Week 4 – Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Firstly, lets start by understanding what the term “learning styles” means. Everyone understands and learns everthing differently. A person’s learning style refers to to the preferential way in which they absorbs, processes, comprehends and retains information.

For myself I learn through both visual and tactile styles.

Visual Learning

A visual learner understands and remembers things by sight. They can picture what they have learnt in there head, and the best learning methods are primarily visual.

Activities that better my visual learning style are:-

• Maintain good eyesight
• Visualizing things that I have heard or read.
• When studying using flashcards
• Write down instructions or ideas, and
• Avoid other visual distractions when working or studying.

Tactile Style

A tactile learner on the other hand is learning through touch and doing. Learning is done by being ‘hands-on” which involves touching, moving, builing or drawing.

As a tactile learner, you like to take things apart and put things together, and you tend to find reasons to tinker or move around when you become bored. You may be very well coordinated and have good athletic ability. You can easily remember things that were done but may have difficulty remembering what you saw or heard in the process. You often communicate by touching, and you appreciate physically expressed forms of encouragement, such as a pat on the back.

Here are some things that tactile learners like you can do to learn better:

• Participate in activities that involve touching, building, moving, or drawing.
• Do lots of hands-on activities like completing art projects, taking walks, or acting out stories.
• It’s OK to chew gum, walk around, or rock in a chair while reading or studying.
• Use flashcards and arrange them in groups to show relationships between ideas.
• Trace words with your finger to learn spelling (finger spelling).
• Take frequent breaks during reading or studying periods (frequent, but not long).
• It’s OK to tap a pencil, shake your foot, or hold on to something while learning.
• Use a computer to reinforce learning through the sense of touch.

References:-

• Teach.com. (2019). Learning Styles. [online] Available at: https://teach.com/what/teachers-know/learning-styles/ [Accessed 22 Aug. 2019].

• Educationplanner.org. (2019). What’s Your Learning Style? The Learning Styles. [online] Available at: http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-styles.shtml [Accessed 21 Aug. 2019]