The Value of Learning Styles

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

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.

Being aware of learning style is beneficial for individuals in both teaching and learning roles. By knowing personal strengths and preferences, the learner is able to devise ways to augment and tailor the way in which information is received and processed regardless of the way it is presented. With that being said, those that are in teaching positions must make the realization that not everyone learns in the same manner. Being aware of this will lead the teacher to discover new ways to present information in a way that will address the needs of all members of the class. If all parties involved are knowledgeable of prominent styles within a group; the teaching learning environment can be much more effective.

This assessment is vital and is an integral part in the learner and tutors planning. Ensuring that your learners preferred style is embedded in the lesson plan (differentiation) can ensure that the learner’s motivation is continued. There are no right and wrong answers but in some cases there is not always a clear result, many learners may have a mix. However this could be seen as a positive when teaching a larger group as you can embed all three learning styles ensuring that a larger number will participate therefore keeping learners motivated and achieving goals and also progressing.

Students have their own best way in effectively learning the lesson. With the diversity of students, the problem is each student has a preferred learning style. It becomes undeniably one of the reasons that make it difficult to achieve the best expected outcome out of teachers’ effort. However, teachers try to incorporate various teaching techniques to make every learning opportunity become productive, meaningful, and relevant for the learners.

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.

Understanding learning styles can help in the development of self-learning and influence the teaching strategies that may be used in helping others understand new matter. For example, when teaching the VARK learning style having the learner complete the VARK questionnaire so that they can develop an understanding of how they learn would be great. In the real world life application, it completing a learning styles assessment is just not practical. It is the responsibility of the teacher to develop multimodal ways to deliver information. It would include something like a lecture with a handout in a possible power point format that include diagrams of how the information may be applied and complete it with a discussion to cement the information. The lecture appeals to the aural learner. The power point aids the reader along with the visual learners. How to apply the information stimulates the kinesthetic learner and the completion with an open discussion cements the information and gives the aural learner a chance to

“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.

There are four main types of learning styles: auditory, kinaesthetic, reading and writing, and visual. Each of these theories describes how learning occurs and has its own terminology, perceptions on learning and generalities about teaching and learning. My personal learning style uses a combination of visual, reading, writing and auditory. I prefer using pictures,

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

Style? What is style and who has it? Educators have identified three primary learning styles. Most people seem to have a preferred style, a method ny which they learn the best. The three styles are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

This issue is a controversy. The reason learning styles are such a controversial issue because learning styles theories have been criticized by many due to the lack of evidence to support this topic on the idea that people are somehow a particular type of learner (Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004). Moreover, several psychologists and neuroscientists questioned the scientific basis on which learning theories is established. Also, several educational psychologists believe that there is little to no evidence to support the efficacy of most learning style models because the models often rest on dubious theoretical grounds (Curry, 1990). Even though there is more evidence to support the lack of evidence on this topic that

There are four types of learning styles: visual, aural, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. ("Study Strategies by Learning Styles."). I personally have a somewhat higher preference for an aural learning style and a much lower preference for visual learning, leaving reading/writing and kinesthetic both equally in the middle.

Learning styles is one of the ways schools have changed over the past couple of years in regards to diversity. The varieties of learning styles of students have become more