Focus on Learning Styles Project

Kelly O’Neill
T&L 466
Focus on Learning Styles
September 4, 2007

Learning Styles are very important in knowing how to teach your students. Not every student is going to have the same learning style as you the teacher nor will all the students in the class have the same learning style as their peers. The Abiator’s Learning Styles Inventory Test is a learning style test that’s purpose is to inform the tester on what learning styles they learn form best. It can be found on the Teach-nology website, http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/learning_styles, under the current trends in education. This test measures for three different learning styles including Visual, Auditory, and Tactile-Kinesthetic. The test asks question pertaining to what type of situations are best learning, test taking, and studying. The questions ask how good you are with maps and charts or if you would rather read instructions or have the instructions read to you. This is a good test in trying to find out what the different learning styles are in your classroom so you can make sure you try and reach each student.
My learning style according to the Abiator’s Learning Style Inventory Test is that I am primarily a Visual learning, then Tactile-Kenesthetic, and I have very little of an Auditory learning style. The site gave me a lot of useful information on my learning style such as I learn better when I watch my professor to help stay focused, writing things down will better help me remember them later, and when studying I should be in a quiet environment. This information will be useful to know when I’m teaching in the future. Although I will not stick to this style knowing how well I work with my learning style will help me try and reach all the learning styles of my students.
Better understanding my own learning style will be very useful when it comes time for teaching. Knowing what my learning style is will help me create ways of presenting the material that all students can learn from. Just because one student and myself are Visual learners does not mean that every lesson created needs to cater towards that learning style. Being a Visual learner myself I will need to prepare lessons that are not just catered towards the visual learners as well. It is very important for all students to be exposed to all different learning styles. This will help them prepare for college and jobs when students’ professors and bosses are not going to be catering to their learning styles.
I looked at the teaching strategies for all of the learning styles that the Abiator’s Learning Styles Inventory tested for. One strategy that was discussed under all three categories was the use of media. Using forms of media such as video or computers incorporates all three learning style. Using this strategy every once in a while in the class room will help to reach every students learning style. As mentioned earlier it is important that students are exposed to every learning style so they are able to adjust to a boss or professor in the future who only lectures or like to show videos. All three learning styles that are discussed on the Abiator’s Learning Style Inventory can be easily achieved in the classroom. By mixing and putting together different strategies students will come out of the class with the ability to adapt to different learning styles.