What is my Learning Style?

During my undergrad experience, I had the opportunity to take a wide array of classes.  Most professors used a variety of teaching methods to meet the needs of students, and in those classes I was very successful.  There was, however, one set of classes that I barely passed.  They were both taught by a professor who used a standard lecture (with vigorous note-taking on my part) and quiz style of teaching - no discussions, no projects, and questions were only allowed during the last five minutes of class time.  As I reflect on my experience in those classes, I am puzzled by my poor achievement.  I understand why a kinesthetic learner would have difficulty, but why did I struggle when I generally identify myself as a visual learner (according to the VAK learning style model)?

Out of the three VAK learning style models, visual, auditory and kinesthetic, my placement is clear.  I believe, however, that all three types of learning style models are important aspects of information synthesis for all learners, regardless of preferred learning style.  Although each of us can identify a learning style that is more important for us, we ignore other learning styles at our own peril.

In order for students to be successful, they must be able to interact with classroom content in a variety of ways, regardless of their preferred learning style.  When we create lessons that focus on the learning strengths of one "type" of student, we are missing the point.  A well-rounded classroom has opportunities to interact with curriculum in a variety of ways, which in turn creates a more well-rounded learner.

In a more challenging student group, it may become apparent that gearing lessons toward the preferred learning style of your more difficult students has a positive benefit to the entire class.  When students are able to immerse themselves in content, it is easier to make progress in the class as a whole.  Since we have little immediate control over curriculum content, it is important to remember that we do have a choice in how we present content and allow students to interact with the content.

It is obvious that we can't teach each lesson focusing on every learning style we have in the classroom.  Our focus needs to be on creating interdisciplinary units that incorporate activities at all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.  It is interesting to note, regardless of what learning style model is chosen (Myers-Briggs Personality Types, Kolb/McCarthy Learning Cycle, Felder/Silverman Styles, and Grasha-Riechmann Learning Styles are a few of the more recognized models), as one creates opportunities for students to work within the upper levels of the scale, lessons will naturally incorporate all learning style models.