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learning styles - does anyone know ?

44 replies

Katiestar · 11/02/2009 20:44

What percentage of people are visual learners ,what percentage kinesrhetic learners etc ?
I need to know for some work I'm doing and getting lots of different answers when I google.

OP posts:
scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 20:47

It's probably fairly easily split.

I know that I am a strong visual learner, weakly auditory and non-existant kineasthetic.

I have to overcome this when I teach, as there is an desire to teach according to your own learning style - but that would exclude most of your pupils.

gigglewitch · 11/02/2009 20:47

ooh, good question... yes lies damn lies and statistics, i think - answers will vary widely depending on who you quote.
Will go get my little faithful book and see what it has to say on the matter - BRB

scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 20:48
  • evenly split
gigglewitch · 11/02/2009 20:56
  • Auditory learning occurs through hearing the spoken word and represents approximately 25% of the population
  • Kinesthetic learning occurs through doing, touching and interacting and represents approximately 40% of the population
  • Visual learning occurs through images, demonstrations and body language and represents approximately 30% of the population

this is from my fave NLP text, (just called "NLP") written by steve bavister and amanda vickers.
does this help or contradict what you've already got?

Thing is, most people use more than one style all of the time, these figures are just quoting the predominant means by which individuals learn. There is a lot of 'grey' between such black-and-white style numbers...
good luck!!

TheFallenMadonna · 11/02/2009 20:57

Some doubt over the validity of the theory of different learning styles, isn't there? So it's highly likely that there is no deifinitive answer as to proportions.

gigglewitch · 11/02/2009 20:57

btw, where did the other 5% go

TheFallenMadonna · 11/02/2009 20:58

definitive. deifinitive sounds a bit religious...

gigglewitch · 11/02/2009 20:59

just to throw a cat among the pigeons I think that the stats should be defined as 'quantity of time' rather than of 'number of people'. But that is probably another thread entirely

gigglewitch · 11/02/2009 20:59

lol @ Deifinitive

Littlefish · 11/02/2009 21:04

I always thought that I was an auditory learner as I'm a musician. However, I've recently realised that I am an almost entirely visual and slightly kinaesthetic learner!

scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 21:04

I have all my pupils' learning styles marked in my registers (V, A, K, or combinations thereof), so that I can make sure that I can teach each concept to all the pupils in their preferred learning style, and to know the pitfalls of any particular activity.

beansontoast · 11/02/2009 21:06

where can you find out your learning style...pretty sure im visual with a bit of aud

Donk · 11/02/2009 21:19

More than a bit of doubt cast on the VAK theory of preferred learning styles.
Sadly I can't remember enough to cite papers.

scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 21:24

There has to be something in it, Donk.

I am a very strong visual learner, but I know that this is not right for all my pupils. If I tell a class to read their textbook to themselves and then answer the questions, there will be a significant number that just can't do it. Some will have to hear it being read alound (or read it aloud, either to themselves or to the class).

Similarly, if I were to drone on for most of the lesson, most of the pupils would be switched off. They need to see the lesson, and often write something down.

Donk · 11/02/2009 21:30

My rusty memory is that we can all function in all styles - and that rather than a preferred style (as such) it seems to be more linked to what is being learned, than who is learning (IYSWIM). Different situations call for different approaches.
Also that the best strategy as a teacher is to use range of teaching styles to encourage students to develop their ability to function in the different modes, rather than pandering to their preferred mode.
Sorry I can't be more specific. I must try and look up my notes. If I can find them

TheFallenMadonna · 11/02/2009 21:32

I was being diplomatic donk.

Which theory do you work with scienceteacher? Mismatch or match between learning style and instruction style? I've seen both advocated.

scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 21:36

I use all three in my teaching, and will work one-on-one with pupils if I have to do an activity in a way they do not relate to. It helps that I know, and they know, their own preferred styles.

I agree that everyone possesses elements of each style, but it can be hard going for pupil if they have to put up with their weakest style for any length of time.

The precautionary approach is to mix it up

I am fortunate that my subject does lend itself to variety.

Karamazov · 11/02/2009 22:34

"Coffield and his colleagues and Mark Smith are not alone in their judgements. Demos, a UK think tank, published a report on learning styles prepared by a group chaired by David Hargreaves that included Usha Goswami from Cambridge University and David Wood from the University of Nottingham. The Demos report said that the evidence for learning styles was "highly variable", and that practitioners were "not by any means frank about the evidence for their work." [25]

Cautioning against interpreting neuropsychological research as supporting the applicability of learning style theory, John Geake, Professor of Education at the UK's Oxford Brookes University, and a research collaborator with Oxford University's Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, commented that

We need to take extreme care when moving from the lab to the classroom. We do remember things visually and aurally, but information isn't defined by how it was received.[26]"

I was taught by Prof Geake for my MA in education, and he said basically what this wikipedia article says - that there is no evidence that there is any application at all for using learning styles in the classroom, in fact when you look at the evidence, in fact the oppposite is true. There is in fact loads of research discrediting learning styles, including VAK, but very little academic research in support apparrently (although I did do my MA a few years ago now!).

That said, its not to say they are completely worthless, I think they help to remind me to keep my teaching varied and to mix the different types of activities up, so I try to teach using a range of learning styles - but I certainly don't match them to the students. After all, there are even some scholars who say that we should be teaching students in their least preferred learning style, so as to make them more rounded - the picture is far from clear!

Karamazov · 11/02/2009 22:35

sorry too many in facts there - wrote this too quickly, and am in need of my bed!

maverick · 11/02/2009 22:36

Everything you ever wanted to know about learning styles

www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/learning_styles.htm

scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 22:37

Thankyou Karamazov - definite food for thought.

edam · 11/02/2009 22:41

I've always thought 'kineasthetic' sounds like code for 'not terribly academic'.

scienceteacher · 11/02/2009 22:42

Not sure about that, Edam, but non-academic children deserve to be educated too

cornsilk · 11/02/2009 22:47

Steve Chinn talks about grasshopper and inch worm learning styles in mathematics. Inchworms focus on details and work in structured steps. Grasshoppers try a variety of approaches. To be a successful mathematician learners need to be able to use both approaches.

cornsilk · 11/02/2009 22:51

Also the education system is geared towards academic 'left brain' learning.