Learning Styles

Learning styles have gone a bit out of fashion recently as Education went a bit full on and misinterpreted the philosophy, but it can still really help your child to know and be conscious of the way they learn most effectively.  I would go as far to say, that this knowledge could make all the difference.

So what am I talking about?

Ok, there are 3 main learning styles (although when regarded as intelligences by Gardner, there are 8). It’s the big 3 that I will be focussing on. These are a person’s preferred style of learning.  It doesn’t mean that they don’t learn from the other two, but it is just not as effective for recall.  And in our exam-related Education system currently, this is the most crucial thing to be able to do, from remembering dates or times tables to maths and science formulae, recall is king.

Auditory

This is when hearing is the predominant way of learning.  This is especially helpful in traditional teaching as the ‘chalk and talk’ approach favours these pupils.  They may say phrases like ‘I hear what you’re saying’ or ‘that sounds good to me’. Listening to music may need to be present to help learning or absolute silence may be preferable.  Audio books or recordings of their own voice may be helpful to revise from, or Youtube videos with great audio accompaniment should work to concrete learning.

Visual

Students who prefer visual ways of learning like pictures, diagrams and video are visual learners.  These are the things that stick in their head, making recall easy.  Seeing spellings as pictures can really help these children, or posters that they commit to memory. Students who like this way of learning may say phrases such as ‘that looks good to me’ or ‘do you see what I mean?’ Flashcards or very visual revision guides will help this learner’s recall.

Kinaesthetic

These students prefer to ‘do’ and move while they are learning.  They often can’t concentrate for long without moving and like to be ‘hands on’.  They will recall experiments or tactile learning or will learn while they are doodling.  Mindmaps, making flashcards or just physically recording/writing can help cement learning.  These students thrive better in a ‘freer’ environment, where they can move or doodle and can self regulate.  They may use phrases such as ‘Let’s do this!’ or ‘this feels good’. 

In diagram form:

Auditory:

• Listens to learn
• Says ‘That sounds good’
• Learns from voice
• Revise from sound

Visual:

• Sees to learn
• Says ‘Do you see what I mean?’
• Learns from pictures
• Revise from looking

Kinaesthetic:

• Does to learn
• Says ‘This feels good’
• Learns from doing 
• Revise from writing or creating

Helping your child find their favoured way of learning (and of course it could be a combination of these styles) will be a massive shortcut in that precious revision time. And of course, knowing how you prefer to learn could make choosing a career path or college a much easier task.

SUE

Owner of Red Bird Tutoring