Different teaching methods for children
Teaching To Kids’ Learning Styles
- Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
- Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
- Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
- Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
- Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
- Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
- Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.
Your student will most likely not possess one style exclusively but you may be able to see patterns in their learning preferences. For example, a student who is visual may also be a very social and verbal learner and prefers to learn especially difficult topics using their primary skills.
Understanding how your student learns is perhaps one of the most important tasks a parent can undergo while homeschooling. Another is learning how to provide opportunities for learning through the use of these identified learning preferences.
Teachers often use their preferred learning style as their main mode of teaching and if students do not share those same preferences then learning can be very difficult and frustrating.
As a Special Education teacher it was important for me to understand those differences in order to maximize my students’ learning potential. It is just as important for all parents and teachers to do the same. Watch your children and students. Listen to what they want and their interests. Compare the differences between how they learn Aurally and Visually as well as the other styles outlined above. Compare how they interact with others while learning in a group or by themselves. Each observation will bring you closer to understanding their special gifts and will reveal to you more effective ways to teach them using their preferred learning styles.
No student is exclusively one style or another and most utilize a variety of modalities when learning. It is important to expand their abilities to use as many learning styles as possible, helping them to succeed in a world where how one learns often means nothing and only the ability to learn has value.
Time4Learning has developed a comprehensive, multi-modality learning curriculum that allows all students to reach successful levels of understanding by using their preferred learning styles. Time4Learning’s lessons are scientifically designed to reach the vast array of learning needs.
