learning styles
I asked students the first day what they prefer. Now I do lecture, hands on , and some games.
I try to mix it up as well. I will lecture for one part, I will do interactive cases or role play for one part, and I may show a related video to reinforce the concepts we discussed.
One of the challenge of teaching to learning styles is having a large class. This makes it even more important to use different styles during a course. This way each student has an equal opportunity to lean in their principal learning style.
Hi Amy, All,
I am wondering if there is any test available to determine in an accurate way what is the learning styles of your students.
I totally agree, Pete. It's harder to do demos with sociology classes, but I have PowerPoints, handouts, group activities, projects, etc as well as just lecture time. I also make them fill out a reading guide when they go through the chapter. It takes them extra time, and they don't like the work, but they learn a LOT more. :)
I feel that once you have asked your students what type of learning style that they prefer you will see that all four types will fall into a classroom. It is important as the lesson stated to teach in a variety of ways. When doing lecture, I will try to always include a game and then we include hands on learning by reviewing and doing what was done in lecture.
I have seen an instructor at one time that was teaching anatomy and physiology handed each student a small piece of play-do. When going over bones he would have the students mold the dough into the bones and once they did this they almost always remembered what bone it was from the style.
I just try to use something for everyone- lecture, hands-on, lots of drawing in colors on whiteboard, websites, projects, demos, and more projects!
