Objective
The student will identify several ways that people can learn.
Rationale
Although students may be in a classroom together, they are individuals and learn in different ways. Some students are primarily visual learners; others learn best by moving around, touching, repeating, hearing, or other unique methods. It can be helpful for a student to recognize ways that he or she learns best.
Thinking Questions
1. What is something that you learned how to do in the past few weeks? (write in cursive, learn to multiply by 5s)
2. How did you learn to do this? (repetition, someone showed me how to do it, memory tricks)
3. Do you think that everyone learns how to do things the same way? (no)
4. How could a blind person learn to operate a computer? (learn where the keys are, have someone assist him or her)
5. How could someone in a wheelchair play basketball? (specialized wheelchairs)
6. Can you think of three different ways that you could learn how to spell some new words? (copy them ten times, say them out loud, look at the word for ten seconds)
7. Does everyone learn best in exactly the same way? (no; there are lots of different ways)
8. What ways do you learn to do things the best? (someone shows me, I learn by making mistakes)
Activity
Directions: Your students are to match each student on the worksheet with the drawing showing the way that he or she learns best.
Answers: 1. Dana 2. John 3. Max 4. Carol
Follow-up: Have students discuss other tasks that can be learned in different ways (reading,
memorizing facts, drawing animals, playing a computer game). Discuss how individual students think that they learn best.
Each of these students is trying to learn how to bake a cake, but they are learning in different ways. See if you can match the name of each student with the picture by using these clues. Write the student’s name on the line below each picture.
JOHN is learning to make a cake by reading a recipe.
CAROL is learning by listening to a friend tell her what to do.
MIGUEL already knows how to bake a cake, so he is using his memory.
DANA is watching a friend make a cake and is doing what the friend does.
