Learning Styles Blog

Stress and Learning Styles

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:12:26 GMT

The amount of stress in your daily life, whether you are 5, 15 or 55, will depend - among other factors - on your unique learning style.

Take something as simple as the light in your house or office. Did you know that some people feel lethargic in dimly lit rooms, while others get stressed in a room in which the light bulbs are very bright? Fluorescent lights in particular can make you feel extremely agitated because of their constant flickering that your eye doesn’t notice but your brain still registers.

Noise levels can be a powerful stress-fuel too. If your working style calls for a silent environment in which to work, a modern open-plan office with its constant buzz of activity is going to make you tense and irritable.

Are you someone who loves fixed routines? Then any change at work (like moving office, a new boss, a new software package) will cause you stress. Don’t let people make light of your anxiety by saying “It’s just a little computer program, why are you so upset?” If you like routine, you will be upset by any departure from the known and the trusted. It’s in your biological makeup and you can’t change it.

Do you do mornings well? If not, having to attend a meeting at 8.30am is likely to make you feel grumpy and strained. What are the factors affecting your stress levels? Find out.

Parents and Learning Styles

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:09:27 GMT

Study after study, scientific research has made it clear that parental involvement affects their children's education. "Parents who actively participate in their children's learning at home help them become successful learners. They enable children to reach their potential not only in school, but also in life." (Henderson & Berla, 1994).

It's natural, as well as beneficial, for parents to want to help with homework, or to explain lessons the child didn't understand at school. However, as a parent, you have to be aware of your child's learning style before you help them. If you're not, you might even be working in ways that impede your child’s learning. Children find it hard to understand what parents are trying to explain if the information is not presented in the way they learn best, i.e., through their learning style preferences.

Learning-Style consists of six layers of learning-style elements: information processing, input through senses, social interaction, physical needs, environmental preferences, and attitudes.

Some children work best alone, others prefer to work with an authority figure or in groups of friends. Some children prefer visual aids while others like learning with their hands.

Your children can become outstanding in their schoolwork just as they do in other aspects of their lives. However, sometimes they need your guidance. When you recognise their individual learning styles, you will become better equipped to make learning a rewarding experience for your child. Find out how.

Your Learning Style and School Writing Assignments

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:03:39 GMT

How often has your teacher told you to plan your writing assignment? It may have been a Pie Chart tool, or a List tool, or a fancy Head-And-Legs tool, but whatever it's called, whatever its shape, its purpose is clear: a story plan. The trouble is, some people don't get inspiration from story plans. If your Learning Style is Holistic, you're not a planner. Asking you to plan your story before you put pen to paper (or fingers on keyboard) is as productive as asking you to squeeze a piece of coal in your fist until you get a diamond.

"Start at the beginning", is another favourite bit of writing advice. All very good for people whose Learning Style is Analytic. Analytic information processors like starting at the beginning and progressing step by detailed step to the logical conclusion.

Are you a Holistic or an Analytic writer? Find out here.

Choose A Pet That Suits Your Child's Learning Style

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:57:16 GMT

Choosing a pet may be as easy as going to an animal shelter and letting your heart decide, or it may be a long, thought-out process of analysing the pros and the cons of every non-shedding dog breed versus a goldfish.

And here's something else to throw into the mixture: your child's learning style.

Are your child's responsibility and persistence levels high enough to cope with looking after a pet? If you're thinking of choosing a dog, particularly one that needs exercise, is your child mobile and kinesthetic enough to enjoy the daily walks without complaining? Does their learning style need a quiet environment that makes budgies and yappy dogs less than ideal companions? Do they enjoy tactile input and will they stroke and brush the pet often? If not, perhaps that goldfish is indeed a better choice.

Learning Styles and Facebook

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:56:29 GMT

Online Social Networking is a name for Internet sites such as Facebook or MySpace, where you create a profile about yourself and chat with people. Children use social networking to feel part of the group as much as to exchange information. A visible web presence is a status symbol: display a cool photo, say cool things, link to cool friends.

Some teens take to Facebook like the proverbial ducks to water, others play with it for a few weeks before growing bored. Whether your child gets sucked into computer UNreality or chooses to interact face to face with real friends will depend their unique Learning Style.

Check out your child's learning style today! Find out whether their learning style preferences predispose them to becoming a computer wizard who's in danger of spending too much time in front of the screen.

Done? Super! Please remember that whether or not your youngster is in danger of becoming a computer addict, there are some online safety rules to be observed whenever Teach your child to be Internet-smart the way you teach them to drive: when and if appropriate. Ultimately, a social networking account is like a driver’s license: despite the risks, many people get one.

That link to check the learning style again: click here.

A Learning Styles Classroom

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:24:41 GMT

Question: How do you turn your classroom into a Learning Styles classroom? Answer: It's not easy, but it's fun. Start by analysing your students' learning styles to identify their learning style preferences and needs. - Create a Group Profile of your students to get the at-a-glance-summary of how they like their environment to look. - Look at any results that are 80% or higher and select one or two of them that look like the easiest to change (the cheapest, the most exciting). - Allow the children to help. Some students are likely to grumble: they are probably the ones who value routine and are upset by change. Assure them that once they've tried to new way, they will be allowed to create an area in the new classroom that looks just like the old classroom.

Welcome to 2012!

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:11:18 GMT

2012 is here. What goals are you trying to achieve this year? What dreams are you hoping will come true? Remember it's never too late to start dreaming, to start scheming, or to buy yourself a little gift. Please browse our Products Page for ideas.... Rudyard Kipling: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Thank you to all our customers

Yvonne Walus — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:55:54 GMT

Thank you for all your support during 2011. May 2012 bring you peace, joy and happiness. (Please remember that our offices will reopen on 9 January 2012, but you can always reach us on email.)

Season's Greetings

Yvonne Walus — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:30:07 GMT

Warmest Christmas and New Year's wishes from Creative Learning. Please be advised that our office will be closed until 9 January 2012 and we will attend to all your enquiries upon our return. Have a safe and pleasant holiday.

Stuck for that perfect Christmas gift?

Yvonne Walus — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:34:18 GMT

This Christmas, give the gift that will last more than the lifespan of a battery. Give something that costs as much as a takeaway dinner. Give self-knowledge and peace of mind. Give the future.