Learning Styles Tips
Read these 10 Learning Styles Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Child Education tips and hundreds of other topics.
Learning styles in the classroom
While we may be able to enhance our children's education by catering to their learning styles at home, our school-aged children spend about 25% or more of their time at school. Visit your child's classroom. Talk with the teachers. Find out how the class is set up and how the teachers teach. If your child is having trouble in a particular subject, look closely and see if maybe he is just not "getting it" because it's not being presented in a way that makes the most sense to him.
Auditory Learners
Identifying an Auditory Child
An auditory child learns best by hearing. This child is often musical and has an ear for languages. Background noises like TV or radio may not bother the auditory learner, but may even help him concentrate. They love to listen to stories and poems, especially those with distinct rhythmic patterns.
What Are Learning Styles?
Every person fits into one of the three general Learning Styles: Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic. While many may be strong in more than one area, typically we all are strongest in one. By knowing the learning styles of your children, you can find the toys and games that they will most enjoy. Auditory learners might enjoy musical instruments, kinesthetic learners may enjoy athletic equipment or building blocks, and visual learners will love doing puzzles.
Needs: Kinesthetic
What do Kinesthetic learners need?
A kinesthetic child will learn best with toys and learning tools that give a tactile experience. Finger paints, clay, and craft dough are just three examples. Dolls and cuddly stuffed animals will help foster caring and self-esteem in a kinesthetic child. Athletic events and movement games (such as jump rope or hopscotch) are also appealing to kinesthetic learners and involvement in these types of games will build social skills as well as physical coordination and even strategy and problem solving.
Visual Learners
Identifying a Visual Child
A visual child typically enjoys drawing, reading, and even daydreaming. He is adept at reading maps and charts and may even have an interest in photography. He needs to "see it" to learn it.
Needs: Auditory Learners
What do Auditory Learners need?
Musical instruments and audiotapes will provide hours of fun and learning for an auditory learner. Games that require listening skills (like musical chairs or Simon Says) will keep the auditory learner's attention.
Kinesthenic Learners
Identifying a Kinesthetic Child
A kinesthetic child will often be found running and climbing. She is learning about the world with her sense of touch. Textures, temperature, brightness (and darkness) are just some of the ways she learns best. She is often athletic and well coordinated.
Communication barriers
Communication barriers between learning styles
Do you get frustrated telling your son over and over to hand up his coat when he comes in the house? Do you worry that your daughter's music might be preventing her from studying to the best of her ability? If we can understand each other's learning style then we can overcome these communication barriers. Try showing your son how to hang up the coat as you remind him verbally (he could be a visual learner and words just go in one ear and out the other). Check your daughters grades before jumping to conclusions-if she's an auditory learner, the background noise may actually help her concentrate.
Helping with homework
We learn by doing. Of course, as parents, we want to be there for our children-helping them out and making sure they have a "good life". By doing our children's homework for them (or even just getting frustrated and giving them an answer) we are doing our children a grave disservice. Teach your child early on about all the various resources available to us for answers: dictionary, encyclopedia, and reference books. If you do need to help your child, make sure she finds the answer within herself. Ask leading questions that will help her figure it out, or at least figure out where to look.
Needs: Visual Learners
What do Visual Learners need?
A visual child will learn best by seeing. This may mean reading instructions himself rather than listening to them. Puzzles, and even better, puzzle books will give the visual learner many learning opportunities. A magnifying glass or binoculars can lead to the beginnings of a scientific study. Eye-hand coordination games such as bowling can help keep these visual learners physically active.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Jennifer Mathes, Ph.D. |
