Learning Styles

A fact I have realized over the years is that learning anything is like learning to drive a car. You can't get to change gears or kill the engine unless you are actually sitting in the driver's seat. As in, no one can teach you to drive while you are busy adjusting the rear view mirror. You have to be in the thick of things. But there is also another thing that I realized... we all learn differently. Each and every individual picks up things differently. This was ever the more apparent to me when I watched my 2 year old daughter play with my niece. While my niece picked up her ABC's while repeatedly playing with a "push-in-the alphabet button kind of toy", my daughter wanted me to repeat the alphabet song - and insist she repeat after me, every single moment of the day. My desperate attempt to get her to "push the button" was met with a strong stomping of her foot and a defiant “Mama sing ABC". I put down her resistance to being spoilt. But a psychologist would put down her resistance to a learning style. The kinesthetic learner. In fact, most psychologists believe that it is in our very infancy that learning styles are established.

So what are learning styles? Learning styles, simply put, are the different ways of learning. It speaks of a particular style or approach an individual adopts to process and understand stimuli or information, and that which allows him/her to learn best. For instance, we can break up learners into Visual Learners, Auditory Learners and Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners.

Let's begin with Visual Learners or those who learn through seeing. Visual learners often take in body language and facial expressions to process information. It has been observed, that in school or college, visual learners are often among the front benchers which allows them to be free from any visual obstruction. Pictures, visual displays like diagrams, charts, maps, illustrated text books, videos, hand-outs are their preferred medium of learning and they learn best through this form of interpretation. Most prefer taking detailed notes to absorb information better. Visual learners also prefer the use of colors, using different highlighters or coloured pens while taking notes. In fact, these types of learners often visualize information as a picture, which helps easy recall later. So stimulated are they by visual stimuli, they often, while learning something new, try to shun places with verbal disturbances.

Auditory Learners are those who learn through listening. These learners benefit from anything that is sound-oriented. So be it debates, speeches, presentations, jingles to aid memorization, verbal analogies, lectures, group discussions, or detailed verbal analysis, auditory learners learn best when surrounded by auditory stimuli. In fact, those who learn by listening pay importance to both tone of voice and pitch, and other associated nuances. For them writing down information or reading things on their own may have no effect on their learning capacity. In fact, it works well for them when reading text aloud or even when taking the aid of a tape recorder.

Yet another kind of learners are the Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners or those who learn through, moving, doing and touching. You know their kind the minute you see them. In fact, they often are a teacher's nightmare. Their tell-tale characteristics? Taking frequent breaks, working at a standing position, chewing gum/listening to music while studying, or skimming through reading material to get a rough idea first. The hands-on approach is their mode of learning, with the whole learning process being actually an exploration of the visual, auditory, and motor stimuli that surrounds them. Tactile learners may often find it difficult to sit still for long periods. For these learners doing is learning.

This kind of puts so many things in perspective now. That my niece is an auditory learner. Also maybe as to why I abhorred moral science while in school. No pictures maybe? Go figure.

(Banshori Bhattacharya is Instructional Designer at C2 Workshop)

Comments

[Rav Keat]

Hi,

Looks like you have completed a year of blogging. Hope your success acts as a "Catalyst" for many more education blogs run by corporates.

Cheers,
Keat

[Jony Maddy]

Excellent article. Also supports the fact why we should evangelise Blended Learning solutions. The learner can get a See & Hear option while taking up the e-learning course. And a "Doing" phase while attending an ILT.

- Jony