citizens who are perceivers and believes that each student has the potential for practical wisdom.  At the core of Aristotelian education will be the humanities, especially art and literature. 

What this comes down to is the education of feelings.  The arts are a means of developing more complex, more replete emotions, which in turn enliven the cognitive domain.  (Richmond, in conversation).   We define ourselves to the extent that our awareness of other people has something of the emotional warmth and empathy that are inseparable from our own immediate feelings of self.   (Knights 67-68).

Why Learn to Write?

What happens when we try to write?  For one thing, we must find the courage to share something about ourselves while at the same time deliver an invitation through words for the “other” to join us.  In the best literature we are immediately impressed by what Murdoch calls a calm and merciful voice.  Steiner (147) relates it to the concept of “courtesy”, taken from courtly love, meaning we find a mode of communication to our reader through tact, finesse of psychology, consideration of mind, perception, offering a warm welcome to the visitor. As we read, so must we write, through words.  Lexical courtesy is the first step in philology, which makes us “dwellers in the great dictionaries”.  We must open ourselves to vocabulary – theological, political, and regional in Dante; legal, military, botanical and of the craftsmen in Shakespeare; alchemy in Goethe; argot in Joyce.  A distinct musicality registers life and time in Coleridge’s words.  Gradually the finesse of reception increases.  (157).

The second step is syntax, grammar and rhetoric.  Syntax chooses an effect.  The Bible uses an anaphoric arrangement, phrases cumulate or diminish; the grammar is set in motion. “The poetry of grammar is the grammar of poetry”.  Stevens intends for the grammar to keep us off balance, in fact, where the rules of grammar are broken, meaning is set free. Rhetoric is the craft of charging with significant result the lexical and grammatical units of utterance. (160-161).

Semantics is the third part, which encompasses the previous steps.  It denotes the passing of “means into meaning”.  Suddenly, as in Shakespeare, Steiner (162) notes, “the entire notational code interacts with the totality of the historical and surrounding world, and networks with every conceivable value and usage.” 

The Writing Personality

Let’s hear from a well-known teacher of writing, John Gardner, who was also a novelist.  “Writing is immensely difficult, more than the beginning writer may realize, but in the end can be mastered by anyone willing to do the work…. Trust that what works for other human activities will work for writing.  In learning to ride a bicycle, one must learn to steer, keep balance, work the pedals, stop, keep going – all separate processes, requiring separate focuses of concentration.” 

But in his experience, as someone who worked resolutely, earned a PhD, attended writing workshops after workshop, Gardner found that nothing did the trick.  He had to face the truth – he was on his own.  And, here it is again:  “Writing can only be taught to a certain extent, then it is caught on to.”  (J. Gardner 17).

So, what is it then?  Ninety-nine percent perspiration, as Edison said, but without that one percent inspiration, not much is able to enter the realm of significance?  Is Gardner saying that with diligence, the skills will come, but not necessarily the “something more”?

There is a plethora of self-help books out there to guide the novice scribbler to success, many of which are disparaged by respected writers, but some of these books are in fact authored by literary giants, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Hodgins, E.M. Forster, Milan Kundera and John Updike.  And what are the secrets of these books?  “Write everyday”, “write what you know”, “show don’t tell”.  After a while they all sound the same except for personal experiences and the quaint eccentricities.  And it follows that in many creative writing classes the instructor dutifully divides the teaching of writing into elements of fiction and hopes that with enough practice, the students will begin to “catch on”.

What Gardner is ultimately getting at is the hot molten core of teaching creative writing, which we have mentioned with Csikzentmihalyi, and is most succinctly stated by the eminent Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (46).  Simply put, it is “the will to try”. After exhausting the methods of increasing his skills and knowledge, Gardner deduced it was up to him to go beyond.  This depended upon his will.  Most beginning writers give up, life interrupts and the haul is too long.  But the motivation behind those who are still resolved to try is found in Maslow (RH 86) and Roger’s theory that the “mainspring of creativity in the individual is the need to self-actualize”. (RH 298).  Fully committed beginners have an unshakeable need to write.   As Tennessee Williams says, “it may kill them”.  Just as strong is a need to see themselves as writers.  This terrible will to forge ahead may facilitate the breakthrough. 

So, the question has come down to this:  can this obsessive trait be instilled in students?  Perhaps we would not want all students to have it, for it pushes life to the wall to make way for an all-consuming ambition.  It may well be a quality that is discovered as the writer realizes how important writing is to her, as in the case where it becomes meshed with self-identity that we have seen with personal tragedy.  

Let us now scrutinize the detailed chain of events in the creative writing classroom that might lead up to this point and make some suggestions on how to teach creative writing.

Creative Writing in the Classroom By using our very own imaginations for a moment, although very realistically, let’s assume that we can replicate all the aspects of creativity in the classroom.  The “early environment” would involve the teacher in the equivalent role of “parent”, who will nurture and praise the student’s first efforts at writing.  It is crucial to make each student feel her writing has value and potential.  The teacher as “expert” will help the student discover where her strengths lie.  The atmosphere of a class must be established early – relaxed, friendly, supportive and, if possible, fun.  The message is that this is a different kind of a class.  It will be intellectually challenging but will have a strong affective component.  Students learn to respect one another’s early attempts at writing and give constructive feedback.  When the teacher as expert “names” certain successes in a student’s writing, the class is witness to the success, which in turn boosts the confidence of the student.  (Mamchur, class lectures).  This may be the biggest motivating factor for the individual.  The immediacy here, in the classroom, cannot be discounted in the formation of a writer.  When a student’s work is read aloud, her peers have a spontaneous natural response to the material presented in the story.  The class becomes the student writer’s critics and usually feedback is evenly divided between responding to the aesthetic experience of the story as well as assigning moral value.  In this manner, the student learns quickly what is strong and what needs more work.  At the same time, in the early phases of class, the teacher must avoid premature judgment.  There are just too many elements to juggle at once.  It seems unknown at first how students begin to create but it is necessary to make the environment non-threatening.  As often happens, students choose events from their personal history that they deem momentous. There is a risk of feeling exposed.  “There are many starting points for works of art…. (they) sometimes do have their inception in certain strongly felt emotions or significant experiences and the creation of the work can be a way to explore and to understand these feelings and expressions by giving them form.” (Bailin www.ed.uiuc.edu).

 I would also point out that in this early stage, it is important to separate different skills.  It helps the student to focus on one element in the writing, say character, and by lifting up and turning it around, the student sees what it does and how it fits into the whole.  It might also be appreciated as a puzzle piece that blends imaginatively into the overarching idea.  As Richmond reminds us, concepts build on concepts and soon we become more confident with using our knowledge.

The instructor must accompany the teaching of writing with the teaching of reading – that is, the skill of being able to “read like a writer”.  It soon becomes obvious that this is an entirely different approach to reading.   Segments of class must be devoted to reading great works in the tradition.  Here elements are also unpacked and repacked for examination.  The student begins to have exposure to the domain and ideally, her own practice in writing will reflect influences of the reading.

The palimpsest is the best method for early writers to learn how to start “chunking”.   If a student chooses a short story that she likes and feels she could imitate, then it should be encouraged that she take the framework, maybe a plot outline or character development, and plug in her own special details.   This tinkering with the story’s mechanics can provide huge leaps of progress in a short time.  The student is starting to think like a writer.

After a while, the teacher’s role evolves to that of mentor.  She is an authority in the field and also a role model to the students.  Pupils will see the teacher as someone who has worked very hard through her own apprenticeship, as someone who is still motivated, and as a person who has had some public experience in writing, such as literary publications or screenplay and theatre productions, etc.  The teacher can offer practical advice to the student on how best to use her talents. (Mamchur, class lectures).

Perhaps also in this relationship between student and teacher, the student will absorb a kind of “writer’s attitude”.  It tends toward a “passionate curiosity”, as Einstein explained his own outlook, about people and life, both on and off the page and in the grand drama in which we find ourselves.  We have already mentioned certain creative personality traits, and in the teacher and other class members, the student may recognize kindred souls.   On the other hand, teachers must bear in mind that research has shown that teachers do not always like the most creative students.   (Parnes 341).

This is all slowly taking place as the student develops a mastery of language skills and familiarity with quality literature.  If basic writing techniques have been absorbed, then the student has also begun to see what great imagination some writers are capable of.  Eventually the student wants an answer from the teacher:  where do original ideas come from?  The teacher will direct her back to the process: first, original ideas come from the literary tradition; second, from making analogies with parts of other stories; and third, from “small inspirations”, strings of associations that come together for the writer.  (Weisberg 252-55).  Originality may issue from ordinary thinking habits, but if we are relentless in our pursuit of ideas and hunting down solutions, there is a much higher chance of finding something uncommon.

In the creative writing class we find a wide range of students, all at different points in their development as writers.  How to teach the class as a whole?  The teacher must be subtly attuned to each student.  There are stages of creativity and it may be problematic getting the class to the point where each person is able to give worthwhile feedback to other students.  The class may in fact slide towards the “consensus” theory of what is “good” writing.  (Hattiangadi 42-43). 

Even the author Will Self has delivered warnings about writing programs leading to blandness and conformity.  It is up to the teacher to redirect the discussions and point out attempts at inventiveness.

There may even arise the problem of culture and differing values of what constitutes quality writing.   In some societies, creativity lies not in original stories, but in the retelling of classical myths, such as the Ramayana.   The author’s contribution is not in plot or character, but in her style of telling the story.  In some societies, the artistic goals are to preserve the classical patterns.   (Weiner 150).

As frequently happens toward the end of a class, some students begin to feel a “lack of fit”.  Either they have progressed beyond the rest of the class or they are ready to leave off the exercises the teacher has assigned to improve particular skills or insights.  In these cases, students may feel motivated to strike out on their own.  (H. Gardner 320).

Often the desire to go further is motivated by a certain personal philosophy rooted in a strong sense of self.  To go further towards capturing a writer’s philosophy, we might link it to Rorty’s (2) definition of an intellectual, someone who has “the hope to be one’s own person rather than merely the creation of one’s education or one’s environment”.  To discover what is authentically true for an individual is not necessarily to reject the past.  “It may instead be a matter of reinterpreting that past so as to make it more suitable for one’s own purposes.”  This is exactly what writers do; they keep reinterpreting their experiences in hopes of mining innovative ideas or drawing out more profound stories.  The point, as Harold Bloom tells us, is to become aware of a great number of alternate purposes, perhaps by going to theatres, museums, churches, gurus, and above all, reading a great many books.  (2).

If a writer can experiment with multiple versions of themselves and embrace varied experiences as part of her transformation, she can become more adept at imagining different lives and increasing her compassion and acceptance of “otherness”.  Gordimer says authors invent characters from parts of themselves – Conrad was Lord Jim, Conrad was Marlow.  Toni Morrison said, “the ability of the writers to imagine what is not the self is the test of their power.”  (Gordimer 14).

As we have seen with J. Gardner’s comments, it is the inner conditions of the writer’s soul that are crucial.  At best, the creative writing classroom may be a place that facilitates these conditions in the individual, and it may be a place of nourishment.  Classes should offer a feeling of safety and psychological freedom and all writing should be accepted unconditionally.  The teacher must present herself as a valid mentor and not judge the student’s early work.  Understanding and empathy here are key. (Rogers RH  303-04).

In responding to Will Self’s claim that creative writing cannot be learned in the classroom, we have seen that more than a “narrow range” of skills can be taught, and that although there is some truth to the fact that “writing fiction is largely self-taught”, it is still important that writers have a community.  The stages leading to creativity cannot occur entirely alone.   Writers need mentors and safe places to air their early work.   That “self-teaching is an act of imagination” is definitely true – we can study and read and write, but in the end, the hard work must be done so that imagination begins to flow more freely and becomes a habit.   But we still take cues from other writers on what imagination can do.  On our own, we can practice “feeling our way” through stories, imagining ourselves as a character in the drama, and in so doing, we deepen our awareness and emotional response.

Do “creative writing programs encourage blandness and conformity”?  Maybe some do.  But the student gets out of it what she puts into it.  If the class has been encouraged to seek new ways of seeing, shown what is original, learned to eliminate clichés, and so on, then they have already avoided the charge.  Students may be asked to learn the rules of creative writing – the techniques of writing openings, denouements, realistic characters, etc., but as Weisberg says, the more we know and the more choices we have, the more innovative we may be. (262-63). 

It is my opinion that creativity and imagination can be fostered to a certain extent. I also believe that their development must begin in infancy and be stimulated throughout life.  If creativity can be harnessed to skills and knowledge, then there is a chance that the products of that creativity can be judged as significant.  However, it is unfair for teachers to always be on the lookout only for what is original in a class.  What is new for the individual should not be judged against what is original in the field.  Instead, why not direct the student to ideas that are fresh to the student’s experience, and thereby extend her boundaries?   Along those lines, works may arise and evolve in such a direction that more chances for novelty will occur.  But, as we have said, so much depends on personality, environment and just plain luck.

If a writer is profoundly motivated and possesses an unswerving will, the personal satisfaction she gains from creating may sustain her through the years of development, which might be enough for her to attain remarkable heights. 

I feel very strongly that on any level, in any case, the student who attempts to learn from what she has written on the page will become more aware of her view of life and other human beings.   The more she writes, the more in literature she will discover to increase her knowledge, and again come back full circle to her own writing with more advanced ideas.  That literature will be an everlasting font where a student can take refreshment has been established and it is hoped that the life-long reader will remain a life-long writer.  It is with amazement that a student re-reads pieces written in the past and can remark there an unequivocal evolution as both author and as thinking, feeling being.  From this it is hoped that she will realize a passion for more of the same.

(excerpt from Barber, Susan.  SFU: MA Thesis, 2004)

Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I)

This preference tells us how people "charge their batteries." Introverts find energy in the inner world of ideas, concepts, and abstractions. They can be sociable but need quiet to recharge their batteries. Introverts want to understand the world. Introverts are concentrators and reflective thinkers. Their motto is: Ready, Aim, Aim, ..... For the introvert, there is no impression without reflection.

Extraverts find energy in things and people. They prefer interaction with others, and are action oriented. Extraverts are interactors and "on-the-fly" thinkers. Their motto is: Ready, Fire, Aim. For the extravert, there is no impression without expression.

The majority of undergraduate students are extraverts. Based on data from the Center for Applied Psychological Type (CAPT) between 56% and 58% of over 16,000 freshman students at three state universities were extraverts. Interestingly, over 83% of college student leaders were extraverts.

The majority of university faculty are introverts. CAPT reported that almost 55% of 2,282 faculty are introverts.

Teaching Extraverted Students

Extraverted students learn by explaining to others. They do not know if they understand the subject until they try to explain it to themselves or others. Extraverted students have told us that they thought they knew the material until they tried to explain it to a fellow student. Only then did they realize they did not understand the subject.

Extraverted students enjoy working in groups. Consider in-class or outside-of-class group exercises and projects. We recommend the

Both support learning through explaining, but provide quiet time for introverted students.

Teaching Introverted Students

In a seminal study, George Miller noted that people can hold 7 + 2 chunks of knowledge in their minds at any given time. If each knowledge chunk contains a specific fact, then the amount of knowledge possessed is limited. But if each chunk contains many interconnected facts, a network or framework of facts, then the amount of knowledge is almost unlimited.

Introverted students want to develop frameworks that integrate or connect the subject matter. To an introvert, disconnected chunks are not knowledge, merely information. Knowledge means interconnecting material and seeing the "big picture."

Faculty should teach their students how to chunk, or group and interconnect, knowledge. Introverted students will appreciate it, extraverted students may not. Nevertheless, cognitive psychologists tell us that through chunking, students master the material. We recommend that faculty teach students how to build a table, flowchart, or concept (web) map.

Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N)

Some of us choose to rely on our five senses. Some prefer taking in information through our "sixth" sense. Sensing people are detail oriented, want facts, and trust them. Joe Friday from the TV show Dragnet epitomizes the extreme sensing detective. All he ever wanted was "just the facts".

Intuitive people seek out patterns and relationships among the facts they have gathered. They trust hunches and their intuition and look for the "big picture." The quintessential intuitive was Albert Einstein whose fanciful thought experiments revolutionized the 20th century. He could see patterns where others saw randomness or chaos.

The majority of undergraduates are sensing students. Based on data from the Center for Applied Psychological Type (CAPT) between 56% and 72% of over 16,000 freshmen at three state universities were sensing students. Interestingly, almost 83% of national merit scholarship finalists and 92% of Rhodes Scholars were intuitive students.

The majority of university faculty are intuitive. CAPT reported that almost 64% of 2,282 faculty are intuitive.

Teaching Sensing Students

Sensing students prefer organized, linear, and structured lectures. We recommend three methods for organizing a lecture: (1) the what must be known organizing strategy, (2) the application-theory-application organizing strategy and (3) the advance organizer.

In the what must be known (WMBK) method, we first ask: What is (are) the topic's most essential general principle(s) or goals? Place the answer in a goal box. We then ask: What topic(s) must be known such that students could achieve the goal? Place these subgoal boxes below the goal box and show an arrow leading from each subgoal box to the goal box. Continue to ask WMBK questions until you interface with material previously covered. You would then present the lecture by starting at the bottom of the diagram and work up towards the goal box.

The A-T-A method begins with a faculty member presenting an (A)pplication (problem or mini-case) to the class. The students attempt to analyze and solve the case or problem without the benefit of the upcoming chapter's theory or ideas. Applications motivate sensing students to learn the material. Applications answer the question that sensing students often ask, "why am I learning this material?" After the class has struggled with the problem (and sometimes emerged victoriously), the teacher presents the chapter's (T)heory or ideas, and then applies it to the original application. Afterwards the teacher presents additional (A)pplications and has the students apply the theory.

An opening application problem or mini-case should (1) be familiar to students, (2) engage their curiosity, (3) be almost solvable from previous text material or student experiences, and (4) be baffling, or counter-intuitive, if possible. A familiar problem assures sensing students that their experiences have prepared them to address the problem. The third attribute minimizes students' frustrations. The application should be "just beyond a student's reach". However, previously learned material or experiences should help students make a reasonable solution attempt. An application that is too significant a leap will cause frustration, and the feeling that the teacher is playing games with the students.

David Ausubel's advance organizer is a brief lecture or demonstration during the introduction of the lecture that provides a mental scaffolding to anchor the new material. The advance organizer provides a set of highly general concepts that subsume the material about to be learned. An advance organizer taps into students' existing knowledge structures. It helps cross-list new information with already existing information and thus aids learning and knowledge retrieval. It makes the unfamiliar more familiar; it makes the abstract more concrete.

Note how the following advance organizer taps into existing knowledge that the students should have already acquired.

Subject:------- Gandhi's march to the sea
Organizer:---- King's march on Washington mini-lecture
Audience:---- African-American high-school students
Goal:-----------Connects Indian history to an existing civil rights knowledge base.

The advance organizer is not an overview. An overview would have introduced the students to the lecture's key ideas: Gandhi, salt monopoly, British policy, boiling sea water, etc..

The advance organizer provides a familiar setting to anchor new, and potentially strange, material. The organizer works because at a very general level, the marches of King and Gandhi dealt with charismatic leaders in a struggle against oppressive forces. For an African-American audience, the MLK organizer transformed an abstract lecture into a familiar and more concrete setting.

Faculty can develop advance organizers by answering the following questions:

Teaching Intuitive Students

Intuitive students prefer either the traditional Theory-Application-Theory approach or the A-T-A approach using discovery learning. We illustrate the A-T-A approach using discovery learning in teaching the central limit theorem in a basic statistics course. The teacher selects 50 numbers from a random numbers table, and develops a frequency histogram. The data are not bell-shaped. The teacher then selects 30 samples of size eight numbers (replacing each number after it is drawn) from the 50 numbers, computes the 30 means, and develops a frequency histogram for the means. The histogram is now roughly bell-shaped. The teacher concludes the demonstration by asking why is the histogram of means nearly bell-shaped. Using the discovery method, students hopefully will discover the reasons underlying the central limit theorem.

The discovery method, or the why method, will appeal to intuitive students and will teach sensing students how to uncover general principles. In using this method, sensing and intuitive students should be combined in learning groups. The intuitive student can help the sensing student to discover the theory; the sensing student can help identify and marshal the facts of the exercise.

Intuitive students must have the big picture, or an integrating framework, to understand a subject. The big picture shows how the subject matter is interrelated. Intuitive students can develop reasonably correct concept maps or compare and contrast tables. Fortunately, sensing students can be taught to do the same.

Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F)

Some of us choose to decide things impersonally on analysis, logic, and principle. Some of us make decisions by focusing on human values. Thinking students value fairness. What could be fairer than focusing on the situation's logic, and placing great weight on objective criteria in making a decision. Mr. Spock, science officer of the starship Enterprise, had an extreme preference for thinking.

Feeling students value harmony. They focus on human values and needs as they make decisions or arrive at judgments. They tend to be good at persuasion and facilitating differences among group members. Dr. McCoy, Spock's colleague aboard the Enterprise, demonstrated a preference for feeling.

Unlike the two previous sets of preferences, CAPT reports that on this dimension, the proportion of males and females differ. About 64% of all males have a preference for thinking, while only about 34% of all females have a preference for thinking.

The majority of university faculty have a preference for thinking. CAPT reported that almost 54% of 2,282 faculty are thinking.

Teaching Thinking Students

Thinking students like clear course and topic objectives. Clear course or topic objectives avoid vague words or expressions such as "students will appreciate or be exposed to." Rather, objectives are precise and action-oriented. By precise we mean that teachers can write objectives at three meta-levels of learning: rote, meaningful and integrated, and critical thinking. By action oriented we mean that the verbs describe what students must do, not what faculty will do. The Bloom et al. taxonomy provides guidelines for writing clear and meaningful objectives.

Teaching Feeling Students

Feeling students like working in groups, especially harmonious groups. They enjoy the small group exercises such as TAPPS and the Nominal Group Method. To promote harmonious groups, we sometimes provide students with the following guidelines on how to facilitate small group meetings inside or outside of class

Judging (J) versus Perceptive (P)

Some of us like to postpone action and seek more data. Others like to make quick decisions. Judging people are decisive, planful and self-regimented. They focus on completing the task, only want to know the essentials, and take action quickly (perhaps too quickly). They plan their work and work their plan. Deadlines are sacred. Their motto is: just do it!

Perceptive people are curious, adaptable, and spontaneous. They start many tasks, want to know everything about each task, and often find it difficult to complete a task. Deadlines are meant to be stretched. Their motto is: on the other hand ... .

The majority of undergraduate students are judging students. Based on data from the Center for Applied Psychological Type (CAPT) between 46% and 60% of over 16,000 freshmen at three state universities were judging students. Interestingly, almost 64% of Rhodes Scholars were perceptive students.

The majority of university faculty also have a preference for judging. CAPT reported that almost 65% of 2,282 faculty prefer judging.

Teaching Judging Students

We have found that the following hints on note taking and test taking help judging students learn more effectively.

Speedwriting
Most students can learn speedwriting in several minutes. Just omit all (or most) vowels. Or develop your own shorthand method. For example, mst stdnts cn lrn spdwrtng in svrl mnts. Jst omt ll or mst vwls.

Split Page
Draw a line down center of a notebook page. On the left-hand side, record the lecture (use speedwriting or your own shorthand notation). After class, write a commentary on the right-hand side. Include restating ideas in your own words, finding sources of confusion, identifying key points, looking for links to earlier learned material, and asking what does this mean to me (the student).

Color Coding
Use different colors to record ideas presented in class and found in the text or readings. For example, use blue to code major ideas and green to code links to previously learned material.

AOR Model
In answering an essay question, first Analyze the question and jot down key ideas, Organize the ideas into a logical sequence, and only then write the essay (Respond).

Reverse Question
To review an essay question, first read your answer. Then construct a essay question based on your answer. Now compare your question to the teacher's question. If different, revise your answer. This strategy ensures that students answer the teacher's question.

Treating Objective Questions as Essay Question
Read the question's stem (the portion that contains the question) and write a brief answer. Then compare your answer to the four or five choices, and select the answer most similar to your mini-essay.

Your universities' learning resource center is an especially good source for additional hints on note and test taking. Include several hints in each course syllabus. Spend a few minutes explaining these hints in the first class period. Occasionally remind the students of the hints (especially before the first exam).

Judging students often reach too-quick closure when analyzing cases. Thus we recommend a second-look meeting. After completing the case, the group reviews their analysis. A student plays a "gentle" Devil's Advocate (DA) and challenges the group's conclusions. The DA should be prepared to recommend an alternative solution. This will force the group to consider the pros and cons of both approaches. The DA can also ask team members to state assumptions about stakeholders (those who are affected by or will affect the case solution) which must be true for the group's solution to be effective. The DA can then challenge the group to provide evidence that the assumptions are true. Guidelines for a second-look meeting should be included in the case preparation hints provided to students.

Teaching Perceptive Students

Perceptive students often postpone doing an assignment until the very last minute. They are not lazy. Quite to the contrary, they seek information to the very last minute (and sometimes beyond). We recommend decomposing a complex project or paper into a series of sub-assignments and providing deadlines for each sub-assignment. The deadlines may keep the perceptive students on target.

Decomposing a major project into sub-assignments provides the opportunity for continuous feedback to the student. Have students hand-in an audio tape with their sub-assignments. The teacher can then provide detailed audio (we speak faster than we can write) comments on content and grammar. When we have used the audio feedback approach, final papers are clear and readable, and thus less aggravation to read. Moreover, without the teacher's interim feedback, students lose an opportunity to improve their writing skills during the semester.

Additional Readings

The MBTI instrument is available from Consulting Psychological Press in Palo Alto, California.

Percentage data taken from Isabel Briggs Myers and Mary McCaulley, Manual: A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Consulting Psychologist Press, 1985.
George Miller, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two," Psychological Review, April 1956, pp.81-97.

David Ausubel, Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1968.
Benjamin Bloom, M. Englehart, E. Furst, W, Hill and D. Krathwohl, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain, Longmans Green, New York, 1956.