Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Blog #2 Learning Styles
Blog about doing learning styles activities…
I have created so many different learning styles activities. Various task cards to get students playing with concepts, definitions, and various levels of thinking. Other learning styles have included versatiles (really cool activity), flip chutes, electraboards, all kinds of matching games, wrap-arounds, and pic-a-holes. These are great hands-on ways to engage students. If I were doing this assignment, I'd create a wrap-around of all the different types of learning styles you could create and a description of them.
As for learning style, I am a mixture of visual and auditory with a major dose of kinesthetic. I lean most toward kinesthetic, but I really rely on visual. For pleasure, I am VERY auditory...I am listening to music all the time (right now my playlist is Kings of Leon/Mumford & Sons/The Killers/Love & Theft/The Avett Brothers. So cool to listen to while working. When I take the survey and every time I re-take it, my learning style is slightly different. I think I'm more visual and linear when a semester starts, but as it progresses, I need more kinesthetic, hands-on activities to keep me engaged, or I get bored. That's part of ADHD me.
Your turns! Create your learning styles activities and take the learning styles inventory! Be sure to answer the specific questions I outlined on the homework!
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For the learning styles activity, I created a U.S. History/Government learning circle. I made up six different questions to fit in the segments and the answer would be a number. An example is “ On July___th Congress voted and accepted the Declaration of Independence. On a clothespin it had the number 4 written on it and the student would have to clip it onto the right question on the learning circle segment. On the back of the each question had a number on it and on the back of the clothespin also had the same number on it. So to make sure the answer was right all you had to do was turn over the learning circle and the clothespin and make sure they had matching numbers. I loved creating this because when it comes to dates and numbers I need to see and hear them to really remember them. Adding the tactical part is just a plus at remembering the dates. I am more of an auditory learner, but also need a mix of visuals to really help the information stick in my head. I was actually surprised to see that tactical learning was just slightly above visual when I took the learning style inventory worksheet. My score was VSP:18 APS:36 TPS:20. I knew I favored auditory learning, but knew as well that different subjects require me to add something extra in the mix to help me learn and remember. For the task card project I decided that Geography would be a good subject to utilizes this type of learning method. For the first part I had the continents and then the country and last the capital of the country. For example I had Asia as the continent, Japan as the country and Tokyo as the capital. Using this strategy to piece it all together makes for a fun game and helps reinforce the information.
ReplyDeleteI love these!! These would really work too...
DeleteWhen making the learning styles activities I focused on a third grade level because that is the level I would love to teach. I created the learning circle. This circle was made up of different multiplication problems. Then I put the answers on binder clips for the students to clip the answer to the correct space. On the back of each binder clip I also included a letter. This letter is how the students could check themselves. The back of the circle had letters in each of the spaces showing which binder clip and answer belongs to which question. When I took the Learning Styles Inventory my scores were VPS:26 APS:28 TPS:30. I have always been very multimodal. I find myself using many different learning strategies with many different assignments. The taskscard really helped me to remember multiple ways that one word or term could be used. The learning circle also helped me in knowing how to connect, being able to match the answers to the questions, and also being able to check myself. These strategies were every helpful for me and I feel would help many different styles of learning.
ReplyDeleteAnd yours were really cool! You all have gotten really creative! Your circle was awesome!
DeleteWell, I just want to throw it out that creating the task cards and pic-a-hole (which was my free choice) probably caused me more grief than needed. I just had to make sure they were somewhat creative and actually worked in the end, and, when they did, I was rather impressed with how entertained I was matching the task cards and answering the questions I wrote myself. So one of those things where the process was sometimes off putting (it was a quest finding a standalone hole punch in my house) but where the product really was worth it and I can see why it would be helpful in the classroom. As a way to help with history studying (I made task cards for wars/capitals and random questions for pic-a-hole) this could help make the connections pop to those not adept at history enjoying. As for my personal learning style; I scored a 32 for auditory, a 30 for visual, and a measly 22 for tactile. Having such a close visual/ auditory intermixing was not a surprise for me since I love to create images I can store in my mind and I love listening even more than that (as I type this to music myself, a little Rodney Crowell today). I'm also chronically afraid of messing something up with my hands, so I tend to shy from tactile activities. I'm with Dr. Bum though, I'm sure our learning styles are flexible depending on environment and/or other things.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't impressed by the pic-a-hole, but part of it was also that I initially did not grasp how it worked, until I saw your video :). As for the issue of your stand-alone hole punch, even using something of the approximate size would do fine and it is surprising the ingenuity that can be accomplished simply from the lack of a conventional tool. I enjoy finding new and unique solutions to an everyday quandary.
Deletehttp://eduexceptionallearners2013.blogspot.com/2013/12/day-four-blog-three-learning-style.html
DeleteHere's my personal blog response over how I feel the kinesthetic learning styles helped me or others as visuals/auditory learners.
For the learning styles activity, I created the "Pick-A-Hole." This activity is basically note cards in a folder with a question and 3 answers to choose from. You read the questions, pick and answer, and pull the card out of the folder to see the answer. I like this activity because it allows the student to immediately see if they were right or not. However, I don't like that it only allows three short answer options. I didn't stick to a single subject or grade level for this activity. I had random questions for all different grade levels. I like that it works for all subjects and all grades.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when I take tests I almost always make flash cards. This is an awesome way to make flash cards more interesting. My learning style is visual. My Learning Styles Inventory scoring was VPS: 32, APS: 24, TPS: 22. After watching the learning styles video on YouTube, I knew I was a visual learner based off the slide that said "You might be a visual learner if...". I'd never thought much about my learning style so I won't say it necessarily surprised me, but it was interesting to find out that I am a visual learner.
And kids really like having these various ways, like flash cards, to study. I like that yours were very common sense but fun!
DeleteFor my learning styles activities I chose to do a learning cirle in addition to the task cards. My learning circle focused on the organization of life from a cell to the biosphere. In order to make it a bit more challenging (perhaps middle school/early high school level) I placed the levels of organization on each slice of the circle (totaling 8). The description of each level of organization was attached to a corresponding clothespin. In order for the students to check comprehension, a shape system was implemented. A shape on each slice matched the back of each clothespin. For an additional level of complexity, this activity could also have the numbers from 1-8 that could also be used to organize the levels of life. This could be a great activity to do in groups where each participant had a pin and would race to place their pin (baton style) on the circle. The first group to complete wins. The task card activity also corresponds to life and its levels. On one task, the flow of information (DNA-RNA-Protein) was the concept, the second card was a sequential organizing from cell to biosphere, the remaining two were focused on definitions of words from the learning circle (biotic/abiotic). The great thing about the two activities is that it is great for checking individual comprehension and is a great review tool. On the flip-side, there is limited usage of the two tools, that is they serve only one purpose for a given subject, unless there were velcro attachments to change the information on each piece. In that case it might be ok to have a bag full of terms and allow the students to pick out ones that are related. Overall I am happy with the activities I created. The one part that bugs me is that the words on my learning circle aren't all radiating in the same direction. It bugs me enough that I almost did an entirely new one!
ReplyDeleteI was not surprised by the results of my learning style assessment. My numbers were : Auditory: 16; Visual; 38; Tactile: 32. I need to see, touch, and if possible do what is being asked of me. I find it excruciatingly painful to have oral only instructions. This is kind of strange considering I have low vision in one eye and my ability to hear is quite exceptional (I am very sensitive to sounds-perhaps this is why I LOVE music). College was the first time I actually had the need to study anything, and I learned quite quickly that only listening to lectures (or a tape recorder) was ineffective. Tedious as they are, I love to write on funky colored note cards. This allows me to visualize the information in my head and by writing the key words a few times I seem to remember the vocabulary better than recitation alone. Also, if I can have an associated movement to something, it sticks forever.
Your science application was really cool. There are so many ways to do cross-content work. It would be neat to show kids how to connect their content work in various other classrooms.
DeleteFor my activities I chose to make a wrap-around and task cards that would be helpful for early/intermediate level music theory.
ReplyDeleteMy task cards are basically Jam cards, laying out a series of chords that match the major key in the middle, with it's relative minor on the left card, matched with either it's third, fourth, or seventh chord on the right. It would be a good tool to know and put together these keys for improvisation purposes and jazz especially.
My Wrap around matched all 12 key signatures with their representation in the G clef. This would be helpful for anyone who is learning to read music. Memorizing key signatures is crucial, the first thing you must know to play something is the key of the song!
I scored Visual: 22 Auditory: 34 and Tactile: 34 Like you, Dr. Bum, I love to listen while I work, however on occasion I will do too much listening and not enough working. My ADD kind of pushes me more toward kinesthetic learning as well. I find I am more productive while chewing gum actually. It also really helps me to talk things out in groups and outline things.
Your musical learning styles activities were really awesome, Dean. I showed these off to a couple of other teachers I was with this evening!
DeleteFor my learning styles activity, I obviously made task cards and I also chose to make a pick-a- hole. For my task cards, I did colleges/universitites with the city that they are located in and their mascot. For pick-a- hole, I matched up WWII leaders with their respective countries. I like the idea of these activities because they are easy to make and they are also another way to help students learn the material.
ReplyDeleteMy learning style is a tactile learner. I really wasn't shocked by that. I knew right away that I wasn't an auditory learner but I wasn't sure if I was a visual or tactile learner. On the inventory, I got a 34 for tactile and a 32 for visual so it was really close. I think the reason I am a tactile learner is I learn on the run and I learn by doing.
BLOG #3
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Amanda Adkerson
The kinesthetic activates that were done in the learning activity lesson is an aid to all learners including auditory and visual. Tactical learners thrive on touch and using their hands. Kinesthetic learners learn best using movement and learning while doing. Activities normally have a form of instructions, which is delivered through a visual or auditory way. After the instructions are given, a student can use their best learning style to accomplish the assignment. The learning circle that I created absolutely involved a kinesthetic form of learning that can improve the understanding of the material. I know while I was making and playing the learning circle that I could actually remember the answers faster than just using one method of reading it (visual) or hearing it (auditory). Combining different learning styles can certainly improve the learning process and make it more enjoyable. I found myself using my primary learning style at its full capacity too. I’m and auditory learner and was reading and talking my way through the whole project. I found that using the kinesthetic method helped strengthen my auditory learning, which made my understanding of the instructions more clear and resulting in a fun game that I learned U.S. government facts. I believe because it helped my auditory learning style that it will also help visual learners as well. I will absolutely be using the learning circle in my classroom and even as a study guide for myself.
Kailey Marchant
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Blog #3
These type of kinesthetic activities help all types of learners including auditory and visual. I am a very multimodal learner. With having this type of learning style I use many different styles of learning depending on what the activity asks for. When students are given the opportunity to chose a kinesthetic activity its best for them to hear and understand the instructions in order for the student to pick the best activity for them. Combining these different learning styles can improve the students grade and make learning more enjoyable to them. For myself I found the learning circle to be the most helpful. I find myself double checking because i feel I may have picked the wrong answer. The learning circle helps because I can check myself just by a flip of the circle. This also helps my visual learning and tactical by making the circle an then watching the answers connect to the correct problems. I would love using this different learning styles in my classroom and as I continue my journey in college.
For my learning style activities I decided make a Learning Circle in addition to the Task Card. This is the first time I ever show such an activity. This was a really pleasant experience for me. In the past I have had a chance to teach kids in a summer camp. I honestly believe I knew about this methods, I could have created some fun classes.
ReplyDeleteFor my Task Card, I made one for probably pre-school or 1st graders. I made that so they can match the name of the item (picture) and the color of it. Since Task Card is almost like solving a puzzle, I think the kids would love to do those.
For my Learning Circle, I imagine a class where students are taking arts, and it is their first class where the teacher is introducing them the primary colors. When I was a student I primary school, I had fun mixing colors and making new colors. I thought Learning Circle would be a fun way to kick-start the exercise.
As far as the result of my Learning-Style Packets goes, I cannot say I am too surprised. My results were: Visual: 28; Auditory: 32; and Tactile: 30. I would not say those numbers are totally accurate, as I guessed some of them. Especially, my visual would be probably way lower. I am very bad at understanding something just by reading. But with a good teacher presenting in the class, I can learn the material and remember them for a long time. I still remember most of the materials my Economics teacher taught me when I was in Secondary School back in 2003-2005, yet I have a hard time understanding materials I learned last year in my Economics class, just because the method both teachers chose was very different. However, I am not just an Auditory person either. At times, I prefer Visual, at there are times I cannot do or understand anything without Tactile method.
Ashley Wright
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Learning Styles
I believe that kinesthetic activities such as these help all learners because they are tactile and incorporate all styles of learning. I chose to do the Pick-A-Hole which incorporates visual and kinesthetic. Since I am a visual learner, I really liked this activity. I can see the answers while still moving the note card. You could easily make it an activity that involves auditory learners by having them say the questions out loud or having someone else read them the questions. The task cards also were great for kinesthetic and visual learners.
Blog #3
ReplyDeleteSeeing someone do something, makes it easier to understand how it is done. When I did my learning-style packet, my result weighed more on me preferring an auditory method. And, for most part it is the right assumption. But there are times when I need to see how something are done, just to understand how to do it.
Two summers ago, I was learning how to make friendship bracelets. The basic pattern was very easy to learn when someone showed me how to do it. But, I do not like to be doing just a simple pattern. I enjoy trying new things and ideas. So, I decided to learn new patterns. I tried making some using a pattern some of my fellow-camp-counselors were using. But I just could not figure out how to do them as I could not understand just by looking at a pattern.
So, I decided to look up some patterns using youtube. Before I knew it, I was making more advanced friendship bracelet, just because I show someone else doing it.
So, I believe it helps students a lot when a teacher do some kinesthetic activities, regardless whether the student might not be kinesthetic learners.
My learning style is a bit of a shared dominance between Visual and Auditory, with little emphasis on the Kinesthetic aspect. My scores were 30 for visual, 30 for auditory, and 24 for the tactile preference score. Although my tactile score was lower than the others, I found that I rated some of the TPS questions as a 5, such as playing with coins or keys in my pockets throughout the day. I do that all of the time. That being said, I know I've always learned best by seeing and hearing the concepts. Being a political science and philosophy major, the concepts I learn about are often not susceptible to any tactile interpretation. In fact, many of the things are merely ideas and concepts, often hypothetical or unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteIn this respect, it was very interesting for me to find out how the learning styles inventory rated me. Perhaps my strengths in the auditory and visual preferences (and my relative weakness in the tactile preference) attracted me towards a major/career that I would be best at.
By the way, I created task cards (showing countries with different currencies, as well as the correct symbol for each currency). I enjoyed doing these, it was fun and easy and if I were a student learning about those things, the task cards would have helped me retain information more easily.
DeleteThe other activity that I did was a wrap around, with major nations from around the world and the capital cities of each one. Although I liked this game as well, I thought to myself that the task cards may be more effective because they can be used over and over again, whereas the student may only use the wrap around 2 or 3 times until they've effectively memorized the relationship between the two terms.
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I think that my two activities (wrap-around and task cards) would be suitable for almost every student regardless of their tactile, auditory, or visual preferences. The reason for this is that these activities, and the other ones that were suggested, have components of all three. For example, these are all kinesthetic activities, but they are often done in groups by students. In that case, students talk with one another to collectively solve the puzzle (auditory), or they sound out words to one another (auditory). They also see the written words, symbols or phrases (visual), and they literally make these connections with their hands (visual and kinesthetic), as was the case with my wrap around. Because of the mixture of these three styles within our learning activities, all students' styles can be included, and all students may then learn effectively.
For my learning styles activity I have chosen to make task cars and wrap around. For the task cards I have chosen to match the name of the country with its own flag and the city from the same country. For the wrap around I did something similar; however I match the country with its capital city.
ReplyDeleteAfter completing the learning styles inventory I found out that I am a visual learner which wasn't very surprising for me. When I try to memorize something I always make sure that not only I read the information but also look at the whole page several times. Things like: images, pictures, maps and any kind of visual material, always makes it easier for me to learn.