Sunday, 1 April 2012

Review Two: Learning Styles


This video clip interested me when browsing youtube the other day.


The man in the video is saying that good teaching is only good teaching. Audio, visual, and kinesthetic learners do not exist. I agree and disagree with his findings for various reasons.

 A) I have previously had amazing teachers yet I was still unable to grasp a lesson until I see what the teacher wants from me. For example a math equation. I am unable to understand math until I see someone else do an equation. This makes problem solving difficult for me. However this video is saying that even though I associate as a visual learner I should still be able to reproduce specific information because learning is memory based. I can see facts being easily learnt because they are memory based but learning certain curriculum's need to be enhanced by visual aspects. Audio is not always the best way to store memories to be reproduced at a later date.

B) Stored memories are apparently stored in order to learn. What happens if in a classroom a teacher is lecturing and within the class there is a deaf student. Then are they not missing the lecture, and missing the lesson? They are then denied the ability to store memories because there are no visual attributes to go along with the lecture. A deaf student would have to be a visual or kinesthetic learner.

C) Denying the notion that there are styles to learning, only strengthens the idea of the banking method. That students are there to have knowledge deposited not learned. The idea of memory storing seems to be the exact same thing as the banking method. It may work for most students but it does not work for all students due to various reasons (one of which would be a learning disability).

Learning is hard enough without the teacher making it dry and boring. Adding visual elements will stimulate those students who normally would tune out an auditory lesson. So we may all store our memories of learning. But our interests and abilities dictate how we learn. Some students may not have the patience to sit and listen to a teacher drone on for an hour while others do. some enjoy group work to enhance and clarify a lesson while other rather see what they are supposed to be learning. So we may use all of forms of learning to store our knowledge but in a classroom setting I believe it is our interests and patience which tell us what kind of learners we are for certain subjects. For me when it comes to math I am a very visual learner. You can tell me about an equation, you can give me analogies but I will not understand until i see someone else apply a formula. So I disagree, I believe we do have learning styles, they may change depending on our mood and abilities but we do have them. The styles may all be psychological but they enhance a boring topic and make it easier to understand for those students who have issues comprehending certain subjects.

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