Hi Paul - Thanks for your post to the forum. You bring up a common problem. So many of our students are excited about the technical side of their education but don't get the reason why they need to have the "soft skills". I think it's really valuable to have one of the employers who will be hiring our grads, or a successful alumni come in to speak to our students early in their program to emphasize the impact those skills will have on their careers. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I am an instructor at an automotive school. Most of our students are kinesthetic learners. The challenge is to get them to accept the fact that they also have to develope writing skills and verbal communication skills to be succesful in the automotive industry.
Hello there - I enjoyed reading your comments regarding your attempts to teach accounting students through kinesthetic methods. I am struggling to find ways to teach Veterinary Medical Terminology to those students who are the kinesthetic learners. I know there are games but any other ideas to incorporate different styles?
i do lots of hands on practice in my massage classes
Hi Steve- Thank you for your post to the forum. You are using some great delivery techniques to reach diverse learning styles. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
As a technical instructor, I pass parts and pieces of different components around the room so the student can touch and feel what we are talking about. I also use a powerpoint to show pictures of components so the student has an easier time recognizing what they will be working on in the lab in case they are seeing it for the first time.
HI Todd - What an interesting and creative assignment! Can you share some of their "new rules"? Best wishes-Susan
I have been having my business writing students work together in teams to re-create from scratch the rules to various popular board games, such as Monopoly. I've found this kind of hands-on technique really sticks with many of the students.
HI Teasha- Thanks for your post to the forum. I'm sure your kinestheic students are always eager to "just get to it" but you are wise to make sure that they do the reading in advance so that they understand the "Why" not just the "How". Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Karn - Thanks for your post to the forum. You are doing a great job using diverse delivery styles to address your students' learning styles!
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I teach massage therapy, so of course many of my students are kinesthetic learners to some degree. I try to use a variety of methods to engage all types of learners. When teaching a new technique, we first review pictures or slides of the relevant muscles and anatomy. This engages the visual learners. As I demo the technique, I will often have the students take turns reading from the text. For example, I might be showing how to do a release of a particular muscle, and they are reading aloud the origins, insertions, and actions of the muscles. They students observe me as I perform the technique and describe what I am doing. Finally, I have the students practice the techniques on each other.
kinesthetic is probably my own strongest style. I am a massage instructor. most massage students are also kinesthetic. My goal is to first print out a sequence for those students that need to read and refer to printed material. Then I will demonstrate the sequence for visual learners. Then the students pair up and practice,that is where the kinesthetic learners shine. Teasha
Kinesthetic learns learn best by doing something. This can often be best demonstrated to the students, then allow them to try it for themselves.
Hi Pamela- Thank you for your post to the forum and for sharing some excellent ideas gleaned from years of experience! The empathy you feel for your students is so apparent - best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Rob - Thanks for your post to the forum. I have no real evidence but somehow doubt that many accounting students are kinesthetic learners. I agree that it is tough to find delivery options that would appeal to them but having them present/problem solve on the whiteboard is a good idea. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
My approach for my Accounting students that may or may not be kinesthetic learners is to make sure they have an opportunity to present a problem on the board now and then and to make sure they have a copy of the powerpoint presentation so they can make their own notes. Other than that, I'm not sure many Accounting problems are suited for the kinesthetic style learners.
I teach clinical and laboratory skills to medical assistant students. Many chose this vocation because they are drawn to patient care. Often there is a higher percentage of students in my classes that are kinesthetic learners, and they thrive doing activities that support the objectives of the course. Here are tips learned along the way in teaching and loving to teach for over 22 year, understanding that I have done all of the negative things listed, but have learned what works better!
Be organized before you conduct a demonstration! Not being so is distracting from the lesson.
Be ready for things to not work as planned! Have a back-up plan.
If you make an error during the demo, admit it, move on to correct it - you are human!
If trying to demonstrate to a large group, depending on the circumstance, one might need to break the group into smaller teams. If that is the case, have activities the waiting groups can do - you don't want them just sitting!
Don't expect perfection from students the first time! Sometimes there will be, but often coaching is required. Remember to compliment what they are doing correctly before you make a suggestion about changing something they need to do to get the desired affect! Often students are fragile and appreciate the thougtfulness of an instructor who notices they have done something correct, even though they need to improve.
HI Pamela- Thanks for your post to the forum. You are teaching in what would usually be considered a reverse manner. Normally the theory/reasoning would be taught first. However, I can see how your strategy could be very effective. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
In most of the courses I teach in the medical assistant program there are activities that students need to master or become competent, so practicing those activities becomes a way of kinesthetic learning. I also have taught motorcyling and I use a phrase frequently when speaking to new instructors - talk less, ride more. This actually works pretty well in my laboratory classes in medical assisting. The vast majority of those students are more "hands on learners", so having activities to perform after brief explanations work well. Once they have done an activity, they are more interested in retaining more of the information regarding reasoning for the test.
I also teach English literature and writing based courses, and I've always struggled with ways to involve kinesthetic learners. This is such a wonderful idea, Phyllis, and I'm definitely going to use it in my class this semester! Thanks!
Recently another instructor suggested that I could engage multiple learning types by using notecards to make "MLA Trains." Basically, she wrote each part of a MLA citation on a notecard, and then asked her students to rearrange the notecards for different types of citations.
