Learning Styles Are Determined Through Questionnaire

Whether you believe learning styles are a myth or fact they still can help you learn the material for class. Just because you take this test online and it says that you are one hundred percent auditory learner doesn’t mean you can’t learn other ways. Learning styles can help you discover more creative ways for you to remember a topic or specific details. How Amy made a poster it helped her present her topic but also helped her learn and remember her topic. By writing it down and being creative you will remember the topic a lot better. I’m not a firm believer in learning styles but I do think that they can help. I am an auditory learner so listening helps me learn although it isn’t the only way I can learn. One of the ken talks we had watched

After taking the learning styles assessment it was found that I am a visual learner most of all followed by tactile and auditory. This meaning that I like to see what I am learning, I am able to understand things and later recall what I have seen. I honestly have to say that I do not agree with these results; I say that because after reading and just knowing how I am, I believe my best type of learning is through tactile, I have been this way since elementary school. When you are a tactile person you like to learn and pick up the information best through touching and doing things, you are very hands-on. Versus someone who is a visual learner just needs to see it or read it. Some of the characteristics a tactile person has is completely me; such as I am always doing something, I like to be hands on, when I talk I move my hands sort of like I am trying to act out what I am saying, I always have my legs going or am swaying side to side, like flashcards to study with, and am always chewing gum.

In school everyone learns differently; however, according to the article The Myth of Learning Styles, “The idea of learning styles is based on a theory… developed in the early 1980’s.” (pg 1.) A lot has certainly changed from the 1980’s as we learn new more material in every class we take. With this being said, someone the scientists referred to in the article “assumed” that learning styles challenged the way of the educational system when in reality, it is simply a myth. Students, like myself, only prefer to process information that they find useful or interesting to him or her. Thus giving us the problems of that teachers may take too long to cover one idea, and students may miss out out on information because he or she did not prefer that learning style.

For years, there have been many theorists who have shared their views on how individuals learn. Such research has determined that individuals have different learning styles. It is important for teacher to understand the learning styles of both themselves and their students because it helps them to relay the subject knowledge to the students. The teacher is in a position where they must be able to assess the learning styles of their students. This means that the students and teachers are both in a process of learning.

All learners have different learning styles. Using materials at the initial stage of the learning process can highlight preferred styles. Honey and Mumford show four learning styles – activists, theorists, reflectors and pragmatists, while VAK highlights visual, auditory and kinaesthetic preferences.

It is practical to assume that students will do better in tasks that reflect their particular style of learning, so knowledge of students’ learning styles, including a variety of tasks will make teaching more inclusive. A learning style questionnaire could be handed out at the start of a course which, once completed will inform the teacher about the learning styles of the students.

“Just as students have different personalities, they also have different ways of learing (Slavin, 107).” Learning styles are another important factor to incorporate when implementing the best learning environment. Learning styles are defined as an individual's mode of gaining knowledge. The most common learning styles addressed are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Auditory leaners understand information through hearing. Visual learners need more visual aids in the learning process, such as diagrams, webs, or pictures. Kinesthetic learners learn better by using manipulatives or by being physically involved in the learning process. Learning styles is a piece of the “backbone” of differentiated learning. Both are used to individualize instruction to help students achieve the most success.

The learning style survey reflected that I am a strong visual learner. The survey was extremely accurate and has a strong correlation as to why certain subjects are easier for me to be successful in than others. For example, math is easier for me to grasp than literature based courses. Mathematics is comprised of complex formulas and diagrams. Explicit modeling must be done by the instructor (solving problems on the board and drawing diagrams) in order to effectively teach math. This is a direct contrast to literature instruction.

It is practical to assume that students will perform better in tasks that reflect their particular style of learning, so knowledge of students’ learning styles, including a variety of tasks will make teaching more inclusive. A learning style questionnaire could be handed out at the start of a course which, once completed will inform the teacher about the learning styles of the students.

Education benefits individual mentally, emotionally and physically by placing them in better place than they were previously before. Everybody would agree that learning something new would take place throughout the life. Learning style defined as "A term that describes the variations among learners in using one or more senses to understand, organize, and retain experience" (Reid, 1987, p. 89). Furthermore, Felder and Henriques (1995, p. 21) explained learning styles as "the ways in which an individual characteristically acquires, retains and retrieves information". However, different learners possess different characteristics and different preferred learning styles to perceive, process, take in and understand information.

Learning styles and barriers to learning can be by the VARK to give a profile of learning preferences of how a person takes in and gives out information or Tidwell and Rodgers Practical learning styles Questionnaire. The VARK learning styles determines if the person learns by being a theorist, reflector, activist and/or pragmatist. The practical learning styles questionnaire looks at how people learn by their orientation, whether they are a realistic or creative, by their interaction, are they a doer or a thinker, by how they represent things, either by words or pictures, and how they process information, whether they are a surface or deep processor. There are many other

Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266-271. doi:10.1177/0098628315589505

Different aspects of a person’s psyche determine their learning style, psychological profile, and intelligence. A person’s learning style is found in three distinct categories: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic/Tactile. Visual Learners depend on learning through seeing where they need to see the concept that they want to grasp. Auditory Learners differ from Visual Learners in that they need to learn through hearing the concept that is being taught to them. Kinesthetic/Tactile Learners need an active learning environment as they are often in need of movement. When a person determines their learning style it assists them in exemplifying theses traits during their study and lecture time in order to succeed in school.The Myers-Briggs type indicator

Learning styles describe the way in which an individual or student uses different methods in the way they acquire, scrutinize, understand and remember knowledge or information (Kharb, 2013). The VARK questionnaire is a tool through which one can identify his/her learning style and is based on how individuals interact and respond to their learning environment. After undertaking the questionnaire, the scores for visual learning was 10, kinesthetic was 12, Aural was 10 and read/write was 16. The preferred learning style was, therefore, determined to be Multimodal which means that multiple strategies can be in cooperated to enable sufficient learning. Read/Write had the highest score followed closely by kinesthetic, aural and visual. This implies that the adequate strategy to acquire and convey information or knowledge is through printed or written words. With Kinesthetic having the second highest score, it shows that learning is also adequate through gaining experience and engaging in practical activities or processes that give real-life examples. Visual and Aural strategies had the same score meaning that learning can also be achieved through presentations in visual formats, drawings or diagrams as well as observations and taking of verbal instructions or listening.

41). There are three learning style: Auditory: prefer to learn by hearing; Visual: prefer to learn by seeing; and Kinesthetic: prefer to learn by doing. According to Dunn, Denig, and Lovelace (2001) learners are influenced by twenty one elements although not all learners are affected by all 21, most are affected by six to fourteen elements. These twenty one elements that affect learners are classified into five different variables: Psychological: perceptual, intake, time and mobility; Environmental: sound, light, temperature and design; Emotional: motivation, persistence, responsibility and structure; Sociological: self, pair, peers, team, adult and varied and Physiological: global/analytic, hemisphericity, and impulsive/reflective. By identifying each learners learning style teachers and learners can capitalize on the learner’s strengths and weaknesses. Most learners have a primary learning style however it may not be the only learning style that learner has. Some learners have a secondary learning style which can be used to reinforce initial learning.