Auditory & Visual Learning Style

Abstract

There is growing recognition that different people have different learning styles. While teaching methods used in schools are still mostly geared to certain styles of learning and not others, homeschooling parents can custom tailor their approach to the way each child learns best and to what each child might need to develop. To that end, it can be helpful to know how to recognize that a given learning style is at play. This research aims to study test the statement “Yr 11 girls have a more auditory & visual learning style, whereas, Year 11 boys prefer a more kinaesthetic approach to learnin”.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION3

Male vs. Female Learning Styles3

Learning and Teaching Strategies3

Resaerch Question3

Outline3

Visual Learners3

Auditory Learners3

Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners3

METHODOLOGY3

Strategies for gathering data3

Sample size3

Ethical issues3

Validity and reliability3

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA3

Auditory Learners3

Visual Learners3

Kinesthetic Learners3

Findings3

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS3

Implications For Learning3

Limitations of the Methodology3

REFERENCES3

Introduction

Research over many years demonstrates that people have different learning styles - characteristic strengths and preferences in the ways they take in and process information. Some learners, for example, tend to focus heavily on facts or information, whilst others are more comfortable with theories and models. Some learners respond strongly to visual forms of information such as pictures and diagrams, whilst others prefer written and spoken explanations. Some people prefer to learn actively and interactively, whilst others function better introspectively and individually.

Boy and girl differ from the time they are in the crib. Richard Restak studied these differences in boys and girls from birth to twelve months and published his findings in the now classic book The Brain The Last Frontier (Grand Central Publishing, 1988). He found that boy boys and girls demonstrate early superiority in visual acuity and possess better spatial abilities in dealing with three-dimensional space. Boy boys and girls also perform better in gross motor body movements. He found girl boys and girls to be more sensitive to sounds (especially their mother's voice) and more attuned to the social contexts of situations (faces, speech patterns and tones of voice). Girl boys and girls speak sooner and develop larger vocabularies.

Dr. Rita Dunn, Director of the Center for Study of Learning and Teaching Styles at St. John's University in New York, and Dr. Kenneth Dunn of Queens College, have spent nearly 25 years in the study of learning styles. They identify the most common learning styles as Auditory, Visual and Tactile. From their studies, the Dunns have observed that learning styles are inborn and run in families, and can be observed as early as the first year of life. Of the children I have evaluated in my own practice, over 80 percent demonstrates a learning style that is either identical to that of one parent or a blend of both parents' styles. Ten percent demonstrate the learning style of a close relative, such as a grandparent or uncle.

Listeners, Lookers and Movers are the terms I use for Auditory, Visual and Tactile learners, respectively. Listeners are attuned to sounds and words. They talk early, have large vocabularies and learn to ...