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Ivey Lee

Megan Keaton

ENG 1102

10 April 2013

Learning Styles in Schools

Knowing which learning style a student prefers is important because it positively affects that student’s learning and remembering. There are many different learning styles but the most common include visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learning. Studies have shown that if teachers correlate their teaching methods with student’s learning styles, learning is enhanced and memorization is increased. The information I found from the research investigates the different learning styles and supports the idea that differentiation in learning styles benefits all students.

Most of my sources started off by explaining the different learning methods. The different learning methods include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The definition for each of these stayed fairly the same through each source. The visual learner learns best through the use of charts, graphs, and pictures (Leopold). An auditory learner learns best by listening, answering questions, and studying with a small group or partner (India). The kinesthetic category is broken down into many parts. Some authors believed that kinesthetic were its own category and that kinesthetic learners learn best by staying active, moving around, and interacting with the material.

Opposing the authors who believed the kinesthetic category was one in itself, other authors argued that it contained subcategories that went more in-depth. The new sub-categories introduced include “hands-on learners”, “whole-body learners”, and “doodlers” (Sprenger). “Hands-on learners” prefer to touch things, like models or samples. “Whole-body learners” learn best by playing games that involve moving their entire body. “Doodlers” learn best by writing random side-notes and drawings that relate to the material they are leaning. These types of learners can make up songs and dances to help remember material. All of these sub-categories are related to physical activity which is why they are all included in the kinesthetic category. Another article I found while researching broke the kinesthetic learner into two sub-categories. These categories consisted of “tactile” and “tactile/kinesthetic” (Gregory/Chapman). The tactile learner learns best by handling and being involved with concrete objects. The “tactile/kinesthetic” learner retains the most information by moving their body in ways that will help them memorize learning material. These authors that break down the sub-categories of kinesthetic learners have the same concepts but just name them differently.

Throughout the duration of my research, I found many interesting things about learning styles and the type of people who correlate with those learning styles. One source I found stated that students enrolled in intensive English programs in the United States prefer kinesthetic learning (Leopold). This makes sense considering one of the subcategories for kinesthetic leaning is “doodlers” who write random side notes. In most English classes, they perform work shopping which requires you to write side notes on papers that someone is critiquing. One source broke down each learning style and introduced characteristics of people who prefer this learning style. Visual learners were said to good at spelling, could read fast, enjoyed puzzles, and drawing. These learners prefer studying alone in a quiet space and tend to be very neat. Auditory learners have a wide range of vocabulary and tend to excel in theatre and debate. They can also be easily

distracted by noise. Kinesthetic learners gesture a lot while speaking, have trouble sitting still for long periods of time, and love the outdoors. These kinds of learners excel in outdoor activities and making models. These kinds of people are also said to be fairly unorganized (India).

Also, the relationship between culture and learning styles has shown to be different for certain areas. The research I did showed that Asian international students that are currently learning in the United States do not prefer auditory learning (Leopold).

Many factors have to be taken into account when trying to get a student to learn something. A child’s age is crucial in the learning process. The critical learning point in a child’s life is ages five to twelve (Gregory/Kuzmich). This article breaks down each age into categories and gives a summary of what a child is like regarding learning at that age. Five year olds need to be taught things one at a time. Eight year olds are talkative and have lots of energy they need to release. Twelve year olds have an interest in worldly activities. By knowing this, one could understand that five year olds may prefer visual learning because that way they can retain one thing at a time by looking at it. Most eight year olds are kinesthetic learners because they are extremely hyper active and need to be moving to retain information. By the age of twelve, most students have found their niche and learning preference.

I noticed that many authors noted that stimuli can affect a persons learning depending on what style they prefer. Temperate of a classroom can affect ones learning because it can be distracting (Gregory/Kuzmich). Because senses are such a vital part in which preference you prefer, it only makes sense that stimuli can affect a persons learning (Leopold).