Types of Learning Styles
There are three main types of styles in which individuals are often
categorized under when it comes to learning. Once you have determined
which type of learner that you are, you are able to employ the skills
and therefore increase the information that can be learned, as well as
increase the ease in which the information is learned.
Visual Learners
Visual learners learn new skills by seeing and learn new information
best through visuals. Using diagrams and other visual methods of
learning are recommended for these types of learners.
How can you identify if you are a visual learner? If you learn best and
take notes when visual information s being presented, and create your
own charts and graphics while learning then you may be a visual learner.
Through the use of hand-outs, charts and visual information, the visual
learner should be easily able to readily absorb the information.
Auditory Learners
Auditory listeners learn best through the use of verbal communication
and lectures. Auditory learners can have information revealed to them
through written works, but in most cases, the information is not going
to make sense or “click” until the information has been heard. There are
many things that auditory learners listen for while they are learning a
new skill. They listen for the tone of voice, the pitch within the
voice and even the speed of the person that is teaching the new skill or
information. All of this information that has been interpreted is then
used when learning.
Auditory learners will benefit from creating recordings of the
information that is being taught, as well as benefit from information
that has been played back from these recordings. Most auditory learners
tend to repeat things aloud, so they are able to easily learn the
information that is being repeated.
Tactile Learners
There are some people that learn better by completing the actual. These
people are referred to as “tactile” or “kinesthetic” learners. Through
this learning method, the person learns best when they take a hands-on
approach to learning. Tactile learners may suffer from a short attention
span which can make it difficult to learn new skills unless the
hands-on approach is taken.
There are many approaches that tactile learners can take while trying to
master new skills. Tactile learners can use a hands on approach to take
part in experiments, as well as other approaches where the individual
can use their hands.
Benefits of Determining Your Learning Type
Some of these benefits of learning which category that you fall under when it comes to learning type include:
- Being able to learn and absorb information the first time that you
hear it and reducing the amount of time and repetition that is required
when learning.
- Reducing the amount of reviewing and study time using methods of learning that are not compatible with your learning ability.
- Defining your learning type can help you to choose the best study
method for you. The majority of people are unsure about which methods
that they should use to study and therefore learning which method
enables you to learn best can enable you to learn effectively with the
least amount of knowledge.
How to Determine Your Learning Style
You can determine the learning style through observation of your skills
that are used while learning. You can determine the learning style
through observing which ways that you learn best and which method are
used to ensure that you are absorbing the highest amount of information.
Guidance counselors and many other services within the school
environment are often available to help students to determine which type
of learning style that works best for their particular needs, as this
can help the student to excel.
Alternatively, there are many tests that will help you to determine your
learning style. After answering a series of questions based on
situations that occur in learning, as well as asking basic personality
questions throughout the test, you are able to determine which learning
category that you fall under.
