By Angie Wilcock.

We all learn (and teach!) in a way that suits us – we might never have thought too much about it, and most of us may never have ‘labelled’ it! If someone were to ask you about your ‘style’, you may be aware that you are not a good listener, or that you like to read information to understand it, or that you are a ‘hands-on’ person. We all go about our daily lives, thinking, communicating and learning in our own unique way.

How do YOU learn? If we stop and think about how we learn, process and understand new information we may not only become more efficient in the work place, we may also become better learners. Imagine how much easier it would be if, as parents, we can ‘tap’ into what makes our children tick and help them to become more effective learners and less effective time wasters!!

Gone are (and should be!) the days of chalk and talk in the classroom. Typically, a classroom would be quiet while the teacher spoke, with limited discussion and few interactive activities. Often, notes were written on the chalkboard and duly copied into workbooks by the students. When exams rolled around, those notes were read and re-read, and often re-copied or summarised as well. Education was fairly ‘generic’, and not too stimulating, consisting of a lot of talking by the teacher and a lot of note-taking by the student. The least catered to was the kinaesthetic, or ‘hands-on’ learner, who generally found themselves on detention for fiddling or disruptive behaviour!

Education and the whole learning process is now viewed quite differently. Some of us are good listeners, others are visual, whilst others like to be ‘hands on’ with their learning. We all have our own ‘style’, and the sooner we are familiar with what works for us, the more effectively we approach our school and professional lives. How devastating it is for parents to watch their son or daughter slave away endlessly over assignments and exams only to gain less than flattering results. Imagine how frustrating this is for the student!

Some research suggests that we don’t lock into our preferred style till mid-teens, whilst other experts provide anecdotal evidence to suggest that the earlier we recognise our ‘style’, the better we can develop techniques to enhance our learning.

When I run workshops on learning styles, parents I speak with may complain about their child ‘never sitting still’, finding it almost impossible to concentrate on a task for very long and always ‘fiddling ‘with something. It may not be that their child is ADD or ADHD – he or she may be a kinaesthetic (‘hands-on’) learner.

Other parents may be frustrated that their child doesn’t seem to listen to instructions – no, not just parents of teenagers! It may well be that their child is not a strong auditory learner, but is visual, meaning that they need to read the material or see it in graph or diagram form to process and remember it.

Finally, there are those parents who say that their child doesn’t remember information when they read or study it – it just doesn’t ‘stick’. They may like to talk about it and ask lots of questions, but they don’t seem to want to write it down or take notes. This may be an indication of auditory learning as the preferred style.

There are numerous indicators for learning styles – and once you are aware of specific indicators, you may well recognise your child as being stronger in one style than another.

We may have a dominant ‘style’ or we may be a blend of ‘styles’ – the important issue is that, as parents, the more we understand about the ‘style’ of our children, the better equipped we are to support them in their learning habits at home. It’s all about working SMARTER, not HARDER – which certainly makes more sense!

Writer Angie Wilcock, educator and speaker. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.