Overview of Learning Styles

Many people recognize that each person prefers different learning styles and
techniques. Learning styles group common ways that people learn. Everyone has a mix
of learning styles. Some people may find that they have a dominant style of learning,
with far less use of the other styles. Others may find that they use different styles in
different circumstances. There is no right mix. Nor are your styles fixed. You can
develop ability in less dominant styles, as well as further develop styles that you
already use well.
Many people recognize that each person prefers different learning styles and
techniques. Learning styles group common ways that people learn. Everyone has a mix
of learning styles. Some people may find that they have a dominant style of learning,
with far less use of the other styles. Others may find that they use different styles in
different circumstances. There is no right mix. Nor are your styles fixed. You can
develop ability in less dominant styles, as well as further develop styles that you
already use well.
 Using multiple learning styles and �multiple intelligences� for learning
is a relatively new approach. This approach is one that educators have only
recently started to recognize. Traditional schooling used (and continues to
use) mainly linguistic and logical teaching methods. It also uses a limited
range of learning and teaching techniques. Many schools still rely on
classroom and book-based teaching, much repetition, and pressured exams
for reinforcement and review. A result is that we often label those who use
these learning styles and techniques as �bright.� Those who use less
favored learning styles often find themselves in lower classes, with various
not-so-complimentary labels and sometimes lower quality teaching. This can
create positive and negative spirals that reinforce the belief that one is
"smart" or "dumb".
By recognizing and understanding your own learning styles, you can use techniques
better suited to you. This improves the speed and quality of your learning.
 The Seven Learning Styles
  Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

 Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.

 Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

 Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

 Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

 Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

 Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

Why Learning Styles? Understand the basis of learning

styles
Your learning styles have more influence than you may realize. Your preferred styles
guide the way you learn. They also change the way you internally represent
experiences, the way you recall information, and even the words you choose. We
explore more of these features in this chapter.
Research shows us that each learning style uses different parts of the brain. By
involving more of the brain during learning, we remember more of what we learn.
Researchers using brain-imaging technologies have been able to find out the key areas
of the brain responsible for each learning style.
For example:
 Visual: The occipital lobes at the back of the brain manage the visual sense.
Both the occipital and parietal lobes manage spatial orientation.
 Aural: The temporal lobes handle aural content. The right temporal lobe is
especially important for music.
 Verbal: The temporal and frontal lobes, especially two specialized areas called
Broca�s and Wernicke�s areas (in the left hemisphere of these two lobes).
 Physical: The cerebellum and the motor cortex (at the back of the frontal lobe)
handle much of our physical movement.
 Logical: The parietal lobes, especially the left side, drive our logical thinking.

 Social: The frontal and temporal lobes handle much of our social activities. The
limbic system (not shown apart from the hippocampus) also influences both the social
and solitary styles. The limbic system has a lot to do with emotions, moods and
aggression.
 Solitary: The frontal and parietal lobes, and the limbic system, are also active
with this style.

Where to next?
Click the links in the navigation menu on the left (or above) to learn more about the
individual learning styles, or go to the learning styles inventory page to try a test to
discover your own learning styles.

Students learn in many ways, like seeing, hearing, and experiencing things first
hand. But for most students, one of these methods stands out. A simple
explanation of learning styles is this: some students remember best materials
they've seen, some remember things they've heard, while others remember things
they've experienced.

Why is this important? Research has shown that students who study in a way that
supports their learning style can can perform better on tests and improve their
grades.

For example, visual-learning students will sometimes struggle during essay

exams, because they can't recall test material that was "heard" in a lecture.

However, if the visual learner uses a visual aid when studying, like a colorful
outline of test materials, he or she may retain more information. For this type of
learner, visual tools improve the ability to recall information more completely.

How can you determine your learning style?

Eventually, you may want to consult a professional or your counselor for advice
on learning styles, but you may want to take a quick quiz to see if the results
match your habits and preferences.

You can also recognize your own style by looking over the characteristics. If any
of the traits and characteristics below sound familiar, you may have identified
your own style.

Students awareness of learning styles and their

perceptions to a mixed method approach for learning
Anumeha Bhagat, Rashmi Vyas,1 and Tejinder Singh2

Learning styles (LSs) have been defined as the composite cognitive, affective, and physiological
characteristics that are relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with and
responds to the learning environment.[1] Bruner[2,3] have described how humans assimilate
knowledge about the environment through four sensory modalities: Visual (observing pictures,
symbols or diagrams), auditory (listening, discussing), visual/iconic (reading and writing), and
kinesthetic (using tactile sensory abilities such as smell and touch). Many tools have been
developed over time to understand how individuals learn such as the Vermunt's inventory, Kolbe
learning style indicator, Meyer Brigg Indicator, Flemming's Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and
Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire, etc.[4,5,6] VARK is an acronym for Visual, Aural,
Read/Write, and Kinesthetic.[7] Some examples of the VARK learning style preferences (LSPs)
are: Visual (looking at and making pictures, animations, graphs, tables, etc.); aural (listening to
and participating in speeches, discussions, and question answer sessions); read/write (reading
and writing text associated with the textbook, class notes, laboratory reports, etc.) and kinesthetic
(engaging in physical experiences, manipulating objects, etc., e.g. laboratories).
tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4552069/
Learning strategies are specific combinations or patterns of learning activities used during the
learning process. The quality of learning outcomes achieved is dependent to a considerable
extent on the learning activities used by learners. These learning strategies can be broadly
divided into self-regulated strategy in which the students perform most regulation activities
themselves, externally regulated strategy in which the students let their learning process to be
regulated by teachers/books or lack of regulation when students are unable to regulate their
learning process by themselves and also experience insufficient support from external regulation
as provided by teachers and learning environment.[8,9]
Recent research has made it fairly clear that different students have different LSs.[10,11,12]
LSPs are significantly different in males and females.[13] Read-write and kinesthetic learners
who adopt a deep approach learning strategy perform better academically than do the auditory,
visual learners who employ superficial study strategies.[14] Much work has been done on
studying the individual learning preferences and how instructional methods can be tailored to
cater to the different styles.[10,13,14,15] However, individualization of instructional methods
has not been shown to contribute significantly to learn outcomes.[3,8,16,17] Studies have also
shown that the most effective learners are able to adapt to the style which the learning situation
requires.[18] The teachers can help students to develop strategies for adapting to differing
situations, especially when LSs do not fit to a task.[19] Awareness of LSs can create a better
learning environment by enabling students to use appropriate strategies.[20]
The best learning “style” for benefitting from instruction is to avoid depending upon any single
style, or any style-like consistency in approach.[21,22] It has been advocated that learners take a
very flexible approach to instruction, so to optimize what they get out of each formal
instructional situation that is useful in the long term, not just useful for coping with the
instructional situation in the short-term. Developing the flexibility to respond productively to all
sorts of instructional situations would be a laudable goal for medical students.[21,22] How best
to encourage this flexibility is yet to be determined.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the impact of awareness of LSs and motivating
students by externally regulated strategies to use mixed methods of learning.
tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4552069/