Learning styles are the different ways in which people learn new information. There are five main styles, including visual, auditory, verbal, physical, and logical, as well as two social styles, solitary and social. Visual learners learn best through what they can see, while auditory learners benefit from oral instruction. Verbal learners typically excel in language-based classes, while physical learners do best with hands-on activities. Logical learners tend to be good at math and science, while social learners work well in groups, and solitary learners prefer self-study. Teachers should use multiple teaching techniques and approaches to effectively reach all students in a class.
Learning styles refer to the different ways in which different people are able to learn new information. The idea of different learning styles came from extensive psychological research, which determines how people receive new information, mentally encode that information for storage, and then recall that stored information at a later time. While traditional forms of education have focused on just one or two different learning styles, new approaches to education have introduced a greater focus on using multiple learning styles to ensure that different students can learn as effectively as possible .
While different schools of thought may consider different learning styles, there are five general styles, with two other social styles, that people commonly fall into. The five main styles are visual, auditory, verbal, physical and logical. Along with these five styles, there are also solitary and social learning styles. These are not necessarily mutually exclusive styles, and people commonly learn in multiple ways within these different styles.
Visual or spatial learning refers to people learning most effectively through what they can see. Visual learners often prefer to be in the front of a classroom so that their view is unobstructed, and seeing a teacher’s facial expressions and body language can also be important to their learning. Visual learners also typically benefit greatly from visual aids such as graphs, tables, images, and diagrams. Auditory, or auditory-musical learners are best able to learn through auditory material. These types of students benefit from oral instruction and often read aloud to themselves when dealing with material in a textbook.
Verbal or linguistic learners typically learn best through language, whether through listening or reading. These types of students benefit greatly from the language and often excel in classes where language is emphasized, such as English and reading. Physical or kinesthetic learners often learn best by doing things physically. These types of students may do well in science classes with a large amount of lab work, or in sports and other physical activities. Physical learners also tend to learn well while moving, and small movements like tapping a pencil, tapping their toes, or shifting in their chair can sometimes enhance their learning.
Students of logic or mathematics tend to learn through a logical understanding of how things work and relate. These types of students often make lists and tend to excel in math and science; in other subjects they may often ask how things are connected or relate to each other. Social students learn well in groups, whether in full-classroom or small-group discussions. Solitary students tend to learn best through self-study or working alone. Using multiple teaching techniques and approaches that take advantage of various learning styles can be important for a teacher to effectively reach all students in a class and help them learn the material.
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