Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Learning Style for Everyone

By: Noah H.

Learning styles are the fingerprints of the mind; they are as unique as the person using them and as varying as all the people in the world. There are several generalized categories of learning styles, and all influence how a student learns. Understanding them is the best way for a student to pass a class. Knowing about your learning style can help you know how to study for an online class.
A learning style is the way in which a person learns, for example whether or not they learn more from a video or a book. There are several different theories as to how learning styles work but the most common is divided into 4 categories: visual, auditory, reading/writing-preference learners and kinesthetic/tactile learners (hands on).
The most common learning style is visual. This learning style focuses on pictures, diagrams, movies, and other forms of visual media, even visual demonstrations are helpful. The next most common learning style is auditory. These people benefit from someone talking to them to help them learn, and they benefit from lectures and video/audio setups. Reading/Writing-preference learners are most comfortable learning from books and texts, these students have no trouble reading chapters of a textbook, and may prefer to read a book about a subject than watch a movie about it. Lastly, kinesthetic/tactile learners are people who learn by “hands-on” experience.
One thing to keep in mind is that all people have parts of every learning style in them: no one is 100% one way or the other. You may be 10% reading, 10% visual, 50% auditory and 30% kinesthetic; however you should try to study the best way for you. So the person above would most likely want to get auditory help in a subject because that is their greatest strength. Another thing to keep in mind is that your learning style can change over time usually babies start out with learning through touch (tactile) but as they grow they will learn to use visual and auditory learning more and more.
Knowing your learning style is important, because as soon as an individual discovers which type they are they can begin to attempt to adjust their studying to their strengths. For example, if a student knows they learn very well from videos then they should look for tutorials on YouTube or some other video site rather than trying to decipher a wiki. Another way they can try to help themselves is in the way they ask for help. An auditory student may want to call the teacher over the phone for assistance while a reading/writing-preference learner will want to send an e-mail. All these factors lead to an easier online class experience.

To learn about your learning style, follow these links: http://www.educationplanner.org/education_planner/calc_frames.asp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aessuccess.org%2Fgetting%2Flearning_quiz%2Fquiz.html&pagetype=Preparing-Learning+Styles+Quiz&sponsor=2859

18 comments:

  1. A lil editing but this was one great Article, Good Job Noah!

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  2. Thanks for the article :)

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  3. Thank you for the article!! I took the quiz and it gave me great tips that I am going to put into practice!!

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  4. Awesome. I had no idea that there were types of learners.

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  5. This is really cool! I figured out that I'm lucky because I'm almost equally a visual, auditory, and reading/writing thanks to your quiz. I'll be able to implement all of the specific uses of each.

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  6. Thanks for the article and help i learned a lot

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  7. This is a very good article that teaches you a lot about your learning style. Noah you did a good job.

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  8. The article was very well written and informative, it flows well and i enjoyed reading it. i took the quiz and it was correct, i learn best by actually doing things. thanks for the article, keep writing

    Zack

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  9. It is nice to be aware of how I learn best. Hopefully the class lessons will be flexable enough so that I can tailor it to my learning style.

    Thanks!

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  10. Nicely done! We discuss the many ways students can learn in our Success 101 course. The question isn't, "How smart are you?" - it's "How are you smart?" -- in our class. Thanks for the great information!

    Mrs. Campbell

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  11. Winter said....
    I really think this is well written out. It really amazes some people on how different children learn. And most people may not see some how children learn, but the teachers out there try to do a little mixture of each category to where each student is getting the same information. I am glad I read this article becasue I didnt know half the stuff that was in this article.

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  12. Well this is a wonderful passage and it really tells the truth, and could help someone learn how to better themselves in learning. And to all tutors you play a major part in this, due to the fact that tutors are flexible. And most tutora acquire all of these learning styles, and that helps with the person you're helping with to understand better.
    Sincerely, Ahsaki Simth

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  13. Thanks! The article was great and very informative
    Shanna

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  14. I agree with this because as individual we all have very different like and dislikes, and the way we learn is just as unique. We all just need to understand that we all think different and we need to accept that. I think that this article was very helpful to me because it help me understand how I can help somebody else when I go to teach them something new.

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  15. I agree with this, I think it is full of good informatin

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  16. This was a helpful article. Thank you.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Great information, and good to know about yourself. It's also good to let your teachers and tutors know what style you've found works best for you.

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