Lately I have been learning a lot about different learning styles in the classroom. These include audio, visual, and hands-on learning.
Which one do you think would be the best in an early childhood classroom?Should students be constantly moving, or learning how to stay in their seat for long amounts of time?
Lets say I was going to teach addition to my classroom:
How can I address all learning styles at the same time while not leaving any student behind?
For an early childhood classroom, it's best to have a balance of time spent sitting and time spent moving, time spent listening and time spent doing, time spent using fine motor and time spent using gross motor, time spent in free choice and time spent in teacher directed activities, etc. Little kids need to participate in hands-on learning, but they also need to learn to sit and listen to stories and to directions given to a group. A Circle Time should last no more than 20 minutes. Story Time should be 10-15 minutes, longer if there is participation.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is important to have a balance of all three learning styles for an early childhood classroom. Also, the younger the children are, the more hands-on learning they will need. If you were going to teach a lesson on addition you could address all three learning styles, by writing the problems on the board, talking through the problems, and providing manipulatives so that children could take a hands-on approach to problem solving. Also, there should be a balance of movement and sitting time. However, sitting time should be kept short.
ReplyDeleteI agree there should be a balance. Also, attention spans are small so quiet work should be no longer than 20 minutes. My favorite math activities involved movement with reinforcement from the visual board work and oral explanations.
ReplyDeleteWe would hopscotch to create addition/subtraction problems written on the board (or paper in groups) as we said them. We would walk a number line to learn positives and negatives (this one was with junior high students, so all kids like movement) and created human graphs. It was fun and educational!
I would like to add that different groups of students like different activities more. For instance, my current group of students love doing projects and could spend about an hour just coloring a picture to perfection. That's not typical for 4 year olds. So I think you need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your group of students and focus on problem areas and encourage the learning that is already in place.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add that one of the keys of learning is repetition. So to help those with different learning styles, teach the same thing in all the different ways. Some kids may get it the first time, but it will become more ingrained each time they hear and do it.
ReplyDeleteI think there should be a sense of balance to the amount of time spent sitting at a desk and moving, just so it's consistent. My son Luke is 4, and his daycare, Merrie Time, has a preschool program in the morning. For a lot of it they are sitting learning, but part of the time is at a desk, another part is sitting on carpet squares on the floor, and other time is spent moving to another class room. He does really well with structure and a consistent routine.
ReplyDeleteI think all typeas of learning styles should be used. For instance the teacher could spend a specific amount of time talking about the subject while writing side notes on the board. That would cover visual and audio learners. Later on the teacher could do some group work or play a game that focuses on the material being taught. Possibly a project could be assigned to help the kinesthetic learners as well.
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