Developing teaching methods based on learning-styles will engage students so that they will retain knowledge at a higher level, boost their academic scores, and show enthusiasm to learn. “Research at the middle level indicates that most students are taught in a formal classroom setting though the use of traditional instructional methods such as lectures, assigned readings, drills, and independent practice. Learning-style researchers indicate that many students achieve well in a traditional educational environment, but the majority of students do not” (Minotti, 2005, 67). Unless diversity in teaching methods is used, it can lead to a long tedious road for many children as they move through their academic careers. Understanding learning-styles and how to change teaching methods to cater to learning-styles is one way to help develop a life long love of learning and deliver positive results.

Learning-styles is the idea that people, in this case children, learn differently (LdPride, 1998). There are three classes of learning-styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. A learning-style test is administered to determine an individual learning-style. The most widely used test was developed by the Oklahoma Institute of Learning Styles by Dr. Sue Ellen Read and Dr. Rita Dunn (Oklahoma Institute for Learning Styles [OILS], 2002, 2006). Other learning-styles tests can be found on the Internet and can also provide good results. Although it may be difficult to determine and work with every single student in a large classroom setting, this test offers insight on how a teacher can best reach the class to deliver and receive the desired results: higher retention, better academic scores, and improve enthusiasm from the students.

The first class is the visual learners who need to “see” a lesson in order to absorb and comprehend. They prefer to have pictures to accompany words, they prefer written instruction versus oral instruction, they enjoy organizing and decorating their work areas, and they retain information best when “delivered through maps, charts, diagrams” (Berghuis, 2001-05), or other images.

For the visual learner there are several ways they can adjust learning to benefit their learning-style. Most importantly the individual visual learner needs to “observe the teacher’s body language and facial expressions” (LdPride, 1998) they need to sit closer to the front of the room to gain an unconstructive view, they rely on maps, graphs, pictures, and will take copious notes (Berghuis, 2001-05). These learners do better when they can highlight and make marginal notes in their texts (Berghuis, 2001-05). They should also preview a text’s chapter by scanning over graphs, maps, pictures or other visual stimulants to give them an understanding of the material being presented. Visual learners tend to think in pictures when recalling information (LdPride, 1998) so all of these visual cues work together to help provide the overall lesson.

Teaching to visual learners allow for a variety of teaching methods, most of which are appealing to all three learning-styles. Creating posters and collages to demonstrate historical events, simulating popular game shows to review information, creating multidimensional displays, displaying information through slide shows, and accessing the Internet are all ways to engage the visual learner.

The next class is the auditory learners who need to receive instruction through listening and other verbal cues. These students should use tape recorders for longer lectures, use flashcards and review orally, and read text assignments out loud. They will also do better when studying aloud with another person.

For teaching methods in the classroom, these students will thrive in discussion groups, teach back groups, and will take their audio cues by the subtle nuances of the voice delivering the lecture (LdPride, 1998). The teacher should use variations in her voice and oral expressions to relay information and avoid using a monotone and no expression. These learners comprehend better when they also repeat information out loud (Berghuis, 2001-05). This could include teach back sessions, oral reading, or small group discussions. They also do well when given the chance to do oral presentations (Berghuis, 2001-05).

The last class is the kinesthetic learners. This group learns best when actively involved through such means as moving, doing, and using manipulatives to learn the topic (LdPride, 1998). This group learns by doing and may become easily distracted when forced to sit for long periods of time (LdPride, 1998). These students should try playing soft background music while studying. They should take frequent short breaks to help them concentrate and keep their interest peaked (Berghuis, 2001-05). When learning new ideas it is best for them to be shown how to do something and then have them do it to reinforce the lesson.

Classroom ideas for the kinesthetic learners include hands-on activities such as crafts, cut outs, demonstrations, charades, dance, playacting, and experiments. Once again, these types of activities can also appeal to the visual and auditory learners, but assist the kinesthetic learner the most. These activities feed their need to stay active and get them focused on task.

Various methods of teaching are used to communicate topics for different learning-styles. A successful teacher will incorporate several methods throughout a topic unit. This will ensure that she is meeting the needs of all her students especially when she is dealing with a large class size. Over the course of the year she will be able to understand which types of teaching methods work best for her students and will be able to incorporate them seamlessly into her lesson plans. She might also have the luxury of being able to create interest groups that cater to the different learning-styles in order to teach the same material. For example, the visual group could create movie style posters to illustrate different events in a lesson. The auditory group could create advertisements to go along with the posters and the kinesthetic group could act out the poster scene while the auditory group narrates.

When different teaching methods appeal to the student three things happen: better retention of material, higher academic scores, and a renewed enthusiasm for learning. Students respond better when they feel more included and when they feel they are having fun. Creating lesson plans that meet learning-style needs makes the students feel like the teacher has taken time to understand how to reach them and in the process made the activities enjoyable. Soon that teacher’s class becomes the favorite and that teacher becomes the one every student wants to have. Since students are actually doing activities that are enjoyable, they start to connect those activities to recalling information. For example: the students that created the posters remember the dates of events because they chose a wild looking font to use in the word processing software. The students that created and delivered the advertisements remember the facts by recalling the words they spoke. Lastly, the students that playacted the scenes, remember the events because of actions they did to convey the scenes. All of these aid in retention of knowledge and in turn boost the academic scores.

Determining learning-styles and developing interesting teaching methods is a great way to reach student at any level. So many of these students find some subjects very dry, boring, and do not understand the connection to modern times. A current middle school Civics student (personal communication, S. Jacobs, May 27, 2006) tells how she “hates my Civics class. The teacher is so boring and he makes me want to fall asleep”. She relates how he stands at the front of the class and drones on about the day’s lesson. She is given the standard reading assignment homework along with the textbook questions. It is now close to the end of the school year and she states she did not have to do any reports, rarely watched movies associated with the lessons, or did any kind of activity that required the class to move about the classroom. It was the same textbook homework assignment every Monday and Thursday with a test on Friday. This is verified by her mother (personal communication, T. Jacobs, May 29, 2006) who is not pleased with her daughter’s very low and barely passing grade. When asked about the Social Science class the year before, she gushes about that year’s American History teacher. The class went on a field trip, they acted out the Boston Tea Party, they watched lots of movies, and the reports they did were varied, short, and “lots of fun.” Her eyes shone with enthusiasm that was missing when she talked about her Civics class. Her grade in this class? A solid B+ all year. This is an obvious example of how creating various lesson plans helps keep students involved and intrigued.

A survey was given to teachers at local Stafford County, Virginia schools the week of June 5, 2006. The survey asked them their opinion of teaching methods based on learning-styles and how they incorporate them into their lesson plans. One teacher commented that learning-styles was not a new idea only a fancy name given to what good teachers have been doing for years. This may be the case, but not all teachers choose to use teaching methods based on learning-styles. Some may not understand the concept, some may not understand the all-encompassing results, or sadly, some may not care to go the extra mile to help students exceed.

The survey from this particular school found that the teachers were familiar with learning-styles and made an effort to determine individual learning-styles but would usually incorporate several teaching methods in order to include all the learning-styles of the students. They did have some difficulties when trying to determine individual learning-styles. These included finding class time to devote to testing, disruptive students, students with special needs, and overly large class size. On the whole, the teachers did find lessons more rewarding when various teaching methods were used to for lessons.

The most common teaching methods used in these classrooms are manipulatives, hands-on activities, games, and bringing the lesson to life through playacting. The teachers all reported improved retention in knowledge which was reflected in higher academic scores. This was very important to them because their state standardized test scores also reflected positive results. Most agreed that when they found a formula for reaching the students they rarely varied from it unless they could see the results were not up to par with past classes.

Another reason for bringing teaching methods based on learning-styles into the classroom is to make the topics more personal. For example, in a history class it helps to show them how past events relate to current events. “In addition to providing lessons about history…curriculum about a historical atrocity, such as the Holocaust, would speak to the value of human life” (Farkas, 2003). Getting the students physically involved with learning about a topic such as the Holocaust can bring the rawness and the horror of the events to life and let them feel the lessons as well as understand why this should not happen in their lifetime. These teaching methods will bring history alive and engage the students so that they look forward to the next lesson.

Establishing the learning-styles of students and using various teaching methods in the classroom will enhance the student’s educational experience. The students retain more information because they are more involved with the lesson and this results in higher academic scores. Current teachers agree that taking the time to understand what methods work best to reach their students is a win-win situation. Learning-styles and the associated teaching methods will prove to be the shining star in educational development within the classroom.