Do you know your best learning style?

Back when I was in school, I viewed examinations with a great sense of apprehension and unnecessary torture of students.

I suspect many of my fellow students felt the same way. We were consistently reminded of what misery awaited us if you failed. “You had better pass your examinations and live a good life thereafter or fail and secure a slot in the life of struggle and abject poverty.”

Most students were driven to pass the examinations not because it demonstrated their understanding of the subject matter taught but to avoid being labelled as failures.

Our system of education to date lays a heavy burden on young children by subjecting them to subjects and examinations that have serious ramifications on their future. Some of the topics taught and examined in my view are not very useful in the future.

Teaching is mainly done by lecturing and dictation. We also rely on rote learning, a memorisation technique based on repetition.

The idea is that one will manage to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more one repeats it. Then as examinations approach, students are drilled to pass by the use of past papers; in other words pre-empting the questions, rather than have power over the knowledge.

Studies show that when a student crams for examinations, the information is stored in the working memory not in the long term memory where it can be retrieved in the future. The effect of this type of learning may result in one passing an examination but it is not the most effective way to learn and retain important knowledge for a lifetime.

Is it a wonder that not many employers are too impressed by applicants who display top mark transcripts during interviews.

Are there other ways of teaching which can make learning fun, enabling students to retain more and retrieve knowledge for application beyond the examination room?

There are certainly several methods which can improve intellectual capacity of both children and adults.

In the last 25 years, a lot has been discovered about how the human brain works than in all history to date.It is now known that we do not have a fixed single IQ, but a range of different forms of intelligence as taught by Dr Howard Gardner of Harvard University who came up with the concept of Multiple Intelligences.

You will tend to develop some of these intelligences more than others and prefer to use them. And those differences help account for a personal learning style.

You will also tend to prefer using one or more of your senses as you learn.

Some people are more visual, others more auditory, and still others are more physical and they will prefer to get more “hands-on.”

We each have a preferred learning style; a way of learning that suits us best.

If you are aware of that and use the technique that matches your preferred way of learning, one acquires knowledge more naturally.

This makes learning easier; and because it is easier, it is quicker. Hence the concept of Accelerated Learning. By incorporating well researched memory techniques, Accelerated Learning makes learning an enjoyable, satisfying and successful experience.

The secret lies in this. When the way you are taught closely matches the way you like to learn, the results improve significantly as the information is stored in the long term memory.

In Accelerated Learning, a whole combination of activities are used to ensure that you can use your preferred learning style.

The student is actually introduced to learning-to-learn programmes so they use techniques which match their learning style.

The result is, an increased appreciation of knowledge acquisition and subsequently and inevitably improved academic results.

Accelerated Learning unlocks much of one’s potential for learning that has been left largely untapped by most conventional/ traditional learning methods.

How I wish I had learnt some of these skills during my schooling, I would have passed with flying colours and surprised all the teachers who called me not too pleasant names?

How I wish those in charge of education in this country could be open to these new ways which are enjoyable to both the learner and the teacher.

My consolation, however, is that I have managed to make a difference for many children whom I have taught these amazing skills at our centre for the last 14 years.

The author is a life coach and founder of Peak Performance International- a human potential development firm. [email protected]