OT: Learning Styles
SickleYield
Posts: 7,644
A discussion in another thread brought this to my attention.
The way humans learn is a topic of special interest to me, partly because my Mom has always been an educator and it's of special interest to her. So: How do YOU learn? Are you more visual, or auditory, or kinesthetic - do you need to hear it out loud? Do you need to see it in front of you? Do you need to do something with your hands related to it before you really understand it? Are you more linear or spatial?
I personally am fairly linear where my sister, Fuseling, is very spatial - as a consequence, she is better at math and physics, whereas I am better at language and grammar than most people (probably not better than Fuse, unfortunately, but she is unusual). I'm also very visual/verbal. If it can't be explained in printed words, it's much harder for me to learn it. I watched my mother show me the knit stitch many times, but I didn't learn to DO it until I had found a diagram and printed instructions. And once I've seen something in print, I need to say it out loud - I'm watching the words proceed across my mind's eye. I'm extremely good at memorizing words, phrases and quotes and TERRIBLE at navigating in a car.
So what works best for you? Have you trained yourself in other learning styles, and if so, how? I've gotten a little better at spatial thinking as I've worked in 3d, but it's still not the most comfortable for me.
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Me, I learned zbrush just off youtube vids, didn't pick up a book or manual. Same with Daz Studio. I must watch to learn. My brain picks up sequences better, eg watching how somebody goes from menu to menu achieving a specific result, or seeing where they go to use a specific function. I'd get lost if I had to read all that. For specific questions, threads fill the gap.
Hmmm, a topic that's near and dear to my mind and heart. Being dyslexic and ADDA and socially stunted (can't speak to a group of people even if I know every one of them) it's been a sometimes very rough road for me. I think that's why when I do a tutorial I write it out as I would need it written out, esp if there is going to be not many screen shots or vids) I get folks commenting on how easy it was for them to follow along. If I can't then I expect there are others out there with the same learning disabilities and that's just not fair to US. When someone writes out a tutorial but skips steps or abbreviates things to the point where I'm constantly asking for them to clarify I usually give up and move on. I'm always asking for screen shots or video's so my brain can absorb the information better. But for folks that learn easily from just the words don't get folks like me and you and her and that one over there's inability to absorb information from just the words and if that's all we have to go on (as in school home work) I would sometimes have to re read the information 3 or 4 times and use my imagination to create a little vid inside my head to understand the information better. At almost 53 years of age it's pretty easy going these days (except for my short term memory, which has always been troublesome but now.... not good some days). Dealing with learning disabilities is no fun but having old age issues on top of it keeps things interesting to say the least! lol
I had NO IDEA that Fuseling was your sister! COOL!
It kinda depends on what I'm learning. The more kinetic the action, the more I need to see it in action.
Spinning a trackball and typing on a keyboard? (ie most computer work) Text/pictures work best. Especially if I've figured out most of what I need to do, and it's just a step between point M and point O that I'm missing, because I can scan text far faster and easier than I can a video. Also I'll need to see the video once before I can skim it, while text I generally know what phrase I'm looking for, so even if I've never cracked the document before, I can usually find just what I need.
Sewing? Generally the same. Not a lot of motion in guiding fabric through a machine. Embroidery too, though that does involve more motion. Though it's been a very long time since I was taught how to sew, so I've got enough basics down that I can figure out what I don't know fairly easily.
Knitting, Beading, a new cooking technique? These I can pick up from text and pictures, but sometimes video helps me figure out that last bit that I'm not quite getting.
Dance? Visual, by far. (not that I've done any choreographed dancing in years) I'd guess martial arts would fit here too, if I were ever to join my daughter's dojang.
Oh, and while I'm not especially good at math or physics, I am very good with maps.
I'm a hands on and visual person. Being ADD and dyslexic as many other here it seems I had a rough time growing up. I have learned all my programs by videos and a lot of playing. I can at times use manuals if it is more pictures than words and has to be a do this, or do that. I was always told I was stupid by family and friends regardless of getting good grade because I couldn't retain information. The only reason I did good in school was because I worked very hard for it reading books 3 to 4 times before it starting sinking in. I have a pretty high IQ but just have a learning disability. I thank god every day that my two kids didn't inherit my disability. The one is a straight A student who is in a STEM program at school and the other should be but he's to busy playing video games. His teacher complain cause he sleeps in class and aces the tests. The kid will not do homework regardless of any discipline we have for him.
Cool thread Sickle...here's a link to some information on Gardner who is one of the experts on multiple intelligences http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences for anyone who is interested.
I find a combination of written and visual learning methods work best for me. I often go back and re-read a written tutorial several times before it sinks in. And is it always helpful if there are good, clear diagrams accompanying the text. Videos are great too. Aside from the inspirational value, it is like looking over a much more accomplished person's shoulder while they create, and I can stop and replay parts that go by too quickly or that I don't quite get the first time. However, the problem I've found with many video tutorials is that the demonstrator often takes very basic steps or techniques for granted and skips over them leaving me saying, "Wait! How did you get to THAT? There must be another step in there!? What is it??" The internet is amazing in its wealth of helpful info and instructional materials. But some of the best, most comprehensive instruction I've found is stuff that I've paid for.
For me, learning is all about grasping the mental model of the system involved. I don't mind driving into a new city as long as I don't have a strict schedule to keep. I first grab a map (an actual large piece of paper with lines and squiggles on it that is a model of the area I am to visit, not a Garmin gadget that jabbers to me in unrecognizable English while displaying snippets of information on a tiny screen) and figure out about where I'm supposed to go and an approximate way to get there, determine which way is north and what the major landmarks will be. If I miss a turn on the road it's not the end of the world, but rather an opportunity to investigate an area in detail while trying to find my way back to my original route.
When I get to my basic destination lodging I then grab the local brochures and friendly guest maps of the area and decide exactly what I'm going to do or at least pick a direction in which to have an adventure. I rely on the details of the documentation and assume that they are accurate, up-to-date, and user friendly.
The same ideas can apply to learning almost anything. The establishment of a mental model of the terrain provides a skeleton for further learning. Sure you can blindly poke into all nooks crannies, and dark alleys to eventually get somewhere but it really really helps to have good maps and advice to keep you from getting shot or falling into a well.
I guess one could say that I am a linear learner but willing to do some random access adventuring. I expect a level of documentation that provides a good description of the terrain, to permit the quick and efficient building of a mental model that will serve me well in all my adventures in that terrain.
I'm visual/kinesthetic. I need to see/read/do something to retain it. I always hated teachers in school that relied on lectures without some sort of reading material to go with it. Also, I like linear, although my logic tends to differ from others.
I have the hardest time helping my kid with math because of this. Math always came easy and naturally for me, and growing up we learned two methods: the short-easy methods, and the long-hard methods. My daughter and I are reversed. The easy methods for me, are hard for her, and the hard methods for me, are easy for her. We'll come to the same answers, yet how she gets there looks completely backwards and twice the work when I look at it.
She's been behind and in special classes for math to help her catch up because her mathematical thought processes are completely different from what may be the more 'normal' routes.
Her teachers piss me off with this, also. Even when she comes up with the right answer, they'll mark her wrong because she didn't get to it "their way". I don't care how she gets to the right answer. If she finds a way to get there, and shows work proving it, I'm happy with it. Everyone ends up using calculators later on anyways. lol
It fluctuates a bit with me and it's a little odd since sometimes I pick things up instantly while others take forever to sink in. I easily forget names when they're spoken but tend to remember them when read.
And like others, I didn't know Fuseling was your sister.
I am more of a hands on person and visual. I can read something and remember the majority of what is written :-). Lo and behold all the subjects I detested in school I was very good at....go figure...lol. I love to read so word problems was never a problem for me as it was for my sisters. Now my brother can look at a math equation and give you the answer from the top of his head without working it out, but not me I had to work it to figure it out...sigh.
My 10 yr. old son had a math problem that me, my husband, and my brother was stumped on cause we could not figure out wth it was supposed be worked out as...so we ended up calling my daughter in college...lol. Once I seen how she worked it out I kinda figured the rest out. It was called finding the Distributive Property...*bug eyed here*.
An example: 54 x 67
Had to be written out like this I think: (50+4) (60+7)=
(50x60)+(50x7)+(4x60)+(4x7)=3,618
another one: 352 x 75= (n x 75) + (50 x 75) + (2 x 75) = find the value of n
Now my son is only in the 5th grade and I was banging my head against the wall....lmbo. My son knew the answers to the find n values and most of the rest of the math, but damned if I could...sigh. Thank goodness he is starting to get it. When someone asks me how to do something I have a hard time explaining it to them so I end up just taking over and doing the hands on thing...lol...I have always been that way :-).
My 7th grader is doing Algebra in his STEM curriculum.
I am very visual and I learn primarily by doing. I can watch something, read something, listen to something, or figure out something but I don't get it until I actually do it. I have to be hands on to really understand what is going on. Once I get it, I've got it for life.
I'm analytic whereas my sister is very intuitive. To give an example, we were both taking piano lessons together for a while. She could hear something and sit down to the piano and play it and also she could easily create her own songs and play really well. Me on the other hand, I had to concentrate and count out each beat.
I'm very mechanical in everything I do. It used to really bother me that I was different than the people I am around but not so much any more. I've come to grips with my quirkiness and just go with the flow.
3d stuff is harder for me because in our family my little brother was praised for art and everyone else was basically told not to bother that we'd never be good enough.
Sooooo I have this block on that part. But I have confidence that if "Art" can be learned mechanically using various steps then I can do that. I have an eye for quality. Now whether I can pull it off or not that is another thing. I have problems getting out what is in my head all the time whether through 3d renders or writing.
So in this I know I can only be so good. I'll never be a Rembrandt but I can be good enough to be satisfied.
I learn by reading, I like to have it spelled out with diagrams to go along with the text. Videos I have a hard time concentrating on and as I try to follow along i find myself spending more time backing up and replaying them than actually learning.
I used to be a lighting designer for a company I work for and did some very interesting stuff for theatre, concerts and conventions. I learned our new Lighting Console by reading the manual and working my way through it. But due to an illness I can no longer do that creative work as I can not physically lift and hang lights anymore, Daz has given me an outlet for those creative juices,
I suppose that is why my best classes in school were my literature and history classes. I didn't have a learning disability my problem was the question 'Why?' I always wanted to know the reason things were done the way they are in math and Grammar and the old answer of 'Well it just is' was never good enough and subsequently did poorly in those classes. I was told I would never amount to anything and I should avoid college by all of my teachers except one.
Ha showed them. But even now when dealing with new computers or programs at work the first thing I go for is the written manual to help me figure it out.
I have no idea what STEM means...lol. When I am helping my son with his homework I sometimes feel like I am going back to school or need to....sigh. My son makes like he does not understand his work, but he knows cause he corrects me :-).
When I've heard it it's Science Technology Engineering Mathematics.
My daughter's school doesn't have that as a specific curriculum (or if it does, she's never used the term), though she's in every advanced class the school offers. She, like me, learns academics fairly easily from reading. Of course, the reason she got her tablet two years ago was because she was out of shelf space...
For me, I need a demonstration first, a video or a series of pictures, or a live demo. Then, I need to have it in writing. I follow along with the written instructions and pull on the memory of the video or pictures to bring what I am reading to life. I can't follow both methods at once because I pay close attention when anyone is speaking or showing something, and I also get very absorbed when reading, so each provides a distraction to the other when trying to do both. That's why I couldn't take notes in school. I had to pay attention to the professor or teacher, then later when writing the essay or taking the test, I would play back the lecture in my mind. If I tried to take notes, I would miss important points in the lecture because my writing has my full attention. Does that make sense? Maybe only to me :)
I'm a person of the LD persuasion as well. Dyslexia, dyscaluculia, and dysgraphia as well as audio processing and short term memory issues and just so the fun never stops I am also ADD. I'm very lucky in that I do read well and fairly quickly. Not to say that I don't occasionally miss read and have to go back to make sure I read what I thought I did. I avoid math where ever possible and while I now type quickly and have reasonable penmanship I have to reread anything least once and often twice to be sure it is close to coherent. Spell check helps with the spelling but even if fails me at times. Ramwolf mentioned social issues (common in some form or other for nearly all LD people) and while I am fine speaking in front of a large group I can be, and always feel, a bit awkward with smaller groups where I am actually expected to interact.
I tend to learn best by reading and then doing. Doing in some cases simply means taking notes or rewriting the text I'm reading or doing the "activity". With 3d things I generally get it after one read through and then working through the process. Long term memory is easier for me than short term things like remembering to swap the washing over to the dryer. Video is absolutely worthless to me unless there is also text on the screen to read at the same time. And even then I may loose interest and forget to watch if they dawdle to much over things. I get impatient quickly about getting to the point. I sometimes find I have watched the same little snatch of a video 3 or 4 times and not retained a single word they spoke. If I am at all stressed trying to learn with audio input is even more hopeless. In a perfect world I would have a text to read and a video as a backup in case I needed to see what button gets clicked etc.. Oh and a load of paper to take notes on that I likely will never look at again since it is the writing that I need more than the notes.
For me I need to hear someone lecture, but specifically it seems to be eye contact. If a lecturer never looks up or someone is droning behind me, it doesn't work. As long as someone makes eye contact with me while they're talking, I pretty much memorize whatever is said and understand it.
After that, I learn by doing and/or teaching. I've found that explaining something I've read how to do in a book to someone else helps me understand it. I guess it's because of that eye contact thing again.
I should note that simulated eye contact works too. If I'm watching a how to video online and the person "dings" the camera either by accident or design, it's almost as good as an in person lecturer making eye contact. Sooo... I'm going to go with social learner :D
My husband learns by reading best. Interesting side note, he has to have background noise (music or something) to concentrate. If I have background noise when I'm trying to concentrate, it falls flat-- or did until I had kids. The other day I was trying to take an online test for a class I'm taking, but was having no luck at all. Then my kids started screaming (and my baby decided it was time to nurse), and next thing you know I had an A on the test. It was really weird for me.
I'm intensely visual - as long as I can see it, I've got it. I prefer written over video because I can go at my own speed (fast) and still get high retention and comprehension. Most video tutorials depend on some amount of spoken material and anything over 2X speed tends to loose the audio portion of the tutorial. But I have an incredible memory for diagrams, video frames, and text phrases (my high school physics instructor told us NOT to memorize formulas, but to remember where to find them - and that the equation for force could be found on page 92 of our physics book, first column, bottom of the page -- and I seem to have carried this to extremes). :-)
Lectures? Don't work unless there's a comprehensive written text to go with it.
Oh - and yeah, I seem to be borderline/high-functioning Asperger's Syndrome; comes in real handy for a computer sys-admin. :-)
I'm the same way. I never could study at the library or anywhere quite. I start to focus on the occasional noises and so forth. I can't use music though because I tend to actually listen to that. TV is my white noise of choice but it needs to be something I won't need to focus on to know what is going on if I glance up.
Greetings,
I don't really learn anything until I've used the knowledge in anger. (Not literal anger, but I've used it to do something real, not a play project or lesson.)
How I've obtained the knowledge originally doesn't seem to matter much, although boring is always bad. Having extremely concise reference material that I can refer to helps me retain the knowledge, because don't need to context-switch to grab a nugget of knowledge and get back to the real task.
I've driven routes a dozen times with someone else in the car giving directions, and it wasn't until I had to do it without the directions that I actually 'learned' how to get there and didn't need their directions the next time. Sure, I remembered what they'd said before, but I made mistakes and corrected for them, and figured out why each turn was being made, where it got me relative to where I was going. That's much like my process with anything. The problem is that if the steps are too 'magic', I.e. I can't discern a pattern to the steps, then I can't build my internal map, but once I've modeled it I can fuzzy match like nobody's business. ;)
Friends, kind folk that they are, tell me I'm the A->D type, where most folks have to go A->B->C->D but I argue I just have built a mental map in my fields that makes B and C intuitive/obvious.
-- Morgan
For learning at my own speed, I prefer a well written book or manual with illustrations so I can go back and forth at my own speed and experiment, but I can generally pick things up fairly easily in most ways, be it video, print only or a photo-tutorial. The one thing that that I really dislike and tend to find difficult to follow is a "demonstration" where there isn't any narration (or text captions) running concurrent with the visuals telling me what I'm supposed to be looking at while its going on. Because, sure as the sun's going to come up in the morning, if I'm not actually looking in the wrong place at the wrong moment, the odds are good that the screen layout that's being used won't match mine. That's why the one thing that I'll usually skip are video tutorials that are nothing more than a sped up screen capture with no voice over.
...yeah,evaluating someone unfavorably just because they achieved the desired result by a different or "unconventional" method is ridiculous and petty.
In Phy Ed class back in college (required) I studied tennis for one term. While I am predominantly left handed, my grip in that hand was not all that good due to an injury years earlier, hence my serve and forehand stroke was very weak. I took it on myself to become a "switch hitter" (transferring the raquet from one hand to the other) and primarily used a backhand stroke which felt more natural to me. That was bad enough however the one thing that really irked the coach was that had I developed a right handed backhand overhead serve (sounds more clumsy that it actually was) which was very effective due to the velocity and spin it put on the ball. Won a good number of matches with that serve but was graded down and told not to try out for the school's team because I didn't use the "proper established technique".
A similar situation occurred in academic pursuits as well.
I had originally enrolled in college as an art and theatre student (double major). While I always had an interest in music, being exposed more directly to the classical genre, I developed a strong preference for it. In the second term of my first year I decided to switch majors dropping theatre to a minor (technical aspect) and picking up music. Now I had come in with no previous formal training (having taught myself how to read piano music) and thus faced an uphill battle all that makes Blender's learning curve look like a highway in mid Nebraska (the department had the mind set that if you didn't take lessons as a child, you would go nowhere in he field and thus be a waste of their time). Therein was the challenge that just fueled my desire more, for it set me on a course to prove to them I could do it just as well as anyone else in the programme. Several years later I was performing recitals, writing piano works, arranging pieces for chamber ensembles and even co founded an independent ensemble with other students from the department (which was chosen for openings of gallery shows and other campus functions over the college's "established" ensembles on several occasions). In the end, I left just shy of a year before graduating for in spite all the work I did to show them I had the "right stuff", the chairman of the department alld me into his office to say he would not confer a B of M degree (the only degree offered by the department) upon graduation even though I had all the requisite courses, credits, and grades, well as support from a number of faculty.
...and this was at a state college, not a private school.
I believe in such cases, people who are this rigid and inflexible feel it is their duty to penalise a student for taking an "unconventional" path to the same end result rather than embrace what was achieved and reward them for being innovative. I can understand this in the military, government circles, and to an extent, the business world where the notion of "chain of command" is important. However, when it occurs in an educational setting, it can have a very long lasting negative effect.
...yeah,evaluating someone unfavorably just because they achieved the desired result by a different or "unconventional" method is ridiculous and petty.
Okay...please don't flame me but I'm going to try and explain it from a teacher's point of view. With maths it's not so much about the end answer but the strategies children have to work out the answer. When I went to school we were taught a process and often applied the process without fully understanding what we were doing or why. I still remember the major aha moment I had as a mature age student when I discovered why pye actually works and I still remember losing interest when my teacher wouldn't or couldn't explain why formulas worked in Form 4. Maths nowadays is about getting students to understand why they are doing something so that if they go wrong they can go back and find the right answer. This site is what the current thinking on teaching mathematics is about http://www.backtofrontmaths.com.au/ and might give you some insight into the teachers reasoning. It sounds like the school your child is at haven't explained what they are doing very well. What was happening was that we had all these students who were getting to University level but not really understanding mathematic principles or how to apply them. Schools have needed to change because we are now a very different society than what we were back when I went to school. Employers are looking for people who are team players, innovative, creative just to name a few of the characteristics they are after. This is very simplified and I don't want to overwhelm with teacher speak. If you're interested in learning more about the changes google Teaching for the 21st century or look at some of the videos put up by the RSA on YouTube.
We get that here in the US as well. The principal at my daughter's jr high (7th/8th grade), before we moved districts completely, fully admitted to me that they would pass her to the next grade even though she's still struggling with the materials of the current grade, which would cause things to just get harder and harder and more confusing (which is what happened during the later years of k-6). The school system here sometimes feels more like a foster system. Just moving them through until they're out.
I will fully admit that the school district we're in now is MUCH better than the district where she went to jr high. I love it and for the most part her teachers and the staff have been very accommodating with her various issues. She used to be a few years behind in both math and reading, but now she's tested out of needing extra help in reading and isn't that far behind in math anymore. I think where she may struggle is that some of the core principles (such as multiplication tables) was lost on her. She's a junior in high school, and still doesn't have the basic 12x12 table memorized, but she used to also be a very quiet kid in class and not ask for help when needed. Thankfully she's grown out of that and will stay after for more help when she needs it.
She went to the same elementary school I did (even brought home a dictionary that still had my signature in it from checking it out), but I think funding wise the children nowadays don't get anywhere near as much help/tools as we did when I was a kid.
This is my attention span if I have to read without visual aid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtObrnaovrI
We get that here in the US as well. The principal at my daughter's jr high (7th/8th grade), before we moved districts completely, fully admitted to me that they would pass her to the next grade even though she's still struggling with the materials of the current grade, which would cause things to just get harder and harder and more confusing (which is what happened during the later years of k-6). The school system here sometimes feels more like a foster system. Just moving them through until they're out.
I will fully admit that the school district we're in now is MUCH better than the district where she went to jr high. I love it and for the most part her teachers and the staff have been very accommodating with her various issues. She used to be a few years behind in both math and reading, but now she's tested out of needing extra help in reading and isn't that far behind in math anymore. I think where she may struggle is that some of the core principles (such as multiplication tables) was lost on her. She's a junior in high school, and still doesn't have the basic 12x12 table memorized, but she used to also be a very quiet kid in class and not ask for help when needed. Thankfully she's grown out of that and will stay after for more help when she needs it.
She went to the same elementary school I did (even brought home a dictionary that still had my signature in it from checking it out), but I think funding wise the children nowadays don't get anywhere near as much help/tools as we did when I was a kid.Most schools won't regrade as it does a lot of damage to the self esteem of the student so the guiding principle generally is "If we hold them back will it make a difference for them" Often if there are learning disabilities, holding a child back will not help as they still won't be able to benchmark at the end of the next year. Sometimes it's a developmental issue and giving them an extra year gives them the additional maturity they need. Having worked in Special Ed for 3 years I know that for some kids having an environment set up to cope with their needs can make a lot of difference and kids are often integrated into mainstream a couple of days a week if it is thought that they will cope and many schools do the best they can to support students with special needs. I don't know about the states but in Australia it is getting increasingly harder to get the funding needed to support students. Unfortunately governments don't always put the money where it's really needed.
Another dyslexic here, funny how I can write a tutorials but can't learn from reading...figure that one out, I can't.
Anyways I would like to ask what you think about my way of doing tutorials, if the forum let me put images in line with the text (like what I did on Hiverwire's forums, sorry not allowed to link) but you can see them here just not in the format I would have liked.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14536/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/23911/
no I am not a trained teacher or have any qualifications for that matter when I left school and it probably shows so yes they could be better and it is something I am working on correcting.
But I just wanted to guage the thoughts of my fellow dyslexics to see where I can improve.
Arrows are always good, pointing to the result, so those tuts I can understand:)
I learn by watching video tutorials and then reading a book or written tutorial. Then I put what I've learnt into practice. Then everything seems to stick. Just reading isn't good enough for me. I have to see how things are done.
When I was working as a Bank Clerk I picked up the accounting and cashiering etc very quickly, whereas others just couldn't get it straight in their heads. Always was good at Maths, but now, at 64 years old, the old brain isn't so good!!! Same goes for working DVD players etc, I can pick that up quickly whereas my husband takes ages to fathom it out.
My son is one of those people who can work out mathemateical problems easily, but ask him how he did it, then he he stumped.