Questionnaires
So what's your style? Try this, or get your child to have a go. Save the results of this mini-questionnaire and do the same set of questions a year or two later, or even longer, and compare the results.
1. A party you are at with a friend includes some Scottish country dancing, with a caller who encourages everyone to come up and have a go – even the ones who have never done anything similar before. Your friend is an expert. Do you:
A. Watch from the sidelines and see if you can understand the main moves by careful observation
B. Ask your friend to practice some steps with you away from the main crowd
C. Partner your friend in the dance, so they can stay with you and keep you right
D. Jump in with both feet and pick it up as you go along!
2. Your new TV and DVD system has a number of special features that are new to you. Do you:
A. Look carefully at the manual and read it thoroughly before you attempt to work the TV system
B. Use the book and the knobs and buttons together, practicing using the system until you become familiar with it
C. Call a technician or an expert in your family to show you how to use each function and then copy what they're doing
D. Go a bit crazy with button pushing until you learn
by experience what seems to work best.
3. You've bought a flat-pack garden furniture set of a table and four chairs for your partner's birthday. Do you:
A. Some days before their birthday look at the diagram that comes with the pack and make sure you understand it before you attempt to do anything
B. Look at the diagram and bring in an expert friend to help you do the first chair before you have a go at the rest yourself
C. Ask your expert friend to do one chair on their own, asking them questions about the right way to do it
D. Put the pack away until the evening before the birthday, knowing you will manage to do the job yourself somehow.
Results
Mainly A: you are a theorist who learns best by understanding before practicing what you have learnt
Mainly B: you are a reflector who likes to be shown something and to be given the opportunity to think about it
Mainly C: you are a pragmatist who learns best from someone who will answer questions as well as teaching you
Mainly D: you are an activist who learns best by doing
Do it the VARK way
One well-known questionnaire is VARK. The letters stand for 'Visual', 'Auditory', 'Read/Write' and 'Kinesthetic', and these words describe, in technical terms, 'sensory modalities'. They label an individual's preferences for methods of taking in information.
You or your child may be predominantly a 'visual learner' without it meaning you can't ever learn anything in any other way. It doesn't mean you learn only by seeing something. In VARK terms, a visual learner prefers graphs, maps and charts instead of words, but the same learner can also read or hear the same information and learn from it – maybe not so well, easily or quickly.
Multiple intelligences
Unfazed by the idea that there might be at least eight different intelligences and over 48 possible learning style combinations?
Then take the test based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences to find your style. The Birmingham Grid for Learning's clear and detailed quiz will help you pin down your child or your own place on the multiple intelligences wheel. You can keep coming back to it to see how your learning styles are developing.
Learning power
Know your learning styles and you'll study more efficiently, say a growing number of schools and colleges.
One American community college's questionnaire helps you identify how you learn best and then gives handy tips for boosting your particular weaknesses.
If you're a visual learner, for example, you might find it helpful to improve your listening or note-taking skills. If you're an independent learner, taking on greater leadership in group activities might give you more sense of control.
It's all about finding out what learning activities challenge you or your child and then taking steps to strengthen your approach. Knowledge is power!
Find out more from Campaign for Learning and Mind Tools.
