![]() They spend time doing flash cards with their parents every day at home, but it’s just not sticking. For instance, one student can’t seem to memorize their math facts. If a student is having trouble mastering material one way, offer alternatives. Rather than thinking of “visual learn ers,” think of “visual learn ing.” Encourage every student to explore material in a variety of ways, finding the methods that help them the most. This array of activities allows all students to find a way of learning that suits them best.Īvoid classifying particular students as one type of learner, even if you note a particular preference. If you’re teaching students about earthquakes, plan to provide reading material, watch videos, explore diagrams, and do some hands-on classroom experiments. The biggest takeaway for teachers is that they should design their curriculum with activities that fit all four learning styles. How should teachers use learning styles in the classroom? It’s to discover all the ways all students can learn. The key isn’t to find a single best way for a student to learn. The way they learn best will depend on the material and situation. In other words, while some people lean strongly toward one learning type (modality), most are more evenly spread across the spectrum. ![]() ![]() That is why multimodality is the most common profile for two-thirds of learners.” “Because learners have different preferences between the four modes, it is unlikely that any particular mode will be dominant. Does a person have just one learning style?Ībsolutely not, says Fleming. Rather, he wanted teachers to better understand all the different ways they could reach their students. His intention was never to limit the ways in which individual students were encouraged to learn. Fleming himself published an article in 2012 defending his theory, explaining that it has been misunderstood and misused. That said, learning styles are accepted and used in most education programs. Critics worry that pigeonholing a student as an “auditory learner” or a “visual learner” might cause them to limit the ways they approach new material. Some studies claim to have debunked the theory entirely, stating that everyone uses each of the various styles at one time or another. There’s a lot of argument over the validity of learning styles. “As an example, a learner who was very skilled at freehand drawing did not use it for her learning and did not enjoy doing it.” Are learning styles a proven theory? Similarly it is possible to be very skilled at using strategies aligned with one of the VARK modalities but not use that for learning,” he explained. “It is possible to like something (preference) and not be good at it (skill or ability). One important detail Fleming noted was that just because you prefer or are good at a certain learning activity, that doesn’t mean it’s actually the style that helps you learn the most. The results indicate how their learning preferences spread across the spectrum. Kinesthetic: Movement and hands-on activitiesįleming developed a questionnaire ( try a version of it here) that a student could take to see which learning styles they preferred.Read/Write: Reading the written word and writing things down.Auditory: Hearing lectures and having discussions.Visual: Seeing images, diagrams, videos, etc.He theorized that students learned in these four general ways, known as styles or modalities: In the mid-1980s, teacher Neil Fleming introduced the VARK model of learning styles. Others need to do something with their hands, or see images and diagrams. Some like written words, some prefer to hear it and talk about it. Another could plan to take the timeline handout you provided, cut it up into sections, and practice putting those sections in the proper order.Įach of these students is using different ways of learning in an effort to retain and understand the same information. Others might plan to watch a video on John Adams’ life, then talk over what they learned with a study partner. Some might say they’ll reread the text, then write down the answers to the review questions you’ve given them. You’ll be giving a quiz on Friday, and you ask your students how they’ll be preparing. Imagine you’re teaching a lesson on the presidency of John Adams. But what exactly does that mean? FAQ: What Are Learning Styles? Teachers are often told to make sure their lessons include a variety of activities to cover all learning styles.
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