Learning Styles
Learning styles are a popular concept in psychology and education and are intended to identify how people, in this case teenagers, learn best. The idea that students learn best when teaching methods and school activities match their learning styles, strengths, and preferences, is an extremely popular concept amongst educators.
While existing and ongoing research has made the debate that matching teaching methods to learning styles of an individual may or may not influence their educational outcomes, the concept of learning styles remains extremely popular. To Be Honest with Uncle Kris believes that today’s teens and young adults, especially those signed up for our mentoring workshop, would benefit from a practical knowledge of knowing their own learning styles with a guide on how they can use the knowledge to improve their learning across all aspects of their lives.
The VARK Model
Neil Fleming's VARK model is one of the most popular learning style models. Fleming introduced an inventory in 1987 that was designed to help students and others learn more about their individual learning preferences. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.
According to the VARK model, learners are identified by whether they prefer:
• Visual learning (pictures, movies, diagrams)
• Auditory learning (music, discussion, lectures)
• Reading and writing (making lists, reading textbooks, taking notes)
• Kinesthetic learning (movement, experiments, hands-on activities)
It is quite common to hear statements such as "today's teens have short attention span". This statement to me is debatable as there is no strong research evidence to prove this. I would rather look at this from the fact that the world as today throws more distractions at all of us, most especially today's teens, than ever before. Everyone irrespective of age, may be suffering from shorter attention span due to the new virtual reality that the internet has brought our way. I will leave this here as my focus is not on attention span, but on learning styles.
Helping teens and young adults to not only identify their learning style, but also share it with their parents, teacher, and care givers, will not only help stimulate their interest to learn, but also keep their motivation at a level that is adequate for learning.
PARENTS KNOWING AND SHRAING THEIR OWN LEARNING STYLES
It would help us as parents to also know the learning styles of our teens (I believe we do already) as this should help us know the best way to communicate with them, especially in those teachable moments. This can go both ways, parents also letting their teens know their own learning styles, so teens know how best to teach parents the better ways to relate or communicate with them too.
For example Imagine that your teenager is learning a new skill such as riding a bicycle. In what way would your teen learn this skill the best?
1. Look at pictures or videos of people riding a bicycle. (Visual)
2. Listen to an expert explain how to ride a bicycle. (Auditory)
3. Read about how to ride a bicycle. (Reading/Writing)
4. Watch someone else ride a bicycle and then try it themselves. (Kinesthetic).
While pondering on this question, please do take time to reflect on your own learning styles and how you can apply it in your relationship with your young champions when learning from them.
Feel free to let me in on any feedback or suggestions that you feel might be helpful in any way.
Virtual Mentoring Session Starting in October 2023
Are you a parent of a teenager that has attended our mentoring workshop? This is to inform you that To Be Honest with Uncle Kris is starting bi-weekly follow-up virtual mentoring sessions for teens between the ages of 9-16, where we would be using creative content to give teens practical steps to help them discover, develop, and deploy their potential as a continuation of things taught at the workshops.
This virtual meeting will be held as follows:
Saturday 11th and Saturday 25th November
Time is 5-6pm (Nigerian Time)
Please click the link below to register your teens.
https://forms.gle/nrKzPX8QgbeCcWvh9
or send an email to tbhwithunclekris@gmail.com for further enquiries.
Thank you.
Uncle Kris
Teen Coach & Mentor