Relearn, to learn.

In a world where most people walk around in their day to day lives with the answers to almost everything in their pockets, we as a people have forgotten to learn. We spend 13 years in the education system, prioritising memorisation and regurgitation over comprehension.

Post-secondary education can vary, dramatically in some cases, one of which I feel is absolutely critical to ones personal growth: Learning styles.

If you’ve never heard of learning styles, I want to give you a brief overview, for your personal life because once you realise your learning style; you will be able to relearn how to learn.

There are four main types: Visual, Auditory, Kinetic and logical. There are subcategories as well, but I want to focus on the main core. Let’s break-down what each means:

• Visual:

  • You can watch a new task be performed and replicate it.

  • You can retain information by reading/viewing it

• Auditory

  • A decent verbal walk-through allows you to perform a new task

  • You retain information by hearing it

• Kinetic

  • You need to physically attempt new tasks to perform.

  • You retain information by writing it, or physically performing a task.

• Logical

  • Someone explains the expectation of result, you analyze the given tools at your disposal and perform tasks to achieve the expectation.

  • You can retain information easier by using mnemonic devices, or linking the information to something relevant.

There are combinations of these styles, as well as environmental influences, such as some people learn easier in social or solitary settings. In the information age that we live, I have bore witness to two main trains of thought: “I don’t know how to do this!” and “Google it.”

In my experience; when someone is blocked by a task they are unable to do, and their response is “I don’t know how to do this.”, I have found they forgot how to learn. How to explore, be curious, take risks. As Ms. Frizzle used to say: “Time to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!” Our whole existence is driven by learning, as information becomes more available, our requirement to retain it is diminished, however: we should never lose the spark of curiosity.

The flip-side of this, is the “Go Google it.” people, to which I am one of them. I was home-schooled as a child, pre-internet, and my fathers favourite response when I asked random questions was: “Go look it up!”. Thankfully, being a family of book lovers; we had thousands of books I could read through to answer any of my wildest questions, learning random information along the way.

The fear of failure, prevents us from attempting, which unto itself is failure. If you lock-up, or freeze when faced with an uncommon, or unfamiliar situation remember two key things: What your learning style is, and you have limitless resources at your fingertips!