Story by Victoria Chyra

Many people don’t like studying or have trouble with it. But is there something like studying wrong? 

 Every student needs to learn and study for school but which study methods are effective and how many different options are there?

A couple of decades ago it was inconceivable for educators to tailor their materials and teaching approach towards the individual student. However the idea of different learning styles was first introduced in the mid 70’s, since then many different ways have been discovered which made it easier for each student to study.

Those are the 7 basic styles of learning: 

Visual – Most learners prefer to visual concepts by using images, flown charts, mind maps etc. to acquire new material

Aural (Auditory and Musical) – These people are positively affected by sounds and often resort background music to retain new information.

Verbal – students need to listen, speak and read to process new material. They benefit from recording notes and lectures for later listening, reading aloud and putting ideas into words.

Physical – In this style movements and tactile impressions work the best for learning. This doesn’t only mean jumping and dancing but also includes drawing diagrams and writing down key information.

Solitary (Intrapersonal) – these learners perform better when they are left to their own devices. They benefit from self-paced courses and are very focused on personal associations.

Social (Interpersonal) – This learning style is the opposite of Solitary. Those people learn the best through group discussions, role plays and activities.

Logical – using logical reasoning and drawing associations is the best option for these people because they need to see the connections and dive deeper into the relationships between ideas.

 

Those are the 7 basic learning styles. However you can’t simply categorize one person to just one style because almost all of us use more than just one way to study. Nonetheless we all have our own preferences. Some might feel comfortable reading long pages, other people on the other hand might struggle with that and prefer short key points or group discussions. 

But is there something like studying wrong? 

The answer is simple. No. 

There isn’t such a thing as just one right method. Christopher Smith, a teacher at CVU also agrees with that, saying, “ I don’t think there is one method. I think it all depends upon your approach and how you learn. There are too many different approaches to it, to say there is just one perfect answer. Which is the problem. I think we are trying to quantify things down to ‘This is the way you should read. This is the way to do this.’ But you need to figure it out for you, which will be  different to how I do it.”

However, it may be that students use a way of learning which is not the best fit for them, which again is not the most effective.

According to a survey, the most popular studying method among CVU students is repetitive reading followed by rewriting notes. A lot of students also like to discuss their material with other students and watch videos. However there are even more ways to study which are used, like: reading out loud, practicing specific problems, doing additional work, using flashcards and doing homework.

A lot of people also use study programs like Quizlet, Knowt, Quizizz or Kahoot.

The survey showed as well that most of the students use two or more methods to help them memorize and learn new material. 

So whenever you feel like your learning isn’t effective and doesn’t bring you the results you were hoping for, maybe try out a new approach, so your studying becomes more fun and effective!