Helping Colorado Students and Parents Understand Learning Styles

Your learning style is the way you acquire information. Students learn faster and retain more when information is presented to them in their learning styles of choice. Most people have a dominant learning style, but they can still learn when information is presented in another learning style. Teachers should present information in ways that appeal to all learning styles, but they may not always have the time to do so. When you know what your student’s learning style is, you can tailor information so that they can understand and process it better.

The Seven Learning Styles

Verbal (linguistic): Verbal students prefer using words to communicate, both in speech and writing. They like to read and take notes.

Physical (kinesthetic): These students prefer using their body, hands and sense of touch. They enjoy learning that is action-based like science experiments, making projects and working with their hands.

Visual (spatial): Spacially-oriented students prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding. They work well when information is presented in graphs, pie charts, infographics, pictures or video.

Aural (auditory-musical): These students prefer using sound and music. They like listening to lectures or talks.

Solitary (intrapersonal): These are independent learners who prefer to work alone and use self-study.

Logical (mathematical): These students prefer using logic, reasoning and systems. They are great with math and science.

Social (interpersonal): Social students prefer to learn in groups or with other people. They love organizing study groups and collaborative projects.

Consult your Teachers and Tutors

Ask your teacher or tutor to help to determine your student’s dominant learning styles. Most students use a combination of styles to assimilate information. While they will have a dominant style, it’s important to remember that styles are dynamic. That means that with practice, your student can adjust to any style of learning.

Once you know what your student’s preferred learning style is, you can teach them to arrange material to suit their style. For example, if your student prefers a visual learning style, organize information that they need to understand into graphs, infographics, mind maps and pictures. Let them watch videos on the subject and allow them to create videos and visually-oriented presentations for their projects. Presenting information in their learning style will help them to understand and remember.

Your tutor can help to teach your students how to arrange information into a more favorable format and how to tailor study skills to suit different subjects. Ask your tutor to give a brief test to determine learning style preferences.

Here are some resources for finding out your learning style online. Most of these resources are short tests which help you to see which learning style suits your student best. Do two or three to get a better idea of the learning styles that your student prefers:

NC State University

Vark

How to Learn

Education Planner

LDPride

Edutopia

Accelerated Learning

How Social Media makes Social Learning more Effective in Douglas County

Social learning has around since the 1970’s when Albert Bandura suggested that learning is a social activity. Social learning theory postulates that learning occurs when students observe behaviors and mimic them. This includes the observation of rewards and punishments for behaviors. When harnessing this theory to effect change in the classroom, teachers can use social media to create a wider conversation and include other influential players. If used correctly, social media can be a real asset when teaching through social learning.

As parents you have already experienced social learning as your young students mimic your behavior and learn from your actions. Now with social media, you can augment the social learning opportunities at home and in the classroom by introducing your students to a wider audience of influencers.

What this means is that our educators and tutors are still mentors and models, but they are required to relinquish some of their authority to the community of learners as students learn from each other. With social media, this community is not restricted to the students in the classroom, but can also include students from around the world and all the resources that the Internet makes available. Now we have an entire network of teachers, tutors and learners all contributing to our body of knowledge and sharing their experiences.

While social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest can provide a wealth of learning opportunities, they can also serve as distractions that eat up an enormous amount of time without contributing anything to your student’s body of knowledge. This means that social media can be a blessing or a curse and needs to be managed effective to achieve the desired results. Teachers and tutors need to outline lesson plans, goals and guidelines to direct social media actions and continually enforce these guidelines to add a structure to social media interactions. Social media is a wonderful tool to use in social learning, but it must be structured in order to be effective.

Students learn more when there is a human connection to their content. This means that they are more likely to remember an exciting video on a lab experiment than if they read the experiment in a text book. Social media makes this possible as students can watch videos of scientific experiments on YouTube and discuss them with other students in forum portals.

Social media also caters for all learning styles thanks to its multi-media capabilities. Students can talk to other learners, tutors and teachers, read blogs, watch videos and study graphics. No matter what kind of style your student responds to, they are bound to find the information they are looking for in a format they like. Social media also caters to students with different learning speeds. The faster they learn, the more there is for them to discover. Students who work quickly have an endless wealth of resources to explore on the internet.

Social media gives active learners the opportunity to explore and discover. They can work as fast or as slowly as they like and interact with their community and with the information in a format that suits them best.

Coping with ADD/ADHD

We know that living with a student who has ADD or ADHD can be frustrating at times, but learning coping mechanism and ways in which to channel all that energy into something positive will mean that you have a happier home and a student who stays ahead of the game academically. Here are some techniques you can use to help your student to excel.

Understanding your role

Students with ADD or ADHD have trouble with executive functioning. They are every bit as capable and intelligent as other students, but they have trouble planning ahead, seeing consequences, organizing, controlling impulses and completing the task at hand. This means you have to work with your in-home tutor and your teacher to provide guidance and take over these executive functions until your student learns the skills to be independent.

While they want to sit quietly in class, follow instructions and complete tasks, they need to acquire the tools to do so. They are rarely purposefully disruptive, but it’s important to recognize that they can be and manage the impact they have on parents, siblings and class members.

Stay positive and supportive

Remember that not being able to follow instructions or complete tasks can be just as frustrating for your student as it is for you. When you stay positive and calm, you will help them to build confidence and won’t make them think that they are always doing something wrong. Always remember that they are not being purposefully difficult and try to be supportive and encouraging.

Focus on the positive

Believe in your student and believe that they are capable of learning the skills they need to succeed. This will mean that you focus on the positive and don’t sweat the small stuff. When your student does three out of five of their chores, focus on the ones they did and praise them for those while gently reminding them of the ones they left out.

Create structure

Routines and structure will help your students to establish the tasks they need to do and the time they have to complete them. Establish a schedule for getting ready in the morning, doing homework and evening routines. Use clocks or timers to remind students of the time limits and to refocus them when their attention is diverted elsewhere. Keep routines as simple as possible.

Free time

Not every minute of every day should be structured. Allow your student some free time and their own space.

Activity

Physical activity helps students with ADHD and ADD to find a positive outlet for all their energy. Sports are a great way to get your students active and to allow them to rid themselves of all that energy.

Diet

Avoiding refined sugars and other processed foods will help your student to focus and to sleep better. Without the rush of too much sugar and with a good night’s sleep, they will be able to cope better.

Socializing

Encourage your students to make friends with their peers. Healthy social lives will help them to feel a sense of belonging and friends can provide support and encouragement.

Get involved

Every single student will thrive when their parents are involved in their lives and supportive of their academic and sporting endeavors. Keep in touch with your teachers and tutors to ensure that your student is progressing well and take an interest in them. Spend time with them and really listen to them.

Take care of yourself

Ensure that you have your own support network of friends and family members. You can also contact other parents who have students with ADD or ADHD and form a support group. Take time out and make sure that you get to focus on yourself from time to time. Happy parents make for far happier children.