The importance of knowing your learning style

There are so many different ways to learn, and because everyone has specific ideas of what education means to them, knowing what type of learner you are will not only help you take in information more effectively but also study more pragmatically. Individual learning is crucial to understanding yourself because it reflects on how you use the tools at your disposal and the experiences in your life to succeed.

In this article, we share the main 4 different types of learners according to the VARK Model.

• Visual

Do you create diagrams and mind-maps? Clear images and pictorial demonstrations best suit you. If you don’t have one already, get a whiteboard! This might give you the opportunity to illustrate and convey a concept more concisely.

• Auditory

Listening to information and talking to yourself or others provides you with a sense that you have actually internalised what you need to know. Audio description and music are what prove helpful. Knowledge dumping is a useful technique that you might rely on.

• Read/Write

Taking notes, copying down information and reading written text. These learners are often on Google researching a topic. Worksheets are typically a go-to resource to exercise your knowledge.

• Kinesthetic

These learners prefer to be active while learning by touching something, like a model or doing something that moves the body. Taking on a hands-on approach through practicals or activities can be highly useful in understanding a particular concept.

It’s quite easy to deduce, through your experiences in the classroom and social situations, what your learning style is. The observations that you make will help form connections between what works for you and how to achieve this. The classroom is a blended environment and it’s often the case that teachers or other education providers try to accommodate for everyone by using various techniques. It’s more common for students to excel using a combination of styles together. Say you watch a cartoon video explaining how diffusion works, this is both visual and auditory. The different parts of the brain that process audio or optical information, in this case, work together and have a synergetic effect.

Your learning style may also be affected by the subject. For example, English and Maths will most likely differ in the delivery of content and because of this, you might find yourself adapting to a new learning style that better suits the subject, such as read/write for English. It’s completely possible that your learning style will vary along the course of your academic journey as the curriculum is an influential factor in your learning experience.

The main benefit of knowing your learning style is actually understanding what doesn’t work for you. Think about your teacher JUST talking for the hour. A kinesthetic learner will probably go crazy! Sometimes, writing down notes from class just doesn’t work and it might lead you to try something different. It’s important to find what makes you most comfortable. In this new period of online learning, knowing your learning style can provide you with a better sense of which category you fit into and how to use this information to excel in your learning to better retain information.

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Written by O.Okolo