Students are individuals who learn in different ways.
Everyone learns in different ways. There are three main learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic (see Reference 1). Kinesthetic learners learn by doing. They have good hand-eye coordination. They can control body movements and have good balance. Visual learners learn by seeing and think in pictures.They create mental images to help themselves retain information. Auditory learners prefer to learn by listening. They think in words and respond well to music. When planning lessons for your class you need to remember that students are individuals and take their learning styles into account.
Kinesthetic Learners
Kinesthetic learners enjoy practical science experiments.
Kinesthetic learners enjoy hands-on activities and are often good at sports, dance, crafts, drama and creative tasks. Use role-play activities to develop kinesthetic skills; have a student play a character and use "hot seating" in which other class members question him in role. Ask students to act out a scene from a text. Bring a painting to life by having students take on the roles of the subjects. Bring art into other subjects by making sketches of characters or scenes in a story. Undertake practical experiments in science. Use concrete materials to solve problems in math. Allow students to play instruments in music and encourage the development of expression through music and dance.
Auditory Learners
Auditory learners enjoy listening to stories.
Auditory learners enjoy both hearing stories and telling stories themselves. They are good at explaining ideas, convincing others of their points of view and remembering information. They often have excellent speaking skills. Develop these skills by having students retell stories from a character's viewpoint. Ask students to compose advertisements, interview characters from history or texts and develop an argument for a debate or persuasive writing piece. Encourage students to read poems and stories out loud. Give students word problems to solve in math and let them work collaboratively in small groups. Have students research information for science topics.
Visual Learners
Visual learners have good observation skills.
Visual learners are good at solving puzzles. They can read graphs and charts and have a good sense of direction. Visual learners enjoy designing and constructing. Utilize visual learners' artistic ability by having students make mind maps of their ideas as a planning tool. Ask students to make story boards and to study pictures for information and inspiration. Have students create patterns in math. Give them visual problems to solve and concrete materials to manipulate. Visual learners will enjoy representing information in graphs and charts. In science, visual learning skills can be developed through observation and recording and through the interpretation of charts and diagrams.
Accomodating All Students
Good teachers should accommodate all three learning styles in their planning. It is important to do this not just to support students' learning preferences but also to develop the skills at which they may not be so proficient. Be imaginative when planning a lesson and try to include a variety of activities. Spend some time explaining an idea verbally. Have a visual presentation and include a practical hands-on activity. Make sure your students are not doing one type of activity for too long or sitting still for long periods of time. When planning ask yourself: how does this lesson engage all learners?
Tags: learners enjoy, have good, having students, learning styles, Auditory learners, Auditory learners enjoy
