Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Learning styles 3 2.1. Visual learners 3 2.2. Auditory learners 4 2.3. Kinaesthetic learners 4 3. Functional skills 5 4. Differentiation 6 5. Conclusion 7 6. References 8 7. Appendix 1: Learning styles self-assessment 9 8. Appendix 2: Embedding functional skills in a PTTLS session 13
Introduction
This assignment is about different teaching and learning approaches. It describes the 3 main learning styles as identified in the Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK) model. It then goes on to describe how each of these learning styles could be accommodated by different teaching approaches.
The section that follows describes the functional skills, the importance of these skills for learners and how these skills could be embedded in lessons. With specific examples of how this could be done in my specialist area of IT training are included.
Learning styles
Learning styles are simply different approaches or ways of learning. One of the recognised ways of categorising these learning styles is by the VAK model (Table 1).
Table 1 shows the 3 learning styles together with a brief description.
Table [ 1 ] VAK model Learning style | Description | Visual | Seeing and reading | Auditory | Listening and speaking | Kinaesthetic | Touching and doing |
Awareness of these different types of learning approaches enables a teacher to vary their methods of teaching to accommodate the different types of learners that are likely to be in a typical class.
From the learner’s perspective, it is important to be aware of these different learning approaches. It may be possible to explore a more appropriate activity to understand or grasp a particularly difficult subject.
Visual learners
These learners learn through seeing and reading and visualising. They need to see the teacher's body language and facial
References: Casey, H. et al (2006) “You wouldn’t expect a maths teacher to teach plastering..” NRDC [online] Bloom, Benjamin. (1956). Student-centred learning Wikepedia [online]