1. LEARNING STYLES
Rose Wedemeyer-Academic Skills Center

2. Student Success Resources

3. Your Preferred Learning Style
 Visual
 Aural/Auditory
 Reading/Writing
 Kinesthetic
 Multimodal
(Fleming, 2001)

5. Visual Learners
 Want the whole picture
 Are often swayed by the look of an
object
 Are interested in color, layout, and
design
 Are likely to draw things
 Do well with instructors who use
pictures, videos, diagrams, graphs,
flow charts
(Fleming, 2001)

6. Note-taking for Visual Learners
 Underline
 Highlight
 Use different colors
 Use Post-its
 Draw diagrams, concept maps, flow charts
 Beware of doodling

7. Studying for Visual Learners
 Look at your notes
 Look at the diagrams, tables, charts in the
textbook
 Replace words from notes with symbols

8. Studying for Visual Learners
Transfer notes and concepts from lecture into
documents using Smart Art (flowcharts,
diagrams)

9. Test-taking for Visual Learners
 If allowed, draw
diagrams, flow charts
on the test
 For multiple choice
questions, cover up
the options and write
your own answer,
then find the answer
that most closely
matches yours
 Visualize the
diagrams and flow
charts you created

10. Aural/Auditory Learners
 Prefer to have information explained to them
 Do not find written words as valuable as words
they hear
 Do well when instructors lecture, play audio,
have debates and class discussions
(Fleming, 2001)

11. Note-taking for Auditory
Learners
 Attend class so that you can hear the lecture
 Use a tape recorder to record the lecture
 Leave spaces in your notes for later recall and
“filling”
(Fleming, 2001)

12. Studying for Auditory Learners
 Attend discussions and tutorials
 Expand your notes by talking with others and
adding notes from the textbook
 Put your summarized notes onto tapes and
listen to them
 Discuss topics with other students and teachers
 Ask others to “hear” your understanding of the
topic
 Read your summarized notes aloud
 Explain your notes to another “aural” person
(Fleming, 2001)

13. Test-taking for Auditory
Learners
 Imagine talking with the examiner
 Spend time in quiet places recalling the ideas
 Practice writing answers to old exam questions
 Speak your answers aloud or in your head
(Fleming, 2001)

14. Reading/Writing Learners
 Prefer an emphasis on words and lists
 Find handouts more helpful than lectures
 Prefer reading over lectures and discussions
(Fleming, 2001)

15. Note-taking for Reading/Writing
Learners
 Use outlines and lists when taking notes
 Include page numbers from the text when
taking notes

16. Studying for Reading/Writing
Learners
 Turn notes into paragraphs with beginnings and
endings
 Arrange notes into outlines
 Write out key terms again and again
 Reword the ideas and concepts
 Organize any diagrams, graphs into statements
 Develop lists of similar concepts, key terms
 Reread handouts
 Use indexes, glossaries
(Fleming, 2001)

17. Test-taking for Reading/Writing
Learners
 If allowed, write exam answers on the test
 For multiple choice questions, cover up the
response choices and write your own answer,
then select the response that most closely
matches
 If allowed, write key words and terms on the
test
(Fleming, 2001)

18. Kinesthetic Learners
 Want to experience the concepts so they can
understand it
 Need to do things to understand
 Prefer activities over lecture
(Fleming, 2001)

19. Note-taking for Kinesthetic
Learners
 Pay attention to the real-life examples
described in the lecture
 Include plenty of examples in your notes
 Describe activities (laboratories, field trips) and
what you experienced
(Fleming, 2001)

20. Studying for Kinesthetic
Learners
 Revise and re-write your lecture notes
 Use case studies to learn concepts
 Talk about your notes with another kinesthetic
learner
 Use pictures and photographs to illustrate the
idea
 Go back to the laboratory or classroom to
study
 Recall the activities and experiments
(Fleming, 2001)

21. Test-taking for Kinesthetic
Learners
 Role play the exam questions
 Recall the examples associated with the
concepts
 Recall the activities related to the questions
(Fleming, 2001)

22. Multi-modal Learners
 Have 2 or 3 strong preferences (visual,
auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic) or are
pretty even on all 4
 Consider taking another self-assessment to
confirm the results

23. Questions?

24. In Groups:
 “Teach” the rest of the class about one of the
styles:
 Visual:
 Auditory:
 Reading/Writing:
 Kinesthetic:
Present study tips to the rest of the group
Include at least two examples from your current
courses