Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments how do you know what type of learner you have?

What are the different types of learners? how do you know what type of learner you have?

My son, age 13, entering 9th grade, processes verbal info better than spatial info. He is at his best with verbal info when he can hear it, rather than read it, although his reading level is very high. When he was younger, everything was so high, that it was hard to tell his learning style ((blush)) - that sounds embarrassing, but the truth is that it was really more of a problem of a mismatch between his abilities and what was asked of him academically.

I bought this book,

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Home-Schooling-Resource-Families/dp/0910707480,
which has a whole chapter on learning style, but it was too soon to tell, because the challenge level was such a mismatch.

Obviously, there is no agreement on 'what the different types of learners are' but in some kids, various senses seem to be prefered, and in other kids abstract v. concrete or intuitive v. sequential is important. I think that processing speed affects learning style. Mine is high, and I love tasks like: 'Find the common thread in this list of random words.' That kind of task would drive DS and DH wild. According to www.myersbriggs.org some folks love to complete a task, while others get there kicks adding more and more nuance to the picture.



It has been very useful to our family to look at the adults as well, in terms of what is their world is like. My DH has perfect pitch, but if the counter gets cluttered, he can't find an object in plain sight. I get less calm from clutter, but I can still find stuff. I just have to keep in mind that if I'm singing while I'm looking, then the pained look on DH's face might be because I'm off-key!

I am curious to hear how it's been for other families.

I like Cynthia Tobias' books on The Way they Learn and Every Child Can Succeed: Making the Most of Your Child's Learning Style. I thought these were very interesting in explaining learning styles.

Lisa Rivero's book that Grinity mentions is the best book I've ever found to help with learning style, homeschooling or not.

But frankly, I'm still not 100% sure what sort of learners my kids are. I'm suspecting that both my boys are more kinesthetic than I once thought, but they both tend to be much more visual than aural learners. That knowledge has affected the way I deal with them beyond school, even in terms of getting them to put on their shoes or clean their rooms. I can say "Put your shoes on!" 100 times, or I can put the shoes where they can see them. Much easier!

BTW, I think figuring this out is significantly complicated by the fact that people are nearly always some combination, not purely one thing or another (barring some disability, of course).

If you find a good resource on this topic, onthegomom, please share! I do think learning styles present a very useful way to approach and motivate kids. Thanks!

I attended a seminar at a local gifted conference led by a representative of the Kolbe Corp. Kolbe designed a tool "to measure the instinctive action and problem-solving styles of individuals. This dimension of the mind, called "conation," determines the way in which each individual might feel most comfortable and perform best in undertaking any action." (www.kolbe.com)

Among other things, Kolbe offers a diagostic questionaire (Kolbe index) online especially for kids. This should determine their natural (and unchanging) learning style (personality types -ala Myers-Briggs can change over time). There is, of course, a fee for the online test but it is only about $50.

My disclaimer: I have not yet done the online test for myself or my kids. In the class, we did a mini-assesment of ourselves which proved to be very interesting. The class seemed to experience a lot of self-discovery and it prompted a lot of discussion. I'm not sure if the online test would yield the same results without someone to moderate/translate it.

If you are $50 curious, I think this is worth trying (IMO).

Many people aren't just one kind, but a blend. And it depends on what kind of construct you're thinking about - Gardner's multiple intelligences (I think that's his name?), where there are several choices, or something simpler like Silverman's two kinds, left-brained auditory-sequential or right brained visual-spatial. See e.g. http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/appendc.pdf and http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/intro.pdf

Here's my favorite "style" link currently:

http://brain.web-us.com/brain/LRBrain.html

Also a big fan of the quizzes and analysis in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Discover-Your-Childs-Learning-Style/dp/0761520139

Our whole family took the learning dispositions quiz--and so did my teaching partners. I thought is was really interesting
(although I didn't find the learning recommendations to be very helpful).

Really we are all a blend, not strictly one or the other. I however am a learning style quiz junkie--not so much because of the write ups of my "results", but because of how much I learn about myself when I stop and think about the questions. I've found that stopping to notice the bits and pieces of myself has given me a certain amount of power over my life that I otherwise wouldn't have. For instance, I had stopped taking notes post-college, but then--through a question on a quiz--realized that I always wrote down every word the professor said NOT because I was going to study the notes later (really I rarely referred to them again) but because the act of writing the words encodes what I'm hearing in a way that just listening doesn't. Guess what? I'm back to scrawling notes I never look at again

So you may be a kinesthetic learner, eh, Taminy? I'm finding that my "fidgety" kids are probably kinesthetic, too. They both tend to be better listeners when they're moving. It's a challenging style for younger kids. We adults want them to sit still and listen, but I'm realizing that we can have one or the other...

*sigh*

Only a very particular kind of kinesthetic. I don't have any knack for solving things with my hands, and when it comes to motor routines....well, I remember taking aerobics in college. I'd always position myself in the back row b/c it took me longer than everyone else (or so it seemed) to pick up the routines. Then came the dreaded parts where you would do a sequence "to the front", turn and do it "to the left", then "to the back"....and suddenly my back row is the front row. Yeah. Didn't like that so much. No more aerobics for me!

BTW, my favorite kinesthetic intervention for a child who is restless during "sit and listens" is a nickel sized ball of playdough. It's too small to be formed into something cool and distracting, but provides something tactile for those who need to do something else when they listen or watch. Also, a couple of loose buttons in a pocket or a strip of velcro affixed to the outside of a notebook can be great supports.

Two of my kids need to fidget and make noises in order to start concentrating. At first, I thought they were distracting themselves from their tasks and would tell them to stop. Then I realized that the noises were actually helping them get focused, and I now I let it continue (within limits). Most of the time, once they get into what they're doing, the noises and the fidgeting stop.

Val