Learning Styles (Visual / Auditory / Kinesthetic)
- Visual (See‑It): learns best with diagrams, charts, and written notes, remembers images, can be misunderstood as distracted or lost in their thoughts when actually processing visually
- Auditory (Hear‑It): learns best by hearing, discussing, and repeating verbally; does not learn/remember from listening alone but by talking after exposure to information, repeats things out loud, can be misunderstood as talking too much. They process and remember by speaking the content back out — repeating, paraphrasing, internal conversations, or “talking it through” with someone else
- Kinesthetic (Doer): learns best by doing, needs things to be hands‑on and applied in real life, often needs to move around to concentrate, can be misunderstood as restless or inattentive
NOTE: Other models include Multimodal learners: many people use 2–3 styles together. Some 2025 summaries suggest over 60% of learners are multimodal, meaning they don’t fit neatly into one category — but everyone still has a natural wiring that feels easiest.
| Visual 55–65% | Auditory 20–30% | Kinesthetic 10–15% |
| Retain information significantly better with visuals; need mental pictures or imagery to process ideas | Need listening combined with talking or saying things out loud to retain information | Learn best by doing, role‑play, real‑life application, hands‑on practice |
| Often misunderstood as “daydreaming or spacing out” | Often misunderstood as “talks too much or interrupts” | Often misunderstood as “restless, hyper, or unfocused” |
Thinking Styles (Global & Analytic)
Thinking Styles Explained: These are the built‑in ways you handle information — mental hard‑wiring. This is not a preference or conscious choice.
- Perception – interpreting sensory input
- Attention – focusing on specific information while filtering distractions
- Memory – storing & retrieving information
- Language – understanding & producing speech or text
- Reasoning & Problem‑solving – decision making, drawing conclusions, planning
| Global Thinkers (~50% of people) | Analytic Thinkers (~50% of people) |
| - Want the overview first, then details - Great at seeing connections - Misunderstood as “skipping details” |
- Prefer structure, sequence, step‑by‑step - Great at accuracy and precision - Misunderstood as “missing the big idea” |
| Misunderstandings happen because each group assumes their way is “normal.” | |
Practical application: Once you know both parts, teachers, parents, mentors, and students can see the two dimensions clearly: (1) input (learning style) and (2) processing (thinking style). This dual awareness makes it easier to develop strategies that actually work and reduce misunderstandings.