Knowledge Based Article
The importance of learning styles
What is a persons learning style?
It is the way in which a human being of any age concentrates on, absorbs processes and retains new and difficult information. Everyone has a unique style in which they prefer to learn and if a student’s learning preferences are being matched with the overall learning conditions and their study environment, they become their strengths. This will improve academic performance and lead to permanent learning success.
Does everybody have a learning style?
Yes and everybody’s learning style is uniquely different; there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ styles, only mismatched learning styles which over time usually lead to frustration and often to learning problems.
Once a teacher knows his or her students’ learning styles, it is possible to re-arrange learning tasks according to individual Learning Style Profile.
Do Learning Styles change over time?
Yes, particularly among primary (elementary) school pupils because the majority of learning style elements is biologically based and as children grow up, their learning styles change. Beyond teenage years however, biological learning style preferences are fairly set and remain pretty stable over a life time, but the learned/conditioned elements of someone’s Learning Style Profile can be influenced at will and can literally change overnight.
Isn't Visual-Auditory-Kinaesthetic what we call Learning Styles?
Yes, but only partially because V-A-K does not include Tactile (T) – hands-on learning, and what’s more important, a person’s learning style consists of many more elements than sensory modalities only. V-A-TK is what can be called a subgroup of learning style elements. They describe how a person prefers to take in new and difficult information: either by seeing/reading/imagining (V), listening/talking (A), touching/hands-on learning (T) or doing/participating/feeling and physical involvement (K).
Is a Learning Style test an intelligence test?
No, it is not. It is a self-assessment which gives insight into a student’s unique combination of style elements regarding the physical space where they prefer to study and concentrate, their time-of-day preferences for learning, their social and environmental needs during the learning process as well as their frame of mind and their attitudes towards school and learning.
Is Learning Style the same as Teaching Style?
Not quite, but many teachers prefer to use the same techniques for their teaching as they tend to use for their own learning, their own information intake. That’s why teachers who are highly auditory and visual (meaning they learn best through listening, discussing and reading) will use a lot of lecturing, discussions and reading materials in their teaching. However, once a teacher becomes aware of his or her own Learning Style they can deliberately use a Teaching Style which accommodates the diverse learning needs of their students.