Learning Style
Is homework time a frustrating ordeal? Does your child not get a concept in spite of teaching it several times? Chances are that you are not taking into consideration the child’s modality of learning or learning style.
Gone are the days when a classroom setting was all about a teacher speaking, a student listening and learning. Now, teachers are trained to differentiate teaching according to the different learning styles. Even though there are numerous definitions out there on the different modalities, for this article learning style refers to how a child uses their senses during the learning process.
Usually, we all prefer one style of learning over the others. Identifying if your child is a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner is the first step. Once you have identified your child’s preferred learning style, be creative and present the material suited to that learning style. When you have presented or taught the information taking your child’s learning style into consideration, you will see an improvement in the academic setting. In fact, this could be applied to all areas of life. So for example, the visual learner would learn better with diagrams, pictures, the auditory learner would like sound and music, and the kinesthetic learner would prefer the hands -on approach towards learning.
Ideally, information is given using all the modalities with more emphasis on your child’s learning process. So when teaching a subject like Math, visuals should accompany the explanation, and use the hands- on approach with manipulative to reinforce the learning. Knowing your child’s learning style can make homework time a much easier task. For, with this information, you can figure out what would be the best way to help the child understand/ learn and present the material accordingly.