What Kind of Learning Style Do You Have?
There are lots of different people out there. These differences naturally extend into the classroom where students can be defined by their different learning styles. Obviously, this isn't the only way to define a student, and many might find it difficult to narrow their learning style down to one specific type in all learning situations. There are three main styles, but they are just general guidelines for starting points for understanding how you react to what takes place in the classroom.
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Introduction
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A person's favored learning style is determined by the use of their senses. We all have five main senses: hearing, taste, touch, smell and sight. We all tend to have one or two senses that we favor. This doesn't mean that any one of our senses is vastly superior to the others, but there is a slight tendency for each of us to use one or two better than the rest. Most of the time you can't even notice this predilection. When you can start to notice it is in the classroom when certain methods of teaching resonate more strongly with you and allow you to retain information with greater ease.
Visual Learners
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These types of learners respond most positively to what they see. By reading something in a book or on a whiteboard, they can more readily recall this information later than those who favor different styles. Visually oriented students benefit most from studying styles that include a lot of heavy reading or watching a film. By trying to learn in these ways, someone who is a strong visual learner would perform better when later tasked with recalling that information.
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Auditory Learners
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An auditory learner will learn the most through what they hear. As opposed to a visual learner to would learn best by reading notes or academic papers, an auditory learner's greatest benefit comes from classes involving a lot of lecture. By listening to a teacher or professor talk at length about a certain topic, auditory learners absorb more knowledge than if they were simply taking notes or reading a book. They have a stronger ability to think back on these lectures and other things they have heard, perhaps in a study group or tutoring session, during a test.
Kinesthetic Learners
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The last type of learning style is the kinesthetic style. Simply put, a kinesthetic learner learns by doing. This "doing" can be as simple as writing down a note. By engaging physically in some way during the learning process, a stronger link is made with their ability to retain knowledge. Aside from taking notes, a kinesthetic learner would be most able to do something mechanical like taking apart a small machine, like a toaster or radio, and put it back together using what they learned during the physical act of dismantling the object.
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References
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