Rhian Purdy uses the visual, auditory and kinesthetic approach in her science classes at West Hills High School in Santee. She gives her students a written test at the beginning of the school year to find out which of the three learning styles they find most comfortable. She allows auditory learners frequent breaks to discuss the information with a classmate. These are the students who most often get in trouble for talking in class, because they need to discuss the material in order to cement the lesson in their brain, Purdy said. Sometimes squeezing a soft ball or snapping a hair tie on their wrists in a rhythmic manner will keep kinesthetic learners focused, she said.
Most people learn best through seeing and hearing the information.
Those who are kinesthetic learners tend to have the most trouble in school, educators said. Even so, Purdy doesn't let students use the excuse of their particular learning style as a reason they fail to study the material. More information on how children learn is becoming available to all teachers through training classes, she said. In her Otay Mesa classroom, Bryant takes into account the learning styles of her students. As they settled down to read about bats, Bryant let each child choose a seat.