Learning Styles

When viewing the LDPride website and reading the Occasional Paper, Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching, I have developed an understanding for the different types of learning styles. I have reflected on these and thought back to when I was in high school and college to determine which learning experiences I remember the most and what teaching strategies were present for these experiences. According to the website mentioned, I believe that I am first and foremost a visual learner. I liked sitting in the front of the class, taking notes, and doing problems that had a picture or diagram to go with it. Even better would be to do something hands-on with manipulatives, computers, or experiments, which would also bring up the fact that I consider myself also somewhat of a kinesthetic learner. Although I enjoy learning through doing, I do not usually get restless when sitting or distracted easily. According to Table 6 in the Occasional Paper mentioned, I believe I was a dependent, participant, and competitive learner in high school because I was more of a math inclined and logical person. I liked learning the steps from notes and doing practice problems to learn the material. However, when I attended college, I felt my learning style shift more toward independent, collaborative, and participant, which I think most professors strive for their classroom environment. I have never been a reading, writing, open-ended discussing type of learner and verbal learning was a struggle for me.

As one can see, I have had experiences with different types of learning throughout my life and have even matured in my ability to learn in ways I had not been able to in the past. I think the same is true for my students. Many of them have the capability to learn in more than one way and have more than one learning style. With this in mind, hopefully I can reach each student by mixing up my teaching strategies frequently to embrace as many learning styles as possible in a given unit of instruction. As the Occasional Paper explained, “faculty should begin by being self-reflective about their pedagogical goals and strengths in teaching.” I will continue to do what works, learn about different teaching strategies, try them out gradually, and reflect on these experiences. My hope is to expand many of my students learning capabilities, just as it was for me in my transition from high school learning to college learning.