Adaptive Learning

This month, we will be learning about different learning styles. Although there are more than eight identified learning styles, we will focus on the top three.

What is a learning style?
A learning style describes how your child processes and retains new information. “Learning styles are related to our senses and how we engage with material to understand and retain information,” says Theresa Bertuzzi, a certified primary school teacher with qualifications in early childhood education and the chief program development officer and co-founder of Tiny Hoppers.

As a teacher, I have found this information to be extremely helpful in understanding which teaching strategies best support each child. It has also helped me better understand how I personally learn and how to make adjustments when needed. While many studies indicate that students do not have just one fixed learning style, it is important to provide multiple ways for children to learn, practice, and show understanding.

Types of Learning Styles

Auditory Learner

Students who are auditory learners often learn best through their sense of hearing. They remember and understand information more easily when they hear it through lectures, group discussions, rhymes, or songs. These learners are often expressive and have strong communication skills, and they may enjoy talking through their thinking or explaining ideas out loud.

How to Recognize Auditory Learners

Children who are auditory learners often enjoy music and can remember the words to songs they hear. They typically follow spoken directions well and will ask for directions to be repeated if something is unclear. These learners may prefer reading out loud rather than silently and often enjoy being read to or reading aloud to themselves. They tend to understand and process information best when it is explained verbally rather than learned only through reading.

How to Support Auditory Learners

If your child is an auditory learner, encourage them to say things out loud.

For example, when practicing a skill, have them repeat it aloud, turn it into a song, or create a rhyme. Provide opportunities to record lessons, participate in discussions, and review information orally. Reading directions aloud, using repetition, and asking your child to explain what they have learned can be very helpful. During study time, reducing background noise or allowing soft music may help them stay focused.

Kinesthetic Learner

The most physical learning style, kinesthetic learners absorb information best through touch, movement, and hands-on experiences. These students learn by doing and exploring, often thriving during hands-on activities, experiments, and motion-based learning.

How to Recognize Kinesthetic Learners

If your child often says, “Let me hold it” or “Let me try it,” they may be a kinesthetic learner. These students enjoy building sets, model kits, or interactive displays. They often like to take things apart and figure out how to improve or rebuild them.

How to Support Kinesthetic Learners

To help your child practice new concepts:

Allow movement breaks during study or class time.
Provide study guides, scrapbooks, art projects, or hands-on engineering opportunities to demonstrate understanding.
Use manipulatives for math or magnetic letters for spelling.
Provide fidgets if it helps them stay focused.
Allow time for standing, stretching, or moving while working.

In the past, I taught using more traditional methods that required students to sit still to show they were learning. Over time, I realized this could limit some students’ success. Asking a kinesthetic learner to sit completely still can feel like asking them to focus while ants are crawling all over their clothes. They need opportunities to stand, move, or stretch so their bodies can settle and their minds can focus.

Visual Learners

Visual learners process information by forming mental pictures and often absorb information best when it is presented visually. These students are frequently energetic, observant, and detail-oriented. They prefer learning through images such as diagrams, charts, videos, and color-coded notes.

How to Recognize Visual Learners

Children who are visual learners often say, “Show me” when trying to learn something new and may like to watch someone else perform a task before attempting it themselves. They often enjoy drawing, doodling, or coloring and have vivid imaginations and creativity. While they may sometimes appear not to be paying attention, they are often mentally visualizing the information being shared.

How to Support Visual Learners

To help your child practice new concepts, use tools such as flashcards, slide shows, and arts and crafts activities. Provide highlighters to make information

visually stimulating and small whiteboards to sketch quick concept diagrams. Because visual learners are easily distracted by what they see, it helps to reduce visual distractions during study time by clearing clutter from the desk, turning off the television, and closing blinds to limit outside distractions.

WHAT IS YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING STYLE

Rebecca Spooner (a homeschool mom) offers a free Learning Style Quiz with 10 questions to help identify your child's learning style.
State of Michigan offers a rating Learning Style Questionnaire to determine your child's learning style, along with information on how to support your student.
Southeastern Illinois College offers a multiple choice Learning Style Self-Assessment Questionnaire to help students identify their learning preferences.