Jessica Deakyne

What is your Learning Style?

English 109

April 9, 2007

Do you know how you learn best? Do you know all of the different styles of learning? VARK and HBDI are a wonderful place to start! These websites will show you  how you learn and think the best. If you know those two important keys, then you can manage just about anything you learn!

The word VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic styles of learning. VARK is a website that allows you to take a questionnaire and shows people different styles of learning. The creator of this website was Neil Fleming. He taught for over 40 years at Lincoln University in New Zealand. VARK will provide you with your preferred learning styles.  A description of these styles of learning are as follows: Visual learners learn best by seeing demonstrations and are provided with power point presentations, etc. Aural learners learn best by listening to the teacher lecture. So some of their success behaviors would be attend to every class, go to all study group sessions, bring a tape recorder to class, and are able to explain the lecture well to a colleague that was unable to attend class. Read/ write learners learn best by simply reading the text book and taking notes, putting notes in color coded order, reading all the handouts and worksheets. Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing hands on activities. These types of learners learn best in an environment where they can move around and have physical contact with the subject. My results showed that my two highest scores were in kinesthetic and aural. My two lowest scores showed that I was weak in the visual and read/write learning modes.

HBDI is a source that helps people recognize their thinking and doing processes in life. The test is split up into four different categories. These categories are thinking, doing, feeling, and innovating. In this test, I scored high in thinking and feeling. Thinking learners love the questions that begin with "what."  They like to ponder over a topic with a lot of facts and theories. They do very well at figuring out problems and getting down to the point on a subject or facts. Feeling learners like questions that begin with the "whys" and "whos." They learn best in a warm and welcoming environment, and they talk about personal conversations and express their feelings well. My two lowest scores were innovating and doing. Innovators learn best by seeking new possibilities and imagining themselves in the future.  They don't like cold facts; they feel that they can go around them. Doing learners learn best by taking action for themselves. They enjoy professors that present factual skills in a step-by-step, logical learning style.

These tests are very useful tools, not just in the education, but just in life generally. By taking these tests, I noticed that I was stronger in the areas I thought I was weak in, and in the areas I thought I was weak in, it turned out I was stronger than what I thought. By doing these two tests, it really opened up my eyes to how I truly view things in life. I noticed that I just put myself down before even giving myself a chance to learn the new material.  By looking at my overall scores on both tests, I say I am a person who learns best by seeing and doing things. I am a very emotional person and I learn best in a warm and innovating environment for me to give a subject my 100% all.

This semester I feel that all of my teachers are fairly well rounded with all of these styles of learning. I am taking five classes, study skills, algebra, aerobics, psychology, and college composition. My study skills and writer professor's teaching style is very well rounded. In both classes we have class discussions, we work on the computer looking up sources on the Internet, we do powerpoint demonstrations, and he makes sure that the learning environment is a very safe and warm place where anyone can express their feelings on what they understand or don't understand.

I love my algebra professor. Her teaching preferences are visual and kinesthetic. She puts problems up on the board, and we copy them down and attempt them; then she does them on the board with us while we check our work. We have class discussions to make sure everyone understands that section before we go on to the next one. Her kinesthetic style of teaching is evident when we use our calculators, and when have quizzes on Blackboard, on the computer. My algebra professor is definitely one to make a cold room warm.

My psychology professor is an interesting individual. He specializes in auditory and visual styles of learning. In class, he relates the topics in our books to real-life stories that he has been through in his life time. Some of them are really funny! Those stories help us remember the important topics that we learn about in our chapters. Visually and kinesthetically, he shows us power points on the computer for our note- taking in class. He also has us do all of our practice tests and worksheets on the computer.

Last but not least, my aerobics instructor is a very warm and kind person. My aerobics class is definitely kinesthetic and aural. We are always moving around and doing some type of aerobic activity. But its not only moving around which appeals to kinesthetic learners; we also have projects that we have to use the internet for. We have class discussions about healthy foods and vitamins we should take and the pros and cons of what we should do to have a healthy and well rounded life.

I feel like I have a great support system backing me up this semester with all of my professors. All five appeal to all of the different learning modes and styles that VARK and the HBDI focus upon. Now that I know my best ways of learning, I know I can put that knowledge into use into everyday tasks, and I will be successful in anything that I do in my life time.

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