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Learning Styles in the Primary Classroom

Finding out about the different learning styles that will be present in the primary school classroom can help you determine how to better teach the children. The idea of learning styles started in 1982 and split learners into activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatists. The modern method of classifying learning styles is called VAK, which stands for visual, auditory and kinetic. Learning about how these different learners take in information can help you plan a good lesson for everybody.
  1. Visual

    • Visual learners take in information best by watching things. Visual learners can be taught well using diagrams, pictures and videos. Generally, visual learners picture things in their heads a lot, and even recall images from the past when trying to remember information. Visual learners are thought to benefit from seeing a teacher's facial expression when teaching, and may prefer to sit at the front so they can get a better view of the teacher.

    Auditory

    • Auditory learners prefer to listen and talk about subjects to take in the information. They benefit from lectures, and can learn well through forms such as poetry and song. Auditory learners are thought to better understand the information when they can pick up on the inflections and nuances present in speech. Generally, auditory learners are considered to be more likely to spell words out phonetically. Class discussions greatly benefit auditory learners, and they may have some trouble with reading.

    Kinesthetic

    • Kinesthetic learners pick up information more efficiently through doing things. Kinesthetic learners prefer to move things around and manipulate them in order to understand them. Kinesthetic learners tend to succeed in the arts and physical jobs such as carpentry. These learners tend to have difficulty in a classroom setting, as they have trouble sitting still for extended periods of time and prefer to explore or perform physical activities. As a result of this desire for action, they can often become distracted during normal classes. Use physical activities and practical exercises to keep kinesthetic learners interested.

    Making Sense of it All

    • Although many people in the education system believe in the VAK learning styles system, many academics do not believe it is correct. Many argue, alternatively, that most people learn through a combination of visual, auditory and kinesthetic methods. This can easily seem confusing, but in any case your primary school class will need to be taught using a combination of methods to suit the three different learning styles. Using a variety of methods will benefit each group in turn if VAK is true, and the entire class if the skeptics are right.

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