The Sparkline: Day Thirty Three: My Learning Style

Every people have their own way to learn the subject and it was debatable of which method consider as the best way to learn something quickly as our human brain was unique, we have many different responses to the new stuff and what we memorized in our brain is depending on how we work on it.

It was wonderful to understand and know our way to learn because this can make our learning process quick and the memory is retainable in our brain for long. Many of us listen to the wrong opinion about learning though there is no perfect way that guaranteed the best result, for example, some can learn stuff with noises while other need a complete silent to learn.

There were many spectrums to see the dimension of learning. Some can feel personally challenged once given a limited time or deadline while other got stuck in no idea in that situation. Listening to the seminaries may work but some of us felt sleepy to listens to knowledgeable thought for an extensive period of time.

A scientist found one basic principle of human learning that still being used to exploring what consider the best way to learn for every individual and until today the method still effective used by researcher and practitioner. The way of human learning was separated into three different categories which are auditorial, visual, and kinesthetic.

I cite in this website since this explain better and have in-depth analysis.

Auditory

Auditory learners often talk to themselves. They also may move their lips and read out loud. They may have difficulty with reading and writing tasks. They often do better talking to a colleague or a tape recorder and hearing what was said. To integrate this style into the learning environment:

1. Begin new material with a brief explanation of what is coming. Conclude with a summary of what has been covered. This is the old adage of “tell them what they are going to learn, teach them, and tell them what they have learned.”
2. Use the Socratic method of lecturing by questioning learners to draw as much information from them as possible and then fill in the gaps with you own expertise.
3. Include auditory activities, such as brainstorming, buzz groups, or Jeopardy. Leave plenty of time to debrief activities. This allows them to make connections of what they learned and how it applies to their situation.
4. Have the learners verbalize the questions.
5. Develop an internal dialogue between yourself and the learners.

Visual

Visual learners have two sub-channels—linguistic and spatial. Learners who are visual-linguistic like to learn through written language, such as reading and writing tasks. They remember what has been written down, even if they do not read it more than once. They like to write down directions and pay better attention to lectures if they watch them. Learners who are visual-spatial usually have difficulty with the written language and do better with charts, demonstrations, videos, and other visual materials. They easily visualize faces and places by using their imagination and seldom get lost in new surroundings. To integrate this style into the learning environment:

1. Use graphs, charts, illustrations, or other visual aids.
2. Include outlines, concept maps, agendas, handouts, etc. for reading and taking notes.
3. Include plenty of content in handouts to reread after the learning session.
4. Leave white space in handouts for note-taking.
5. Invite questions to help them stay alert in auditory environments.
6. Post flip charts to show what will come and what has been presented.
7. Emphasize key points to cue when to takes notes.
8. Eliminate potential distractions.
9. Supplement textual information with illustrations whenever possible.
10. Have them draw pictures in the margins.
11. Have the learners envision the topic or have them act out the subject matter.

Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic learners do best while touching and moving. It also has two sub-channels: kinesthetic (movement) and tactile (touch). They tend to lose concentration if there is little or no external stimulation or movement. When listening to lectures they may want to take notes for the sake of moving their hands. When reading, they like to scan the material first and then focus in on the details (get the big picture first). They typically use color highlighters and take notes by drawing pictures, diagrams, or doodling. To integrate this style into the learning environment:

1. Use activities that get the learners up and moving.
2. Play music, when appropriate, during activities. (I like to listening while writing)
3. Use colored markers to emphasize key points on flip charts or whiteboards.
4. Give frequent stretch breaks (brain breaks).
5. Provide toys such as Koosh balls and Play-Dough to give them something to do with their hands.
6. To highlight a point, provide gum, candy, scents, etc. which provides a cross-link of scent (aroma) to the topic at hand (scent can be a powerful cue).
7. Provide highlighters, colored pens and/or pencils.
8. Guide learners through a visualization of complex tasks.
9. Have them transfer information from the text to another medium such as a keyboard or a tablet.

You can take the test here to know your own learning style. I had taken the test in my high school and the result is remain, only a slight change. Before I got the highest mark in my Kinesthetic and Visual, as both share the highest result and iI admit myself that Auditorial is not my best part while right now once again I securely mark Kinesthetics as my learning style. Every time I learn something I need to write it on the note, just for the sake to keep myself working while listening and watching the lecturer giving the information though after I do a heavy amount of writing I just totally ignore to re-watched it.

I can say that the best to learn a thing is by doing it, and no wonder of why I am taking many failures in my life as I tend to try it first, not read it or think about it as I thought there was less use than doing it practically. If I could summed up what is my next plan to find my "true calling", I would simply say to try it all, all the stuff i ever think to learn but it is not possible in the past, while i should work with my time management and use it more wisely. I would rather spend time of trials and even I know that is not working, at least I try.

So, in order to searching my true potential which lead to my "true calling", as I highlighted above, I would imply all these strategies while learning this:

Physical Therapies in Yoga
Website Design
Basic Method in Design, I love art yet I have not found which type of Design works for me
Holistic Nutrition
Content Writing

Among listed above, I will track the progress by time so I could see which qualifies to my calling. I will spend time equally learning all starting from the website design this month, starting from April and I heard from other sites that learn how to make a website starts in HTML. I will do my best and later on I will write the progress here.