Monday, November 14, 2005

What's your learning style?

The last post got me thinking about learning styles. Having been a teacher for more than 12 years, I have done various workshops on learning styles. The first step is always to figure out what kind of learner you are, and then to have a look at what you’re not. The end goal, of course, is to try to figure out way to reach those students whose learning styles don’t mesh with yours, and to try to incorporate a variety of teaching styles into your methods.

I’ve always been aware that one of my weaknesses as a teacher is appealing to the kinesthetic/tactile learners in my classes. I have to make a conscious effort to include activities that will help them learn best… and it is always a challenge!

Anyway, for your own enjoyment, here are a few sites complete with learning style tests, so you can figure out your own learning style preferences (if you don’t already know them!)

I tested all these sites just to see what the differences were. They all seemed reasonable.

http://www.ldpride.net/learning_style.html - This site wants your name and e-mail addy. I just put in bogus info and it still gave me the results.

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/ - same as above, except that they’ll also ask you for a password. Just enter whatever and then click to see your results. (I was almost off-the-scale verbal on that one! Interesting!)

Here’s another one here:
http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/ILSpage.html and this page has the learning styles test: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

Enjoy!

4 comments:

ipodmomma said...

you might think, "what kind of homeschool mother is she?", but I really couldn't tell you what kinds of learners my kids are...

Spencer and Ted learned to read early, and he has a nearly photographic memory. J took longer, all phonics with her. she was in reception and they were teaching by memory... didn't work. it was just a blessing that the curriculumn (did I spell that right?) we used then was into phonics...

maybe I will have a poke at those sites... :)))

mollie

kt said...

mee toooo
i too shall visit these sites...my kiddos are still young (9, 7--today, &4 1/2) so...might help me. i THINK son 9 is tactile(?if that means by touch, watching, example, etc)...?? dunno. i THINK i am same way. i have to READ something a million times b4 it sinks in...unless it's a NOVEL! i can like SPEED READ when it's for pleasure! serious! esp. since having kids! my time is so scarce, i can bust out a book in NO time as i skim and pick and choose what to read! weird, huh?
but, (ipod momma especially) i've sworn off "Christian romance novels" cuz no matter how wonderful my husband is, i end up comparing him to those FICTITIOUS characters!!! (ficticious?)
thx for the sites, sar-sar!
kt

M A F said...

I tried a couple of these tests, the results showed that I have at least three learning styles. Ain't nothing ever simple.

Sarah Elaine said...

It's important to remember three things:
1) There are different ways of classifying "learning styles" depending on who is doing the research.
2) Learning styles or preferences are just that -- natural tendencies in one direction or another. Doesn't mean we're incapable of learning in other ways, it's just that some ways come more naturally than others.
3) Learning styles can change over time. I've become much more auditory since I started learning languages, for example, though verbal (visual verbal, as in written down, or auditory verbal, as in the spoken word) are strong preferences for me.

While it can be neat to discover something new about yourself, the flip side is pigeon-holing or labelling in a detrimental way. There are lots of different ways of learning!