I was one of those kids that scraped through school by the skin of my teeth. I had the potential to get top marks, but just hated to study.
Every time I sat down to study I’d get hungry or sleepy or bored. And of course you can’t just stay hungry, or stay awake when you need rest or keep focused when you’re bored! Hey, any excuse would do.
I am the kind of person that needs things explained in terms of apples and pears. Let’s get down to the grass roots of it all. Now apples + pears = fruit salad. Therefore an atom of oxygen mixed in a bowl with 2 atoms of hydrogen makes water – COOL! That didn’t seem to be the way the teacher wanted to explain it though.
This really used to frustrate me because I have an insatiable appetite for knowledge, if someone would just take the time to explain it to me in the way that I understand!
So, after getting the shock of my life when I nearly failed to graduate from High School, I decided to set about finding out how I could study and actually understand and absorb the information I was so interested in learning.
I looked long and hard at different methods of learning and studied the different ways in which people, who got good grades, managed it. Let me tell you that it has been one of the most enlightening journeys I have undertaken.
We all learn in one of 3 ways. By learn I mean a)take in the information b)understand the concepts c)retain it in a way that we can use and d)regurgitate it in the form that we have stored it. These 3 ways in which we all learn are by sight, sound and touch. In other words, through visual stimulus, audio stimulus and tactile stimulus. When you figure out the way that your brain likes to take in information, learning becomes a blast.
So, some people learn by visual stimulus. That means you are a visual thinker. You can see vivid pictures in your minds eye, in order to understand something it must be explained in a way that can help you to see’ what happens. This can be accomplished by watching a video, play, slide show or reading. It can also be done by drawing the scene, seeing a physical model or seeing a picture.
Some people learn by audio stimulus. This means that you react well to a teacher telling you what happened or recounting the scene verbally. It means that you learn better by listening to tapes as opposed to reading. Such people are people who tell brilliant stories and tend to be able to make themself understood by the power and eloquence of their words.
Some people learn through the physical realm. They learn from models, physical puzzles, touching and feeling. This can be accomplished by writing out on a piece of paper and tearing it up into a puzzle and reconstructing it, by writing out notes that you review, by drawing a mind map and putting all the pieces into a flow chart so you can see the logical progression.
All of us learn using a varied combination of all 3 of these methods, although one always seems to be dominant.
Sit and figure out which one helps you the most. If you can see’ vivid pictures in your imagination then you’re most likely a visual learner, if you like to write everything out then you’re most likely a physical learner and if you like to listen and talk then you’re probably an audio learner.
Once you know which way you learn best, you’ve opened up a whole new amazing world for yourself. As the saying goes Knowledge is Power’ and believe me, it most certainly is. In a time that is being hailed as the Knowledge Revolution’, you can achieve whatever you desire when you have the knowledge with which to do it.
Find out which way is the easiest and most enjoyable way for you to learn and open the floodgates to the astounding world of Knowledge.
Lisa van den Berg is the author of Alleviate Stress
How to WIN at the Game of Life!
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