Learning Styles

First, I took the "Learning Styles Inventory" and was not surprised to find out that I am a Visual learner. I have always found learning much easier when I was able to read, write, take notes, make pictures, draw graphs, etc. during a lesson or lecture. I always appreciated when a professor or teacher gave the outline or copy of the slides that went along with what they were to discuss. I sometimes even found myself recopying notes in different formats (bullet points to an outline or vice versa) to better understand. I have found that even though I enjoy the technological advantage to studying online, I still need to print out copies of the readings and lectures to have a physical copy to highlight on or jot notes in the margin.

After the first quiz, I then took the "Multiple Intelligences Assessment". Although I didn't score particularly high in any of the intelligences (top score was 3.7 out of 5 possible), my top three were: Language (Linguistic), Musical, and Logic/Math. Again, I was not surprised by the Language/Linguistic because I know that I learn better when I can actually "touch" or "feel" the notes or readings. The one that threw me for a loop was the Musical. I do enjoy music and rhythm and work best with some background noise, I am not particularly keen on having any musical "intervention" in my learning. I was never one to remember learning melodies or rhymes. Finally, the Logic/Math was not very surprising either. My undergraduate minor was Mathematics and have always excelled when I could make linear comparisons and find logical outcomes to problems. I do best when I know exactly what is expected and how to get there.

I agree that we as educators cannot always teach every intelligence and cater to every learning style, but we still need to be innovative with our delivery. Even if we see that our students seem to be visual or linguistic learners, may some kinesthetic activities every now and then wouldn't do any harm. It may actually help. I always feel that our profession as educators is more of a role of innovator or even inventor because we need to keep morphing and integrating our own knowledge and teachings into our instruction. If something doesn't seem to resonate with the group the first time through, try it a different way. Lessons can incorporate all types of learning styles at once, and those are usually the most effective. As soon as we acknowledge the difference among learners, the better equip we are to teach them.