Identifying learning styles
Listen to 'Hannah's Story' by clicking on the headphone icon below.
After listening, answer the following questions:
- Which learning style does Hannah have?
- Which learning style does Hannah's friend, Daniel, have?
Take your study notebook to write down your answers.
Hannah's StoryAudio player: Hannahs%20Story.mp3
One size does not fit all
After listening to 'Hannah's Story' above, you might have noticed that Hannah and her friend Daniel, have more than one preferential way to absorb and process information. Thus, multiple answers are possible on the questions above. The most important conclusion drawn from the case study is to remember that every person uses more than one learning style in the course of learning.
Therefore, one single approach to teaching does not work for every learner or even for most of the learner. The educators’ awareness of the various learning styles of the learners and their efforts towards matching the teaching and learning styles may help in creating an effective learning environment for all the learners.
A teacher/trainer can adopt a variety of strategies in catering for different learners, for example:
- Having a variety of learning aids on display as diagrams and images.
- Varying teaching/training methods to cater for a variety of learning styles, such as group work, individual assignment, problem solving, dramatization, field trips and quizzes.
- Being conscious about the seating
arrangement. Learners can be allowed some freedom to choose where
to sit and seats should be arranged in a variety of ways to cater for the
differences.
Learning styles/ Auditory 1.3 Levels of cognition