I don't know about you, but I love taking assessments and inventories to learn more about myself, especially when it comes to the way I interpret and store information! One inventory I like to take helps determine your learning style. According to the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University, the term learning style, "is widely used to describe how learners gather, sift through, interpret, organize, come to conclusions about, and store information for further use. "
There are several different learning styles, but the most popular ones are spelled out in the acronym VARK: visual, aural, verbal [reading/writing], and kinesthetic. Learning styles also have sub-groups. These smaller sub-units determine a subset of preferences such as a person's preference for working alone or working in a group.
So what's the point of knowing your child's learning style? Well, to put it plainly, when you know your child's learning style(s) you become aware of the best way to present information to them. You can also determine what environments would be more beneficial for them to learn in. If I know that one of my students is a kinesthetic learner and prefers to manipulate objects instead of listening to an audiobook, I can create an environment where play is heavily incorporated into the lesson plan.
Many students identified as having ADHD or ADD are misunderstood when it comes to their capabilities. One of the downfalls of a traditional classroom setting is that it is expected for students to sit for an extended period and complete paper and pencil seat-work independently. The traditional classroom setting is also usually a quiet environment. If a student learns best when manipulating his or her environment, then they may not thrive in a traditional classroom setting and educators may mistake this behavior as an inability to learn effectively as a whole.
I am happy to say that Holmes Tutoring uses several different learning styles during tutoring sessions. Head on over to the "Features" page of the website to learn more about the different tools used during tutoring sessions that incorporate all of the known learning styles.
I encourage you to head over to the following website and take the learning style(s) quiz. Post your learning style in the comments below.