My understanding on different learning styles and its influence on learning.
Learning styles of individuals is certainly a broad subject that delves into sever different fields of study and ideas concerning how we absorb information and what we make of that information. One of the first things to consider when thinking about how data comprehension works would be perspectives on learning and various ways that we process information. The oldest and most straightforward of these perspectives is that learning is communication. It its most basic structure, the learning-as-communication model sets the teacher as the giver of instruction and the student as the absorber of instruction, often providing feedback to the teacher in the form of questions and even test results. However, the learning-as-communication model is not without outside influence on both the giver of instruction and the absorber of instruction. Environmental factors such as classroom noise, poor lighting or temperature can affect how efficiently information is given by the teacher and absorbed by the student. Also, psychological factors, such as inner emotional turmoil of any kind can have a similar effect on both parties involved. And finally, personal filters, such as how relevant the student finds particular information, can affect the efficiency of information acquisition.
Another perspective on learning is the Behaviorist perspective. According to this perspective, learning is passive process that occurs through a series of actions and reinforcements for those actions, both positive and negative. That is to say, learning is dependent on external stimuli.
The opposing perspective to the behaviorist's is the Cognitive perspective. The idea of learning as a predominately cognitive process stresses that learning is stimulated through internal processes rather than external actions. The cognitivist will argue that the reasoning and through processes associated with learning run deeper than behavior and cannot be quantified through traditional means. Closely related to the Cognitive perspective is the Constructivist perspective. The two differ in that the Constructivist perspective will argue that these cognitive processes associated with learning vary among individuals depending on personal experiences which create relevancy.
In conjunction with these perspectives on information acquisition, it is also important to consider the different learning styles of individuals. When considering various learning styles, it is important to understand that individuals have a dominant sensory gateway. That is, a student may have an auditory, visual or kinesthetic sensory gateway. Auditory students learn best through hearing information. Visual students learn best through seeing information, and kinesthetic students learn best through hands-on activity and by doing. These aren't necessarily extremes, so a student may rely both on seeing and doing to acquire information, although for most individuals, one will be dominant.
With these things in mind, it very important to maintain an eclectic perspective on teaching. You will almost certainly have students that each have different sensory gateways. So, for most lessons, it could be prudent to switch up the method of information presentation so that you are catering to each individual's learning method as often as possible.
