For many years, schoolrooms all looked the same: a teacher lectured from the front of the room while obedient students sat in rows and absorbed knowledge (at least that was the goal). I’ll bet some of you even remember rooms like this (I know I do). Schoolrooms now are a completely different story. Students are often moving as are the teacher (or teachers). There’s noise (and what may seem to be chaos) and the only quiet may be test day. Why this change though?
One reason is the use of differentiation in the classroom as teachers try to reach all students. The other is teachers adapting to learning styles. Yes, even in something like a music class.
Depending on which school of thought you adhere to, there are either five or seven learning styles. The seven learning styles to be considered are visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social, or solitary.
- Visual–also called spatial means that students learn better by reading or seeing what they are trying to understand.
- Aural–means that students learn better by hearing or having music involved in their lessons.
- Verbal–means that students want to speak their lessons aloud.
- Physical–also called kinesthetic means that students want a hands on portion to their lessons or to learn by doing.
- Logical–means that students apply logic to their learning.
These last two are not always included with the others, but can help a teacher decide whether to group students or let them work alone.
- Social means a student prefers to work in a group.
- Solitary means a student prefers to work or learn alone.
Now all of these learning styles do not mean that is the only way the student learns, but just means that might be the way they learn best. It also means they might learn best in more than one way. They could be a visual and an aural learner. Or a physical and a logical learner or any combination.
What it all comes down to is there are many different ways to learn and no teacher should teach one way.
If you’re curious about how you or a student learns, here’s a quick test to see. A better way is to talk with your student and find out how they feel they understand best and discuss different methods to learn and see how each of them sticks.
