--Original published at Collin's Blog

Learning styles are a range of different theories that claim to enable your brain to retain the most information. Each brain is different and that goes the same for their learning styles. Two common learning styles are kinetic and auditory. Kinetic learning involves hands on procedures and acting out examples to better understand content for learning. Auditory learning is being able to hear content being taught and be able to effectively learn. There have been many debates as to what type of learning styles are best for teaching students. Both are common learning styles are used in the classroom and both have been seen to be effective(PBS Learning).
Kinetic Learning as said before involves hands on work to facilitate learning. Students who are kinetic learners tend to be very fidgety when sitting still and seem to always be active and moving. Most times auditory and visual learning are not very effective for kinetic learners who often use movement to concentrate. According to Sarah Lipoff, kinetic learners need to be taught certain ways in order to keep their attention and effectively activate the brain to store information long-term. One way commonly used, is taking notes. Most classes require students to take notes to help them actively study terms and information, this gives the students an opportunity to stay active in a focused manner. Also, highlighters and colored markers are often offered to children to get them visually interested in note taking. The next, tactic for kinetic learners is simply keeping them active. Integrating physical games can be very enjoyable and beneficial to keeping children and even older college students excited about learning. A common method for this is incorporating quizzes and tests into downtime activities. The last tactic Lipoff uses is taking breaks. Kinesthetic learners can often be distracted by their environment and often tend to zone out during class lectures. By creating breaks where they can relieve any feelings of being overwhelmed or distracted. Stopping lectures to review or take a minute to just sit and recuperate. This is often used during longer lecture classes where teachers and professors may stop in the middle of lecture and ask the class to stand up and move around a bit to ensure they would be staying active and not falling asleep or losing focus. Kinetic learners are often said to be disruptive and a pain for teachers during class when really, they just need a little assistance to interact with the content they are learning (Lipoff).
Auditory learners are students who retain information more thoroughly when content is reinforced through sound. These students usually prefer to listen to lectures and hearing teachers rather than reading assigned texts. They could struggle with reading information or feel overwhelmed by complex diagrams. They can gain a full understanding of the information from hearing the teacher or professor explain the content for students to better understand. One way technology has been adapted to help auditory learners is by using the speech recognition tool for cell phones and computers today. Which can read content to the student without them having to cognitively decipher the complex information by themselves. These types of students tend to be good at picking up on verbal tones and rhetorical techniques used by instructors. This helps them better understand them meaning of the readings and lectures. Auditory learners usually like to repeat information orally and enjoy acting or being on stage. Group studying for these students tends to be more effective than individual studying since they can talk through problem sets and use different viewpoints of the content (Fleming).
Kinetic and auditory learning styles are both very common and effective for students. Teachers and professors have adjusted their own learning curriculum and lesson plans to accommodate for any learning style the students may have.
Sources:
http://www.funderstanding.com/theory/child-development/kinesthetic-learning-style-and-the-young-child/
http://www.learningstyles.org/styles/kinesthetic.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/auditory-learning-style-1857081

--Original published at JD's Blog

Over the past few years, the importance of learning styles has been greatly debated. From their significance, all the way to their existence. Some say there are a multitude of different learning styles. Some examples include visual, learning by watching and observation. Kinesthetic takes place when a student learns through touch and conducting physical activity pertaining to the subject. Auditory, also known as aural, learners depend mainly on a teacher going over subject matter via oration. Sound is their most keen sense and is their main method used to acquire knowledge. The last one, which is a little different than the others is logical learning. It refers to the ability to use reason when learning. Specifically, problem solving and thinking in order. Teachers can utilize a combination of all these techniques to provide quality lessons to all students. This idea was discussed in a world-renowned journal discussing learning styles and used to plan out worldwide curriculums talked about. By dividing the techniques, they use over the curse of the lesson and trying to present the same information in a scattered version of each technique, teachers can possibly maximize the amount of information retained by a majority of their classroom’s population. (Rani et al, 2012). The study Patterns in Authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia: A Taxonomy of Learning Styles discussed integrating these styles together into the educational system has been tested. The adaptation of learning styles and attempting to “formulate standards for adaptive educational hypermedia. (AEH) systems that is currently under investigation by the EU ADAPT project.” (Gorrell et al, 2011). Based off of information from multiple studies, the patterns designed set up a “fine-grain” approach to the development of instructional strategies to take the strong suits of a particular learning style and combine them with the others to drive the positive retention of knowledge by students.

Theories and ideas that are against this idea are as “Multiple-intelligences theory” (Silver et al, 1997). This theory explores the idea of how cultures and disciplines are able to shape human prospective. It rejects the dominant ideologies of split intelligence and centers on learning content and products. It focuses on blending learning styles and MI theories to help minimize each versions limitation and enhance their strengths. (Silver et al, 1997). Another idea that has been explored focuses on understanding of self-regulated learning rather than everyone learning the same information. It discusses that mixing all of the different techniques can end up causing problems by leading to more confusion than obtained information. This international journal used data from a multitude of studies conducted discussing this idea. The studies came to the conclusion that pushing the boundaries of all the senses can potentially result in a sensory overload leading to a state of confusion and loss of the original sense primarily used. (Boekarts, 2016).

I feel that integrating the systems together will help student learn better. Teachers can see what systems work the best and focus more on them. By providing the classroom with a mixed style of teaching the lessons will not get repetitive and keep the students interested. When students are interested and energized they learn better. This will result in students obtaining more information as a whole and learning how they work the best to later apply those techniques later in life.

Works Cited

Boekarts, Monique. “Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of

Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” International Journal of Education Research, doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

Gorrell, Michael, et al. “E-Books on EBSCOhost: Combining NetLibrary E-Books withthe EBSCOhost Platform.” Information Standards Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 2, 2011, p. 31., doi:10.3789/isqv23n2.2011.07.

Rani, Payal, and S C Shukla. “Graphic technology. Variable content replacement.” LearningStyles in Education, doi:10.3403/30339967u.

Silver, Harvey, et al. “Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” ERIC, 1997, doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

--Original published at Anneka's Blog

Learning styles is a popular theory that is shared amongst teachers, parents, and students. People regularly say humans learn visually, audibly, and tactilely, and that each student learns best by one method. Many websites offer tests to reveal what learning style best fits a person. I have always considered myself as more of a visual learner, but am I really? With learning being important in the classroom, researchers have argued for and against the implication of specialized lesson plans to correlate with the learning styles of the students.

Robert Sternberg, an IBM Psychology and Education Professor at Yale University argues for the use of learning styles as posted by Education Research Newsletter & Webinars. Sternberg believes that if these styles are not understood, it could affect learning and teaching. Students and teachers typically use activities that work with their individual learning style, and at times it may conflict with the other’s style and can affect the educational relationship. Students do better and have more motivation when work parallels to their style. Teachers must be observant and see poor grades as a possible conflict with learning methods. He acknowledges that teachers cannot teach to match every single student, but to use these learning styles when students are having a harder time grasping the information. With teacher guidance, students can make their style stronger and develop fluidity between methods. Sternburg sees “learning style” as a confusing term and created a theory of “mental self-government” that includes legislative, executive, and judicial like sections which all help a student learn. The first creates and plans, the second does the action, and the third judges and evaluates. Students each have a more prominent one.

Another supportive article is “Understanding the Importance of Learning Styles” published on More 4 Kids. In the context of homeschooling, the female author believes that understanding and teaching towards a child’s learning style will help with information retention and make the process more enjoyable for everyone. The teacher’s teaching style is to blame in most conflicts. Failing to recognize individual learning styles can lead to the misdiagnoses such as attention deficient disorder. The author includes the basic KAV learning style-kinesthetic, auditory, and visual-with the comment that it is rare to have a learning balance between all three styles. To give a personal view, the author discusses her experience with homeschooling her children in kindergarten. She found her oldest son to be a visual learner. Her younger son, however, became frustrated, put minimal effort in, and had a hard time sitting still during homeschooling. She and the family’s pediatrician believed he could have autism or ADD, but after research, she realized that her son was a kinesthetic learner. They were using the wrong teaching method as they were teaching more visually.

On the other hand, many teachers and psychologists argue that learning styles are actually a neuroscientific myth. Ani Aharonian, a cognitive psychologist and institutional researcher at Santa Monica College, states that there is minimal evidence that supports the claim that learning styles actually improve one’s learning. Published studies and reports are theoretical and descriptive research and lack the cause and effect evidence. In addition, the lack of randomly assigned control groups and methodological procedures further disproves this theory. Learning styles are more self-believed effective versus research shown. The differences in work methods, highlighting a text books or recording a lecture, are simply just preferences. Lastly, the focus on one method dismisses improving one’s weaknesses and gives students the belief that they can claim unaccommodated learning styles were the blame of poor grades,

Annie Murphy Paul, a writer for KQED News’s Mind/Shift section, also agrees with Ani Aharonian that the learning styles theory has been disproven. She quotes a group of psychologist’s 2008 review that states that adding learning-style assessments to public school’s education is not valid. One method of learning does not improve information intake and testing results. Murphy Paul states that although that the theory has been disproven, teachers should still present information in a way that that all students can benefit universally. It incorporates all the senses by presenting information in multiple forms. This change will keep students more focused versus strictly books or audio. Simply focusing on one method is not beneficial. To reinforce her claim, she discusses Susan Courey and colleagues’ “Academic Music” program that was published in the Educational Studies in Mathematics journal. They taught third-graders fractions paralleling it with musical note values. They also included clapping, drumming, and verbalizing. These student’s grades were 50% higher than those of a non-music class. These lessons allow alternative ways to understand difficult topics.

With this newfound knowledge that learning styles have been disproven and considering both sides of the argument, I would have to agree that correlating a teaching program for the specific learning style for each student may not be completely beneficial given the lack of evidence. These learning styles are preferences and all three are needed in learning. While one way may be preferred, the others are just as important. You should grow your strengths but also address your weaknesses. I also believe that a variety of teaching methods for certain topics may be helpful for understanding a concept better. Activities such as acting out an event (like the action potential we did in class), creating a song, or partaking in the experiments shown in the reading can help create alternative connections to the information. Sometimes information may not click with someone until you explain it in a different way.

References

Aharonian, A. (2014, December 19). The myth of learning styles [blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.skeptic.com/insight/the-myth-of-learning-styles/

The importance of understanding individual learning styles. (1990, May/June). Educational Research Newsletter, 3(3). Retrieved from https://www.ernweb.com/educational-research-articles/the-importance-of-understanding-individual-learning-styles/

More4kids. (July 23). Understanding the importance of learning styles. Retrieved from More 4 Kids website: http://education.more4kids.info/77/understanding-learning-styles/#respond

Murphy Paul, A. (2012, April). Do students really have different learning styles? Retrieved from KQEd News website: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/04/13/do-students-have-different-learning-styles/

--Original published at Madison's Blog

Learning styles have become more frequently discussed in recent years, due to the increasing number of teachers catering their classrooms towards the student-based learning approach. Students can be tested and receive a preferred “learning style” that best fulfills their needs as a student. A teacher’s awareness of different learning styles can help students’ intake new information in a way that best allows them to remember it. Instructors can approach learning material in various ways, to allow students to assess information in a way that best fits them. Commonly known learning styles include visual, auditory, verbal, and kinesthetic. Educators can help students explore solutions to various problems through group contribution of a differing learning style. It can benefit the teacher, and the student to be able to interpret information using different techniques of learning. This source is credible because it is a peer reviewed journal entry and is published in the International Journal of Childbirth Education. The author, Carol Brady also cited other notable works within her entry to further solidify the credibility.

Schools could also explore the use of mobile devices in the classroom environment to support individual learning styles as well as collaborative learning. The major difference between mobile learning styles and the traditional classroom lecture form of learning is that the mobile learning is student-centered and more individualized, as opposed to the classroom lecture form, which is usually teacher mediated. If a student could use technology to self-teach some aspects of the curriculum, it could better suit their individualized learning style. That means the information taught will be better understood in the long run and benefit the child more. This source is well credited because it is published in an academic journal and peer reviewed. The authors are credited in their field of work, and therefore the source is verified.

Though student-based learning styles have been credited in recent years, some people are criticizing its effectiveness. Since teachers will be attempting to manage all their students’ activities at once, it can be difficult when the students are working on different stages of the same projects. The teacher will have to juggle each child’s individual needs all at once, even when it gets overwhelming. This could distract from the goal of the project at hand, and no substantial learning could be achieved. The teachers also don’t always deliver instruction to all students at once, since some will be at different stages of their learning. This could cause some confusion, since some students may miss important facts that were only stated once. This source is credible because it is based out of research done by Concordia University in Oregon. The source has been updated frequently as new information is released in the field. This validates the claim of if the article is a legitimate source.

In a report published by Department for Education and Skill, 66% of 347 UK schools surveyed said they teach according to the students’ preferred learning styles. Two major difficulties in the use of learning styles is that giving a child a label, as a specific type of learner may limit their self-identity and deter the use of available tools for other various learning styles. Obtaining the measurements of students’ learning styles and gaining knowledge about how best to teach each accordingly, are costly and time-consuming for the school. The school would have to train each teacher on how to best suit each learning type for optimal performance. This takes time to perfect, and timing is key in the educational system. This article was written by multiple students and faculty at the Centre for Educational Neuroscience at the University College London. This source is credible because other outside sources were used to construct a thoughtful argument using factual data collected.

After reading these sources, I feel very strongly about this issue. I believe learning styles should be incorporated more in schools, since students seem to benefit from it. Though it costs money, and teachers will have to go out of their way to cater to the different students, that is the sacrifice needed. The students are the main focus in schools, and their learning of new material is the goal of the institution. If they learn and remember the information better using a specific learning style, than I think it should be utilized.

Brady, Carol L. “Understanding Learning Styles: Providing the Optimal Learning Experience.” International Journal of Childbirth Education, vol. 28, no. 2, Apr. 2013, pp. 16-19. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c8h&AN=104292450&site=ehost-live.

Fakomogbon, Michael Ayodele1 and Hameed Olalekan2 Bolaji. “Effects of Collaborative Learning Styles on Performance of Students in a Ubiquitous Collaborative Mobile Learning Environment.” Contemporary Educational Technology, vol. 8, no. 3, July 2017, pp. 268-279. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=124500539&site=ehost-live.

https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/which-is-best-teacher-centered-or-student-centered-education/

http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/neuromyth-or-neurofact/children-have-different-learning-styles/