Learning Styles

My learning style has always been learn by doing. While reading this weeks lecture I found the Kinesthetic style to be the closet to how I learn best. I was really surprised to learn that this style is only popular with 5% of the population. I really thought it would be more. The visual style would be the second best way for me to learn and that is popular with the majority of the population. 

I feel that you need a good blend of style in order to be most effective in teaching. Too much lecture would put me to sleep. On the other hand you can't always learn by doing. You need to be taught what it is you are doing before you do it, so there is some auditory or visual style teaching that is needed first. 

When I am in the classroom I am aware that students learn differently. From my experience many of them want to jump in and do it and I have to keep them focused on listening before they take off. I have tried to mix up lecture, visual and kinesthetic styles during my lessons.  I often lecture about the topic and break it up with a mini lab, or have students present on subjects to get a different visual way to learn. 

One topic I struggled with learning, as do my students, is the OSI Networking Model. This is something that can not be seen. To learn it best I used diagrams and acronyms to help me understand the process. I have also used those techniques in my classroom when teaching.