from Judith McDaniel
Teaching a hunter how to hunt
Okay, this finally makes sense to me. I have always known that different folks learn differently. I knew that in third grade when I liked to read the stories myself and my kid sister always wanted them read aloud to her. But as a teacher, how can I possibly adapt my classroom materials to a visual and auditory and kinesthetic learning preference by different students.
I can’t. I can vary how I teach different materials. But I can’t teach the same material three different ways. And I don’t have to, according to psychologist Harold Pashler, writing in an article published this month in Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Pashler and his colleagues have found that the important factor in learning is that the method of teaching match the subject matter being taught.
So if I am teaching research methods, I might give some theoretical overview, but the most important part of how I teach research methods is that I ask the students to go and do research on a variety of topics. I don’t worry much about whether the visual learners are going to learn as well as the kinesthetic learners, research has to be taught “hands on.” I’m there to answer questions, but they don’t even know what questions to ask until they’ve run into a road block as they do the research themselves.
For me this also is relevant to online learning, which I will write about next week. Are there some subjects that should not be taught online? Absolutely. Are there some students who should never be taught online? I don’t think so. Stay tuned.
Tags: learning styles, online learners, online learning, teaching styles
