How do You Learn Best?

[Invincible 2,090]

I have found that i absorb information a lot quicker through visual transmission. I don't know if that's the same with anyone else, but i find that depiction of thought in media doesn't apply to me - i don't have this inner voice inside my head, but rather thoughts in my mind come as series of images. If i can relate the proper context to an image, i can easily learn the idea behind something.

 

To learn, i usually read and re-read a phrase, repeatedly solve a problem or write a solution to an equation or code over and over again until i have the images memorized, then the next time i'm accessing that knowledge i can already predict what my next step should be. Knowing how the desired results should look like also helps bridge between missing steps if i'm to solve something which only conceptually similar to things iv'e done before.

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

I am predominately a kinesthetic learner, although I retain knowledge best when it's combined with Tactile and Visual...

[Nulln 754]

I can appreciate your stance against meat.

I still say that dissections are useful. The argument that animals are harmed by dissection is not really true. While many animals are used, most of them are waste products destined for the landfill. Some estimates place the number of animals killed for dissection around 1%. That's not to say I advocate animal abuse. Rather I believe that, when done properly, dissection helps to instill a greater understanding of and respect for our fellow beings. Hearing that all mammals begin life as female until testosterone kicks in is one thing. Seeing the transformation halfway through is something else entirely. Seeing the nerves and blood vessels in an earthworm may make you think twice before "playing" with one. After all, you have the same things yourself.

I don't see why there's a need for everyone to see everything's insides and for things to be killed for that when we already know about it.  Like I said, there's pictures, models, computer programs that will look just like the real thing.  Nothing should have to die for it.

[ARagY 1,152]

I'm actually unsure. I'm able to think multiple things at one time without any less focus on any one of them, which is useful in math, so I can do things I understand, at least, pretty easily and quickly. However this is detrimental when writing and in a rush. 

 

Usually in high school I didn't even study that much. And when I did I just said it out loud, worked out the reasoning for WHY something is the way it is, and then it stuck in for the test.

 

So I guess I'm better with auditory things.

[Zygen 6,065]

I'm mainly a visual learner: I learn by reading and repeating the words in my head.

I do that sometimes, maybe with like vocabulary words and stuff when studying. But again it depends.

 

I learn by understanding things. From every possible angle. I analyze it until it is completely understood.

 

I pick things up quickly, because I'm good at this.

Hm. Well that sounds like it might be a combination of things depending on how you go about it.

 

That's pretty cool though, nice to be able to pick things up quickly i'm sure.

 

I always told my teachers this and it is true. I learn by doing all three of those.

A combination is what many posses I believe, myself included, I just kinda wanted to have the poll focus on one, but really we all learn with each to some extent I believe.

 

Oh yeah I remember learning this lesson about learning styles I wanna say ehhhh maby 4 years ago.

But I'm definitely a more visual and hands on learner than anything else.

I've never had a lesson on it, just had it briefly mentioned before. I did a tiny bit of research on it, but not much really.

 

Auditory all the way. If someone gives me verbal instructions, I'll remember them for quite a long time. When I read instructions on paper or look at a picture, I tend to forget what I just read or saw like 5 seconds later (unless I read it aloud!)

That's kinda like how I am with checking the time on my phone xD. I forget about it like 5 seconds later.

 

I do the same thing auditorially sometimes too though. I might hear something, and forget it 5 seconds later.

 

As far as saying names goes though, usually after saying someones name like 2-3 times I can usually remember it. Don't think it quite works elsewhere though.

 

I'm still not entirely sure how I learn. I can't seem to find a way that works most of the time. Sometimes I can learn really well from any one of these methods and other times none of them work at all. It might just be me not being able to learn unless I find something interesting, since if it's something I like I can memorize it incredibly easy.

 

 This became a big problem in later school years because no matter how many times I tried I just couldn't seem to memorize the things I had to. Except in English class where I could learn with almost no effort at all.

It is true that interest in a subject certainly helps with learning.

 

You may not be one or the other, but a combination of many different ones, don't overthink it I mean, because like i've said before, many people will be a mix to some extent or another.

 

I learn most from my mistakes

Mistakes are great teachers, and a part of learning, so don't be afraid to make them!

 

Experientially!  I must experience it to learn it.

So I guess you'd be either kinesthetic or Tactile primarily i'd imagine.

 

I'm mostly a kinesthetic/tactile learner (can't quite tell which is stronger; so long as I'm able to stay mobile in some way, I tend to retain more information).  Below that, I'm more auditory than I am visual.  It's sort of a pain in terms of schoolwork because lectures do little to nothing for me, and reading textbooks is useless unless I read every passage a dozen times or I take notes while reading.  Doing the homework is really the only way I really learn anything.  On the flip side though, it provides an excellent incentive to actually do the homework. 

Well, if you like to stay mobile I think you'd lean towards Kinesthetic. Tactile is sort of similar, but not. ;p

 

And I can see how that would be a pain for school, but it is true it would be a nice motivator for schoolwork I suppose.(Speaking of that, I have homework to do I think ;p.)

I learn visually. I can hear the words the teacher says but if I don't see them do/demonstrate/point out the given instructions or knowledge (specifically on a complicated or large lesson especially in Math) then I likely will not get how or what to do right away.

 

This not only applies to school but even some of my hobbies such as drawing. I have yet to find a drawing style and it's simply because I cannot pull an image from my brain and put it down on paper yet. I likely have a few more years of practicing drawing already created characters before I can really do my own characters or images without a reference guide.

I see, that can be frusterating at times. Of course with drawing I think that comes from experience, personally I cannot draw worth anything.

 

Idk how long that it takes, but I'm sure you can do it with some work .

 

Well, I mean in college.  lol

I don't remember doing anything really gross.  We handled pond water, but nothing too dirty.  lol

No dissections, if that's what you mean.  I would refuse to do that even if it was part of the class.  Not because I'm squeamish, just because I think it's wrong.

Oh, well as a highschooler I forget about the existence of college i guess at times xD.

 

Really? Well, I suppose it isn't to bad then sounds like. We had to dissect frogs for ours, yeah.. i couldn't hardly look at it half the time, not to mention preservatives smell.

 

I'm not really a big fan of the whole thing personally, I actually use to have a pretty big fear of guts and inside parts and stuff until recently actually, now I'm slightly tolerant, but still it makes me sick, and i'd rather not deal with it.

 

Dissections are important in biology. Even if it's just earth worms. I know a doctor who did some of his cadaver work on a professor of his that died. It's a bit messed up, but it's also very important. Take fetal pigs for example. They are a by-product of the pork industry. We can use them for science or we can toss 'em. They aren't specifically harvested. Being against dissection only make sense if you are against meat, imo. I think that the discomfort from doing dissections is in itself beneficial. That's my two bits on that.

 

I think learning styles are less important when to comes to learning. Knowing what helps you is good, but it's thought that using all of them helps you to learn the knowledge better than any one alone. Taking the same information in different ways helps to reinforce it. Knowing some techniques is more helpful. 

 

Interestingly, some classic techniques are less useful than others. Highlighting, for example, is not seen as favorably as it once was. Neither are rereading or summarizing. The cram session is frowned upon too. Spreading the learning out is good though. As are practice tests or flash cards. Anything the encourages you to pull the info out of you mind. 

 

Example flash card: integral calculus 

1: the area under a curve

2: integral.jpg

3: integral formula.gif

4: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0LA0WBM0mTY (audio)

 

By putting the information in several forms and then trying to recall the answer, you can increase your ability to remember this fact.

Yeah, with learning styles I agree. They are important in a way, but you don't want to isolate yourself to only one, you never know what you might discover with some adventuring.

 

And yeah, I don't really care for highlighting, never helped me ;p.

 

Really I think it depends on the person really what helps. Some may benefit from certain techniques better than others. It all depends I suppose.

 

I can appreciate your stance against meat.

I still say that dissections are useful. The argument that animals are harmed by dissection is not really true. While many animals are used, most of them are waste products destined for the landfill. Some estimates place the number of animals killed for dissection around 1%. That's not to say I advocate animal abuse. Rather I believe that, when done properly, dissection helps to instill a greater understanding of and respect for our fellow beings. Hearing that all mammals begin life as female until testosterone kicks in is one thing. Seeing the transformation halfway through is something else entirely. Seeing the nerves and blood vessels in an earthworm may make you think twice before "playing" with one. After all, you have the same things yourself.

I think dissections can be useful, infact they are in many ways, without them we wouldn't have medicines and other things. But I personally don't care for them as guts and stuff make me sick ;p.

 

I have found that i absorb information a lot quicker through visual transmission. I don't know if that's the same with anyone else, but i find that depiction of thought in media doesn't apply to me - i don't have this inner voice inside my head, but rather thoughts in my mind come as series of images. If i can relate the proper context to an image, i can easily learn the idea behind something.

 

To learn, i usually read and re-read a phrase, repeatedly solve a problem or write a solution to an equation or code over and over again until i have the images memorized, then the next time i'm accessing that knowledge i can already predict what my next step should be. Knowing how the desired results should look like also helps bridge between missing steps if i'm to solve something which only conceptually similar to things iv'e done before.

That's interesting.. So you see pictures instead of hearing things? Very interesting. But wait, don't you have to have some kind of internal voice in order to like read and stuff? ;p

 

Anyways, i still get what your saying I think.

 

I see, so you kinda have the picture of how it's suppose to work in your head, you just have to get there, and you'll know when you've got there. Sorta like a photographic memory.

 

I am predominately a kinesthetic learner, although I retain knowledge best when it's combined with Tactile and Visual...

A combination is helpful for many! Especially since many different activities and learning techniques use different types of learning combined.

 

I don't see why there's a need for everyone to see everything's insides and for things to be killed for that when we already know about it.  Like I said, there's pictures, models, computer programs that will look just like the real thing.  Nothing should have to die for it.

I don't want to sound rude or anything, so I apologize if I do, but i'd rather not have the debate get to deep in seeing as it's a different topic ;p.

 

Sorry, I just don't want things to get out of hand or anything. 

[Red Cedar 1,407]

I'm a visual/kinesthetic learner (both almost equally dominant).

 

You can probably google any of a number of different questionaires to help determine what style you are if you're interested. The most commonly used one was developed by the University of Hawaii.

 

There are more learning styles than that, even, but people with a taste or smell based learning style are rare.

[Invincible 2,090]

 

 

That's interesting.. So you see pictures instead of hearing things? Very interesting. But wait, don't you have to have some kind of internal voice in order to like read and stuff? ;p   Anyways, i still get what your saying I think.   I see, so you kinda have the picture of how it's suppose to work in your head, you just have to get there, and you'll know when you've got there. Sorta like a photographic memory.

 

When i read, i paint a picture or a situation in my mind. I suppose it's a hassle sometimes, because i have to understand what i'm seeing when i read - if i can't imagine it, i can't understand it. So sometimes i stop to reread a passage just to get a clearer picture. As for writing, i do the exact opposite - i try picturing something in my mind and words just 'pop up' to describe it. Sometimes i have a bit of trouble to find the right wording so i have a tendency to silently mouth words to make sure i write something coherent.

 

I don't have incredible those incredible forms photographic memory if that's what you're thinking . I can't really do speed reading through books or anything of that nature, but i do remember a lot more clearly things that iv'e seen.

[GammaDove 428]

Um. which one does nap in class and absorb from that, and doodling fall under? Tactile? Yeah, Tactile.

[crazitaco 596]

Definitely a visual/tactical learner.

To study or prepare for my art history class, I sketched each art piece in my notebook alongside important facts.

The process of sketching them out helped me remember the facts next to them more easily since i would see the art piece every time i read my notes.

I also learn well by watching someone do something and then trying it myself. A good example of this would be origami videos.

My auditory learning skills are horrendous though. A few seconds of explanation and I start to zone out. I was always horrible at math for this reason. If I asked for help on a problem my teachers would just verbally tell me how to solve it and I would walk back to my desk with no clue what they had just told me.

Edited August 14, 2014 by crazitaco

[Jonquil 20]

I've always been a hands-on learner and am excellent with categorical information. I won't remember anything I read in a textbook, but I'll remember everything I handle and various facts about people I spent time around like their field, their interests, their family, etc.

[SparklingSwirls 21,269]

I've never heard of the term "kinesthetic" before, but I guess that would be me since I find it more interesting to do things rather than just seeing or hearing something. I tend to remember things better that way as well.

[CT-1138 3,180]

Kinesthetic. I won't learn unless I do it myself. I pick things up quick when I figure it out on my own, but I'm terrible at learning how to do something just by watching somebody else, and I don't pick anything up just by listening to somebody. 

[Hashi 323]

Give me something to learn and I will learn it. Especially formulas and methods in maths and other subjects. Read it through once and I know how to do it xD Really useful in maths and programming.

 

Problem is even though I get almost every single thing I do right, (maths especially) I'm slow and very methodical with everything, so I do have to practice a load if I want to get some speed

Edited August 17, 2014 by Hazukashii Flux

[MagicalStarRain 599]

It really depends on what I'm trying to learn.  For the most part, I learn visually, but I learn best kinetically when I'm learning tae kwon do.  When I'm studying a foreign language, it's a mix of all four.  When it comes to drawing, I'm 10% visual and 90% tactile.

[catnet 9,353]

I'm a tactile learner, I guess- the note-taking works fairly well in my case, and that's the way I normally get around to revising. Not a huge fan of the hands-on approach though, I must say =/

 

My memory is terrible when it comes to auditory and visual data

Edited February 8, 2015 by Edwarda_Bronette

[Po-Nonimous 583]

I've always learned best by doing. The more I do a thing the better I get at it so, yeah, hands-on always worked best for me.

[Haruhi-chan 486]

I'm an auditory learner. I can learn better from what I hear than what I can see or do. It was always something that baffled my teachers because I never did my schoolwork, yet I could pass tests and quizzes like no tomorrow though. XD

[Venomous 18,817]

Tactile learner seems to fit me best.

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

Kinesthetic, definitely. You could explain how to do something until you're blue in the face, but until I can actually put that into action and get hands-on experience then a lot of it flies right over my head or prompts me to just zone out sometimes.  

Edited February 8, 2015 by PoisonClaw

[Shift 4,271]

Tactile learner. For whatever reason when i'm doodling I listen better.

[Blue Cloud 33]

I'm a kinesthetic learner. 

[Snow Frostflame 3,567]

I learn the best with example.... I can teach myself sometimes but I like learning from example.... guess that's considered visual.... I think

Edited February 9, 2015 by Snowflake Frostflame

[Darius 70]

By absorbing the Lifeforce of my victims.

 

 

Just kidding Usually I learn best by visually or manually doing something, not from reading / watching it. 

[DashYoshi 9,564]

I am definitely a kinesthetic learner, with slight tendencies on visual. I am nearly incapable of learning something if I do not learn by doing or through in-depth examples.

[AFK 89]

It may sounds silly but I use a combination of all 4 for the best effect.

 

I like to play with ideas I am learning.

It makes it less dry and more alive.