" How much the design of curriculum may affect the student in terms of learning outcomes is another very important consideration in this humanistic theory of Combs and Snygg. Differentiation in the Perceptions of Learning Style

Just as different individuals have different tastes, views and personalities the theories of learning are differentiated as well. Some of the learning styles that exist are Learning preferences that exist are based in (1) Concrete learning (2) Abstract learning (3) Teacher-structured learning (4) Student structured learning (5) Interpersonal learning; and (5) Individual learning. The differentiation that exists in relation to styles of learning is that upon which the many different theories of learning are based in their beliefs. For example concrete learning is based on a belief or a theory that tangible, specific and practical tasks focused on skills is the most desirable method while in the methods that support abstract learning the preference is for generation of hypotheses with the focus remaining on general principles and concepts. Richards (2002) states that: "We become "more," according to Snygg and Combs, by means of differentiation, a process that involves pulling a figure out of a background. Learning is not a matter of connecting a stimulus and a response or one stimulus with another or even one response with another. Learning is a matter of improving the quality of one's phenomenal field by extracting some detail from the confusion, because that detail is important, is meaningful, to the person. "

Summary & Conclusion

It is clear that the curriculum design is impacted by the theoretical framework which the designer of the curriculum adheres to whether it is that of Vgotsky, Bruner or of the humanistic theory purported by Combs and Syngg. Kell and Deursen (2002) state, "Educators and course designers....have a responsibility to consider...

As long as teachers insist on forcing material that, from the students' perspective, has no relevance to them or their lives, education will be an arduous process." Boeree also states that it is interesting that a boy cannot remember his multiplication tables is able to remember statistics in baseball back to the early beginnings long before he was born. He states that teachers much remember that "it is not because the children are dumb. It is because they don't see any reason for learning them. Teachers must get to know their students, because the motivation to learn is "inside" them, in their phenomenal fields and phenomenal selves." (Boeree, 1998) Teachers must know their students in order to find that which motivates them in their own experiential beliefs which are various across the vast population of students with their many differentiated learning styles, experiential factors and belief systems.