1. Visual - - A large number of students, 45% or more in most American classrooms
   according to Dr. David Sousa, prefer to receive information visually. This includes both those who like pictures, video tapes, and charts and those who enjoy reading as the interpretation of symbols that translate into pictures in their minds. A good learning style test will measure both types of visual preferences, pictures and reading.
   
   
2. Somatic - - Some students, usually at least 35%, learn most effectively while moving (kinesthetic) or handling (tactile) things. This action and body involvement help them to perceive meaning.
   
   
3. Auditory - - A relatively small number of students, 19% or so, now prefer either listening or discussing/talking as a way of receiving information. Unfortunately, there are classrooms in which most information is presented with the spoken word even though that is not the most effective presentation form for a majority of students.
   

There are some other style options that are important to consider.

Two of the secondary style options or contrasts are:

1. Interpersonal - - Some students prefer to learn in groups, through interaction with others, as opposed to working alone.
   
   
2. Global - - Some students prefer to be shown the whole picture or the major concepts of a unit before they are expected to work through a logical sequence of information in an analytical manner. To others, this global introduction is not as important; they are comfortable gaining the big concepts by completing analysis one step at a time.

Clearly a teacher can best serve his or her class by including different ways of receiving information, not by presenting information primarily one way.

Both teachers and parents should evaluate the learning style power of programs in an individual school to avoid the learning problems that occur when proper attention is not given to different styles. These can be serious problems because inattention to styles can mean that many youngsters will fail to realize their potential. One example is that we find that many visual learners who have been in strong auditory phonics programs without a visual component are not reading on grade level; given the addition of visual learning options, they can rapidly grow to the proper reading levels. Excessive dependence on auditory language labs without significant visual and cultural components can greatly reduce the effectiveness of world language learning for many students. A major and well researched point to remember here is that television, computers, and our multimedia world have “wired” the brains of contemporary students with a much higher focus on visual learning than was common thirty years ago. It is a very serious error to ignore this fact in today’s classrooms.

To evaluate whether or not your school programs are giving adequate attention to different learning styles, seek affirmative answers to these five questions:

1. Have teachers and students received training on different learning styles?
   
   
2. Does each teacher try to offer learning style options in each unit taught? (This does NOT mean designing a different activity for every student - - an unreasonable task. It means presenting options or choices to students trained to select from same.)
   
3. When a student is experiencing a learning problem, is he or she given an opportunity to meet with the teacher to determine whether a learning style option can help?
   
   
4. Are students expected to develop skills in the use of all learning styles rather than just focusing on their preferred styles?
   
   
5. Are parents helped to understand and to support learning style options and their value.

A “yes” answer to 4 or 5 of these questions means that a school staff is well focused on using the power of attention to different learning styles. A preponderance of “no” answers is a sign of serious weakness in a school program.