Every individual has his or her own way of retaining information but we are all forced to learn in different ways. It is important to be aware of your learning style so you can adapt to the way your being taught. When working with a partner that has the exact opposite learning styles as you, you must come up with compromises that will enable both people to work with their strengths. This can have both, good and bad points.
After completing a short questioner in the book, "Study and Critical Thinking Skills in College", I realized that I learn best socially and visually. Social learners prefer to work with others and are usually more interactive with people. Personally, I do best when studying in groups or being involved in class discussions. I also like to converse with my professor just as much as my peers. If for some reason I do not get along with the teacher I will normally do worse in class. I"m a strong visual learner too, which means I process information by seeing it in a picture, diagram, or even print. That is why films and computers teach me better than a teacher who lectures. When assigned a project it is much easier for me to see examples of what is expected rather than just being told how to do it.
If I was working on a project with a partner who had the exact opposite learning style we would have to work in a manner that made it easy for both of us to learn. In order to do that I would have to understand not only the way I learn, but also the way my partner learns. I could then make the necessary adjustments that would be effective for our conflicting learning styles. Seeing that my strong points are social and visual my partner would be an independent and auditory learner. In other words, he or she is more effective when working alone or listening to a lecture. One adjustment we could make would be to research the project independently. This would make it easier for my partner but he or she would probably understand the topic better than I would.
