When revising it helps for the student to move around as this increases the students understanding with learners generally getting better marks in exams when they use that style. They may struggle to learn by reading or listening. The Fleming VAK/VARK model, one of the most common and widely used categorizations of the various types of learning styles, categorized the various types of learning styles as follows: visual learners, auditory learners, reading/writing-preference learners, and kinesthetic learners (also known as “tactile learners”).Īccording to proponents of the learning styles theory, students who have a predominantly kinesthetic learning style are thought to be natural discovery learners: they have realizations through doing, as opposed to having thought first before initiating action. People with a kinesthetic learning style are also commonly known as do-ers. It is also referred to as tactile learning. Psychological science in the public interest, 9(3), 105-119.Kinaesthetic learning is a learning style in which learning takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration. Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. Academy of management learning & education, 4(2), 193-212. Learning styles and learning spaces: Enhancing experiential learning in higher education. Do learners really know best? Urban legends in education. Learning styles: An overview of theories, models, and measures. The four sensory modalities in Fleming’s VARK model are:Ĭassidy, S. One of the popular ways to find a preferred learning style is to use a questionnaire, such as Honey and Mumford (2006).Īdapted from Kolb’s experiential learning model, below are the learning styles classifications from Honey and Mumford. Kinesthetic learners who learn by doing and hands on tasks- Do It.Auditory learners who learn best through the process of listening and talking- Hear It.Visual learners who prefer images, pictures, diagrams, videos and demonstrations- See It.

Kolb and Kolb (2005) provide a discussion on the learning process in higher education and the concepts of learning styles and learning cycle.ĭifferent students have different modes of learning, and so to improve their learning could be matching one’s teaching with that to the preferred learning mode. Kolb (2007) describes learning as an experiential learning concept forming concrete and abstract conceptualisations. Maybe we move around the styles depending on the topic being learnt or maybe it’s all an educational myth and we need to move onto other evidence based learning theories (see reference list for more discussion on the evidence base for learning styles). Learner related performance may be dependent on the subject, motivation, learning space and personality of the learner. The overall aim for education is to tailor teaching style to improve learning. They may well be correct, but you can decide for yourself if learning styles exist and are appropriate to form part of your teaching strategy. Let’s get straight into the discussion first, as I predict many nurse educators will be reading this topic and wanting to say ‘what a waste of time’ as learning styles don’t exist.

Aural learning style definition