What's Your Learning Style?

Taking in and retaining new information is something that varies from learner to learner. What can work for one person, might not particularly work for another! With learning, it’s all about finding what works for you, and using it to the best of your abilities to give yourself that chance to be the best learner possible. There are loads of different learning styles, but in this blog we will take you through the main 4 and get you thinking about how you personally learn. Let us know in the comments what type of learner you think you are!

Visual Learners

Visual Learning (my personal favourite) is used by those of us who find visual techniques the most valuable. I personally never really found my university lectures to be that beneficial… Constantly dozing off and struggling to remember my lecturer’s last sentence, I struggled to stay engaged. But as soon as a video popped onto the screen, I was hooked! We often find this with our students, especially those who have Auditory Processing Disorders, and therefore try to ensure that our lessons are as interactive and engaging as possible! You might find us visual learners drawing mind maps and diagrams rather than written notes, or doodling to maintain focus, and especially valuing textbooks with pictures rather than novel style text pieces.

Auditory Learners

Auditory learners are those who find quiet, independent learning environments tough… Auditory learners like to share ideas, enjoy group discussions and like to read out loud! They find the teacher deeply explaining new information really beneficial and like to secure their knowledge by asking questions or joining in on partner work. The library is often a place of nightmares for the auditory learner. Nothing is worse than ploughing through books in absolute silence, therefore e-books or youtube videos are their best friends!

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners like to be up and at it! They like to be up and out of their seats, immersing themselves in the learning content and enjoying a really hands-on approach to learning. Just like visual learners, they might struggle in conditions such as lectures or presentations, but you will never beat a kinesthetic learner's ability to get involved with a task. They thrive when completing experiments, making models or role playing. You might see a kinesthetic learner struggle to sit still in lessons, and use equipment such as fidget toys to help them concentrate.

Reading/Writing

Personally, I WISH I was a reading/writing learner. These incredible people have the ability to learn best when surrounded by their notebook and their textbook. You might find them making beautiful handwritten notes, using flashcards to learn and reading books to help support exam preparation. It is also common for readers/writers to enjoy reading for pleasure, and they might find it beneficial to be in a library environment, immersing themselves in text… I am certainly jealous!

Although there are lots of different types of learners, it is the job of the teacher to include as many different types of learning in their lessons as possible. This helps to give every single student the chance to learn in their own ways. What type of learner are you?