Learning Strategies

LEARNING STRATEGIES

It would be wise to discover your personal learning strategy and discover ways to effectively take in more information and remember it.

VISUAL learners tend to:

Remember what they read and write.

Focus in on the visual part of a presentation (they LOVE PowerPoint presentations and handouts). Old school speakers/teachers said not to give handouts during the speech and they missed the best opportunity to get their message across to the visual learner who wasn’t going to “hear” much of the speech anyway.

Understand best when they can SEE the information!

Prefer a time-line or some other similar diagram to remember historical events.

Prefer written instructions rather than verbal instructions.

Prefer photographs and illustrations with printed content.

Remembers and understands through the use of diagrams, charts and maps.

Learning Strategies for the Visual Learner

• Write down things that you want to remember; you will remember them better that way.

• Look at the person who is speaking to you; it will help you focus.
• Get a study partner that takes good notes in class!  (how RG got through College & Law School!)
• When studying, take many notes and write down lots of details.
• When trying to learn material by writing out notes, cover your notes then re-write. Re-writing will help you remember better. Do this with your speeches.
• Use colour to highlight main ideas.
• Try to put your desk away from the door and windows and close to the front of the class.
• Write your own flashcards. Look at them often and write out the main points, then check.
• Where possible, use charts, maps, posters, films, videos, computer software.

AUDITORY learners tend to:

Remembers what they hear and say, so they remember oral instructions well

Enjoy classroom and small-group discussion.

Learning Strategies for the Auditory Learner

•   Study with a friend so you can talk about the information and HEAR it, too.

• Recite out loud the information you want to remember several times.
• Make your own recordings of important points you want to remember and listen to it repeatedly. This is especially useful for learning material for tests or memorizing speeches.
• When reading, skim through and look at the pictures, chapter titles, and other clues and say out loud what you think this book could be about.
• Make flashcards for various material you want to learn and use them repeatedly, reading them out loud.
• Read out loud when possible. You need to HEAR the words as you read them to understand them well.

KINESTHETIC learners tend to: Best remember the things they experience, what they DO with their hands and bodies (movement and touch).

Enjoy using tools or lessons which involve active/practical participation

Have great motor memory…can remember how to do things after they’ve done them once.

Learning Strategies for the Tactile-Kinesthetic Learner

• To memorize, pace or walk around while reciting to yourself or using flashcards or notes.
• When reading a short story or chapter in a book, try a whole-to-part approach. This means you should first scan the pictures, then read headings, then read the first and last paragraphs and try to get a feel for the book. You could also try skim-reading the chapter or short story backwards, paragraph-by-paragraph.
• If you need to fidget, try jiggling your legs or feet, try hand/finger exercises, or handle a koosh ball, tennis ball or something similar.
• You might not study best while at a desk. Try lying on your stomach or back. Try studying while sitting in a comfortable lounge chair or on cushions or a bean bag.