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How to Engage the 7 Types of Learners
There are widely acknowledged to be seven distinct learning styles. While the majority of us fall somewhere along the continuum of each of these learning styles, giving your learners the best chance of success means creating lessons that are interesting on all levels.
Here, we go over methods for enhancing learner engagement for each type of learner.
1. Auditory and musical learners
Auditory learners prefer to hear explanations of problems and examples, and they may favour music classes and group learning as a way to comprehend knowledge. The ability to recognise notes and tones in speech and music is frequently well developed in auditory learners.
Frequently mentioned characteristics of auditory learners include: having a "good ear" for tones and music Potentially distracting enjoys talking to themselves, others, humming, and singing
Words may be spoken aloud or tones hummed to help auditory learners remember them.
This approach is essential for maintaining musical students' interest in classroom lessons.
How to captivate a musical and auditory learner
You're in luck if you teach music. The entire time, auditory learners will be kept interested.
To engage aural learners in other topics, however, takes considerable delicacy and planning.
Your voice is crucial here (and the voice of your students).
On the whiteboard, jot down something, then read it aloud. Improve your delivery so you can convey the information in a fun and fascinating way.
Encourage your kids to do the same by having them read back their own notes (and the class).
Auditory learners find the sound of their own voice and the voices of others to be interesting, but students of all learning styles can benefit from using it as a powerful teaching tool.
You can also use the following techniques:
recording lessons to be listened to and referenced later
encouraging auditory listeners to verbally "teach others" put them in a seat away from disturbances.
2. Learner who is visual and spatial
Diagrams, the drawing of concepts, charts, and processes appeal to visual learners. They pick up knowledge through examining, making, and observing others make visual concepts.
Colors and shapes come in handy for visual learners who may be organised or imaginative in their applications.
The following traits are frequently found in visual learners:
Regular doodlers and drawers
Observant
unable to be distracted
Planning is fun Prefers visual directions
How to hold a visual and spatial learner's attention
Include features like maps, diagrams, and pictures in your lesson plans if you want to captivate students who learn best visually.
If you have a projector, attempt to use visuals that are pertinent to the course material. Maps are useful in geography and history, but diagrams are better for math and reasoning.
Most students will benefit from charts, pictures, and diagrams, so focusing on visual learners doesn't imply you should overlook other learning styles.
Encourage those who are spatially aware to sketch out their thoughts, make mental maps, and make flowcharts when it comes to self-driven learning. Though it ought to come naturally to them, a little encouragement never hurts.
You can also employ the following strategies:
Visual learners seated at the front
Using signals and color-coding
encouraging note-taking and note-recopying when studying
3. Verbal Learners
Speaking and writing are both a part of verbal learning. Poetry, word games, and reading and writing may be preferred by verbal learners. Verbal learners actively seek out new words to add to their vocabulary and are familiar with the meanings of a wide variety of words.
Some characteristics of verbal learners include:
Intellectual
Bookworm
excellent storyteller
Careers in administration, law, politics, and journalism are popular choices for verbal learners.
Getting a verbal learner interested
Verbal learners will want to take notes, discuss ideas, and perhaps even present them. Knowing which complementary learning styles apply to verbal learners is tricky; are they more extroverted or introverted verbal learners? Others may prefer reading and writing, while others may prefer conversing. Try to accommodate preferences while occasionally using their verbal prowess to cross personal boundaries.
4. Learner who is logical and mathematical
Perhaps not surprisingly, math students tend to gravitate toward employment in science, research, accounting, programming, and other number- and pattern-focused fields. Among the characteristics of mathematical learners are:
pattern identification
excellent with numbers
a propensity for classifying and grouping
How to hold the attention of a logical and mathematician
Any method of learning that logically explains the topic at hand will be well appreciated by mathematic learners. That's simple in terms of math. It takes some forethought and work for other topics:
Try to incorporate statistics and categorization taxonomy into your lesson ideas for history and geography.
Ask your students: "What kind of book is this?" when discussing literature. Or ask them to understand the metres in poetry so they can explain them to other kids.
Always look to implement a structure while working with logical pupils. Include the pupils in the creation of that system if you're unsure. They will get a lot from it.
5. Kinaesthetic or physical learner
Kinesthetic learners, often known as hands-on learners, prefer to interact physically with the subject matter's resources. Some characteristics of physical learners include:
an affinity for "getting their hands dirty"
vivacious, with the potential to shake one's legs or drum their fingers.
aggressive and gregarious
lowering the importance of reading and writing
About 5% of people identify as physical learners, and they prefer jobs that require a lot of manual labour, such as those in emergency services, physical education, and sports.
How to keep a kinaesthetic or physical learner interested
Getting the most out of physical learners' vigour and excitability is essential for delivering a successful lesson. It can be beneficial to give them breaks to allow them to move about, but you can also promote mobility and role play during the actual session.
Physical contact is also crucial. A kinaesthetic learner will benefit immensely from the usage of props and models. They will assimilate information far more efficiently if you give them something to hold onto rather than a book or a whiteboard.
Additional tactics for motivating physical learners include:
Encourage activity while they study (but don't make them stop)
cleaning up desks and surfaces so that students can concentrate on learning
Learner who is social and interpersonal
6. Social and interpersonal learner
Social learners favour working in teams and collaborating. Some people will naturally gravitate toward leadership within a group, but not all. These are some characteristics of this kind of learner that are frequently mentioned:
Extraverted and well-spoken
sympathetic and sensitive
It's critical for educators to recognise that social learners might be visual, auditory, verbal, logical, physical, or extraverted in addition to being extraverted or very communicative. Instead of how they take in information, the interpersonal aspect may better define the environments in which individuals feel most comfortable.
Teachers should therefore be aware of the wide range of diversity among various categories of social learners. For instance, the term "social" doesn't always mean "spoken." Some social learners find it more comfortable to listen in a group than on their own.
How to keep an interpersonal and social learner interested
Encourage both group cooperation and presentation in order to engage a social learner.
Consider:
playing out historical occurrences or literary characters
working together on math issues
addressing comprehension questions as a class
Interpersonal learners enjoy "doing" and "sharing." Other pupils with more inward-focused study habits may occasionally become distracted by this.
To avoid this, attempt to direct social learners toward adding value to the group by giving them work that makes good use of their energy and emphasises empathy for their classmates.
7. An introverted and solitary learner
Visual, auditory, tactile, verbal, or logical learners can all be lone learners. The solitary student will be totally engaged if all of their needs are met. These are some characteristics of this kind of learner that are frequently mentioned:
Independent
Introspective
Private
Intrapersonal learners could be drawn to occupations requiring a lot of self-motivation or drive, as well as lonely tasks. Think:
Researchers
authors and writers
coders and programmers
How to pique the interest of a lone, introverted learner
It can occasionally be challenging to hold the attention of a lone learner in a classroom setting. They might be seated in silence in the back of the classroom but do really well on their final exam. It's crucial for the teacher to keep their attention during class. Provide books, instructional aids, and visual resources. To ensure that the lone learner feels sufficiently prepared, set aside quiet locations and collaborate with set sharing times.
A blended learning strategy
It can be challenging to tailor courses in large classrooms, but employing a mixed learning strategy throughout coursework can help you accommodate each sort of learning style. Each lesson may be tailored to emphasise a specific learning style, or it may include a variety of teaching techniques. The first and most crucial step is to acknowledge the variations in pupil learning; everything else will follow.
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Learning