Learning Style Strategies that Work

Visual Learners

Visual learners learn best by seeing.  The following list of suggestions would enhance the visual learner’s ability to store and recall information:

1.                 Study area should be clutter free, away from windows and movement.

2.                 Highlight and write as you study.  Use different colors to select and organize.

3.                 Use your Agenda Book – depend on it.  Always write down what you need to remember.  This includes using notes as reminders and using a calendar to list due dates and dates to begin assignments. When possible, ask for written directions. 

4.                 Make class notes visual with drawings, graphic organizers, spacing, symbols, flow charts, etc.

5.                 Make use of text visuals such as charts and pictures.  If you have to recall them from memory, practice reproducing them on a piece of paper.

6.                 Use study cards with written information organized into outlines, wild drawings, or diagrams.  Review them by writing to reproduce the information.

7.                 Make your recall cues as visual as possible.  Use capital letters, colors, and illustrations.

8.                 Recall information for exams by visualizing text pages, notes, or study cards.

9.                 When solving problems, draw or illustrate the problem and solution.

10.              If permitted, make notations on test questions.  Underline key words or draw what you do not understand.

Auditory Learners

Auditory learners learn best by hearing.  The following list of suggestions would enhance the auditory learner’s ability to store and recall information.

1.         Have a quiet place to study.  If you cannot eliminate background noise,
            conceal it by quietly playing classical music or an environmental sound track.
2.         Recite aloud as you study.
3.         Copying another’s notes is not as effective for you as hearing the material.
4.         Use a tape recorder, when possible, in addition to taking notes.  Always ask the
            teacher for permission to tape a review lesson.  As you review your notes as soon as
            possible after class, use the tape for those parts of the review that were difficult to understand.
            Do not try to listen to whole lessons.
5.         Study in groups or with a friend.  Explain information in your notes to another person.
            If you find a study group distracting, have a person you can call on a regular basis to discuss
            class content over the phone.
6.         Talk to yourself!  Describe diagrams or practice answering test questions out loud.
7.         Recite study cards into a tape recorder and play it back for repeated practice.
8.         When solving problems, talk yourself through each step.
9.          Recall information during exams by hearing yourself recite in your head.
10.        Check test questions and recite each part to yourself in your head.
11.        Learn by interviewing someone else or participate in a discussion.

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing and moving.  They often have difficulty sitting still for long periods of time.  The following list of suggestions would enhance the kinesthetic learner’s ability to store and recall information:

1.        Use many of your senses as possible when you study:  see, hear, touch, taste, and smell.
2.         Move around when you study.  Put as much as you can on study cards.  Lay study cards 
            out on the floor in various locations and practice reciting them as you move around the room.         
3.         Carry study cards with you everywhere and use them whenever you have to wait.
4.         Study in small, frequent chunks.  Give yourself breaks and rewards.
5.         Use a timer and decide upon an amount of time you feel you can effectively sit and  work.
            Underestimate and workup to longer time periods if possible.  When the time sounds,
            take a break and do something physical.
6.         Set a goal as to specific amount of information you will cover such as five pages, etc.
            When you reach your goal, take a break.
7.        For certain memorization assignments use the mnemonic device called method of place.
            When you have to recall items on a list, mentally imagine them placed in sequential locations
            in your home and associate them with those places.  For example, if you have to remember
            the names of the presidents of the United States, begin in your kitchen. Wash Washington
            in the sink, bake Adams’ apple in the oven, and so on.  In order to trigger recall for a test,
            imagine yourself walking to each area.
8.         Study with another kinesthetic person.  Their gestures and activities may give you additional input.
9.         When solving problems, move around and manipulate items to represent parts of the problem.
10.      When taking exams, try to “feel” how you stored information by remembering what you physically
            did as you studied.
11.      Use the computer to reinforce learning through the sense of touch.