by Richard Smith

Created on: August 02, 2008

I often recall my student days with fondness, a time of endless opportunities to play sport, hanging out with friends on the top field covering for them while they had a crafty cigarette, a teenage crush on the well endowed French mistress who also drove a Porsche (two loves in one package) and the long holidays. I remember also with less fondness those long lessons spent listening to the droning voice of my teachers or being tasked with making notes from a text book when all the words used to merge into one. I only really came alive in class when there was the opportunity to do something hands on or the chance to participate in a class discussion. The only way I could record historical dates and facts was to draw a timeline or a mind map (I had no idea what a mind map was I was just making links on a page). Little did I know that these were my preferred learning styles, only now as a qualified teacher do I realise what was going on. Now thanks to my training I can label myself, at least with regards to my learning style I can.

The brain is a wonderful thing, it grows and increases, and intelligence increases, through being used. Not only that but the brain is proactive in its desire to learn, this can be shown by the fact that there are more neural connections from the brain to the ear than there are from the ear to the brain.

Most times when learning styles are discussed the focus will be on a relatively simplistic model called VAK, this stands for Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic and relates to three main learning styles. Visual learners are those people whose principle learning method is through reading and visualising information. Auditory learners respond better to spoken words and to involvement in class discussions while kinaesthetic learners like to learn using a hands on doing approach. A good teacher will build in these styles to there teaching as a way of ensuring that all students can benefit from the learning experience.

Within these three key styles there are more detailed ways of breaking down learning styles and these allow the teacher to develop a more focused pedagogy. Kolb identifies a cycle of learning that takes place and as such breaks learning styles down into a number of categories.

Divergers - these need to be personally involved in the task; they perceive information in concrete terms and reflect on it.

Convergers they perceive information abstractly and reflect on it, they prefer to have detailed structured steps when learning new information.

Accommodators

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