You've probably noticed that humans tend to categorize people into groups based on each individual's attributes, including a person's gender identity, cultural background, economic means, and birth generation (e.g., Generation Z), among other attributes. Although the categorization of people can sometimes serve a necessary functional purpose, it often also leads to the reinforcement of stereotypes, biases, and unequal treatment. (
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In K-12 education, students are categorized by age, grade, and ability level. These categorizations help to group students into cohorts (i.e., classes) which learn together.
Beyond this functional purpose, educators also more informally group students into categories related to how they seem to learn best.
For example, students (and learners more generally) can be grouped into the following categories:
- visual learners who learn best by viewing photos, illustrations, videos, and graphical models
- auditory learners who learn best by hearing the content read out loud (rather than just seeing the content written down in a textbook or on a whiteboard)
- kinaesthetic learners who learn best by interacting directly with learning materials by using their hands
As a teacher, there will be students in your classes who learn in
each of the above ways. The best way to teach such a diversity of learning modalities is to design lessons which address multiple learning styles.
For example, a Grade 1 teacher might introduce the 'seasons' by reading a book about the changing seasons out loud (auditory), showing the pictures of the seasons that accompany the book's text (visual), and having the students act out what it's like to walk through a park during each season (kinaesthetic).
Meanwhile, a Grade 10 biology teacher might introduce the 'cardiovascular system' by reading out loud the points that are on a slide deck (auditory), showing an animation of the blood moving through the human circulatory system (visual), and having the students track their own pulse rate before, during, and after engaging in a rigourous physical activity (kinaesthetic).
Each of the above teachers is addressing a multiplicity of learning styles in a single lesson.
