Brains, Learning Styles and the Battle of the Sexes

One of the critical focus points for any educator is addressing different learning styles. The adage "Many a truth is told in jest" is illustrated in this humorous video highlighting differences between the way men and women think. One of the realities of teaching is that all students learn and process differently, and to effectively reach a broad audience an instructor must have a diverse "toolbox" of teaching strategies.

With the advent of technological advances in the classroom, more tools are available than ever before. Each teacher has video, audio, graphics, and the entire worldwide web at his / her fingertips at a moment's notice. Smart boards allow students to manipulate in a hands on way, and software and hardware innovations allow students to create multimedia presentations and projects that are of professional quality. Our teachers plan and prepare to find a variety of instructional strategies that address each learning style.

While the differences between individual students or different genders or ages may not be as distinct and clearly drawn as the speaker in this video suggests, they are real. Students and parents should look for and expect that teachers are providing a variety of instructional practices. Often when a student is not engaged in a classroom, behavior and performance suffer. An appropriate area for parents to pursue with their children and their children's teachers is what works for the individual student. Some children learn best by seeing, some by doing, some by hearing, and most by a combination of all of these things.

Today's students are used to a variety of fast paced video and audio stimuli. They tend to be multi-taskers who have short attention spans. This clearly works in contradiction to traditional forms of instruction that involve lecturing and notetaking. Teachers have a difficult balancing act as they often must be both entertainers and instructors in their classrooms. Part of the teacher / parent partnership is feedback about which learning styles work best for the student, and open exchanges regarding instructional strategies that are tried at school and could be employed at home. As parents, don't be afraid to contact teachers for ideas as to how to help students at home, and for instructional strategies you can use.

Teaching has never been more challenging than it is today, but by contrast teachers have never had more tools at their disposal. Critical to the proper use of these tools is an understanding by all involved in a child's education that different approaches are critical to reaching different learners. It also helps if we all understand the "nothing box"...