Ways to Learn

A different style for different smiles applies to learning. Knowing your personal style can prevent frustration and make picking up subject material easier. So how do you know what your personal learning style is? Even more importantly, how does a tactile learner capture and hold material from a talky teacher, or an auditory learner from a teacher that provides lots of reading, and so forth? This article hopes to enlighten students on how to identify personal learning styles and use that knowledge to learn within the traditional teaching environment.

Three main learning styles are visual, tactile and auditory. An individual may have one or more dominant styles. The visual learner absorbs what they see. They need visual clues to help classify and store information. The tactile learner is touchy. The sensory input they need is primarily through the hands. They need their bodies to experience the lesson in order to retain the information.  Auditory learners hear the information they need. These learners probably have the greatest advantage in traditional learning settings because they are able to retain what they hear during lectures and tutorials. They are able to pick up on the subtle nuances of language.

Attempting to involve yourself in learning environments that cater to your specific learning style may be a big factor in how easily you achieve academic success. There are also many ways to make your learning style work for you. Visual learners should make sure they can see the lecturer, collect and read any handouts and look for graphs and charts to support the information given. Tactile learners probably have the toughest time in a traditional classroom setting but there are things they too can do. Use worry beads or a squeezy ball or some other physical thing to create a tactile experience while taking in lessons. Auditory learners can help their learning by recording classes and listening to lectures and instructions again sometime after the lesson. There are many tips and tricks for enhancing learning experiences for all learner types.