Today's post on determining learning styles was written by Rebekah Guiltner, a homeschooler graduating this year.
Everyone can learn the same thing but process the material in vastly different methods. It is nearly vital for the individual to know their own learning style, the method that results in the most information gained. For teacher and student to understand, each must understand themselves first.
I understand my own learning style because I'm eager to learn more with as much ease as possible. Personally, I've discovered my learning style to be chiefly Intuitor. My brain ponders and reasons silently for hours on end, till finally it bursts with a ground breaking conclusion! I'm always searching for a better and more efficient way of reaching the goal. My creative and curious mind experiments in every possible avenue till it reviles the perfected road towards efficiency!
To those with different learning styles this seems a destructive challenge to the current order of things. A simple example: setting the table. The intuitor will wonder if stacking the cups and refolding the napkins are ways of making the task easier. Intuitors see a fun chance to discover a new method that will better mankind! Anybody else might see a monstrous challenge to the already perfect order!
What needs to be found is balance. Freedom for the experiments and reasoning of the student, and respect for the established order of the teacher.
Let's not forget for every learning style there is a perceptual modality: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. I'm a visual and kinesthetic. Visuals enjoy and appreciate charts, graphs, pictures and reading. Kinesthetics love to touch and feel wood, clay, crafts, cooking, which are all ways for people to learn. They prefer trial and error for information to stick. As I, through trial and error learned that waiting until the last moment to finish an essay (trait of the intuitor) is not wise! I understand that the teacher is visual and prefers reading to learn. This assignment is typed for you to read so you can understand best that I understood the material! I hope this information sheds light on how to present information for future learning.