Do you like apples or bananas? Do you prefer black color over red? Do you like to spend your spare time listening to music or watching a movie or playing football?
Each one of us would have a different answer to each of these questions. This is because we have different personalities, tastes, cultures and ways of dealing with the world surrounding us. The same concept applies when it comes to learning. There are different learning styles of students. This means that each student accepts and understands information easily in a specific way over the other. For example when teaching children the difference between an apple and a banana, one child may get the point by verbal explanation while another one would get it when he sees a video of an apple and a banana and a third child would understand best when he actually holds an apple and a banana and feel that the apple is harder and he may even taste them to get an idea! There are three main learning styles of students according to Neil Fleming (an educational theorist):
Students who understand through the visual learning style tend to prefer using pictures, graphs, colors, animation and video maps to accept information. For instance, if you want to explain to your visual student that water covers 71 % of our planet, then it is better to show him this info on a pie chart than to inform him orally. If you are a visual learner try to translate most the info you get into images, illustrations and videos.
An auditory learner depends on his ears mainly to access information. He understands and remembers things he has heard. If you are an auditory learner, try to write new words on flash cards and read them out loud if you want to memorize them. Spell the words out loud to memorize the spelling. Make sure you sit in the class in a place where you can hear very well. Visit the ENT doctor regularly to make sure your hearing is good. Record the lectures and listen to it at home to understand and memorize easily.
If you are a kinesthetic learner, it means that you want to work with your hands to understand the information being delivered to you. You remember things through physical movement. For example, if you are having a lesson about electricity then you would like to do an experiment using circuits by yourself to see how electricity is conducted and or how a bulb light or a motor works. To learn spelling, try to trace words by yourself. Participate in practical work and experiments. Take frequent but short breaks between studying.
At the end keep in mind that a person may be having two styles of learning, not only one. He might have a more preferred style but he can still understand well through another style. So, exposing yourself and your children to all the styles will help to discover which style of learning is best suited.
Featured Image: Tux Math
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