Learning styles play an important part in my lesson planning. The three main learning styles I will be focusing on are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. "In the general population, the distribution of the three learning styles is: 65% visual, 30% auditory and 5% kinesthetic" (Buşan, 2014). In all of my classes, I have a mix of learning style preferences. Some students are visual, some are auditory, some are kinesthetic, and then there are some that are multimodal.
Visual learners learn best by seeing. "They prefer to watch demonstrations and will typically get more out of videotaped instruction rather than a lecture" (Buşan, 2014).
Auditory learners learn best through listening. Auditory learners will listen to their teacher's explanation of a mathematical concept.
Kinesthetic learners learn best by moving and touching. Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing hands on activities.
Below is a bar graph of the learning styles of a small group of students in my school.
Student Learning Styles:
- Student A is a multimodal learning style.
- Student B is an auditory learner.
- Student C favors kinesthetic but also does well with auditory.
- Student D is a visual learner.
- Student E is an auditory learner.
Learning styles are related to a student's cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. "It is relatively uncontroversial that
cognitive ability is multifaceted (e.g., verbal ability and facility
with space have distinct cognitive bases), and it is uncontroversial that individuals vary in these abilities" (Willingham et al., 2015). Students come to school with different cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. These traits typically start at home and carry over into school. Depending on their home life, they will have a preference for a particular learning style.
Using the learning style inventory, I can differentiate my instruction to meet the needs of my students. Some instructional strategies for visual learners include lessons that have graphs, charts, pictures, and videos. One instructional strategy for auditory learners is having them repeat mathematical formulas aloud to learn and remember them (Hussin & Matore, 2023). Auditory learners will also benefit from singing songs. In my algebra classes I use a video on the quadratic formula that they need to sing along with to remember the formula. One instructional activity for kinesthetic students is to have hands-on projects where the students can solve a real-world problem. Another instructional strategy for kinesthetic learners is to have them move along to a song. For my algebra classes I like to have them model graphs using their bodies.
It is important to consider each student's strengths, interests, and needs for growth when planning instruction. After students complete an assessment, I reflect on their scores and consider each student's strengths and interests. It is great when all the students do well but that is usually not the case. If my auditory learners (students B and E) did not do well on the assessment, I will ask them to see me during enrichment to go over their assessment. I offer them the opportunity to answer the questions verbally to get some points back. I know that a few of my students are kinesthetic learners (students A and C) so I may offer them a real-world problem they are interested in that is related to the topics they are being tested on to get some points back as well. Usually, my visual learners (student D) will do fine with a standard assessment. If all my students show growth throughout a unit, I know I have done something right. I am always looking for ways to improve my teaching and reflecting on how well my students did is one way I improve from year to year.
Assessments in my classroom vary. Some of my assessments are typical tests or quizzes. I also assess my students through daily questioning, exit tickets, math apps, and projects that are hands-on. It is important to understand that not all students learn the same and therefore they will not all respond to a standard test. By offering a variety of assessments I am giving everyone the chance to show me their skills and succeed in my classroom.
Resources:
Buşan, A. (2014). Learning styles of medical students - implications in education. Current Health Sciences Journal, 40(2), 104–110. https://doi.org/10.12865/chsj.40.02.04
Hussin, W. A. S. W., & Matore, M. E. E. M. (2023). The influence of learning styles on academic procrastination among students in mathematics. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1239933
Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315589505
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