The Different Learning Styles

 The Different Learning Styles

By Maura Baker

Everyone learns in a slightly different way. Some people retain information the best by reading about it, others while being told about it, and so on. These are often referred to as learning styles. Knowing which way you learn best can help you with many things in life, for example, knowing how you learn best can help you learn more and at a faster rate. If you have a learning difference, you might find it even more helpful to know what your learning styles are, and to use them to your advantage. There are many different learning styles, and below is a summary of each. 

Neil Fleming’s “VARK” Model

One of the most accepted explanations of learning stylse comes from Neil Fleming’s (an educator from New Zealand) “VARK” model. “VARK” stands for Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing and Kinesthetic learning. These identify the way in which most people learn best.

Visual Learning

Visual learning means learning via visuals. Visuals can be anything to images, graphs, etc. Being more of a visual learner means that you learn better when you can see what you’re trying to understand. For example, drawing pictures next to your vocab words might help you remember them better. 

Aural Learning

Being an aural learner means that you learn best through sounds and being told information. For instance, you might find it easier to remember your vocab words if you have someone read them and their definitions out loud to you, or by making up a song about them that helps you remember.

Reading/Writing Learning

Reading/writing learners are more likely to remember information if they read it to themselves, or write it out. For example, if you have a set of vocab cards you need to memorize, reading them and their definition and/or writing them down yourself can help you remember the words. 

Kinesthetic Learning

Kinesthetic learning is learning through movement, and it can also be like “hands on” learning. For an example, you might be able to remember those same vocab words better if you can come up with a movement (such as a dance move, facial expression, hand motion, etc) that makes you think of that word.

It’s important to remember that none of the learning styles are superior to any others; it’s simply whatever works for you! There’s also overlap between the learning styles, and you can definitely have more than one! To figure out what your learning style is, try a variety of strategies for things such as memorization to see what clicks the best.