If you find it impossible to sit still during a lecture, do not fear! It is not the professor’s fault, and it is certainly not yours either. The last common category of different learning styles is the Kinesthetic style. The inability to stay put and concentrate in classes may be that you are a kinesthetic learner. That is, you learn materials through actively moving around and using your body and senses to learn about the world.
Kinesthetic Learners are active participants in sports teams, and do most of their critical thinking while moving around. For example, Kinesthetic learners would rather hit the gym or go for a walk then staring at a whiteboard when figuring out an issue at hand. Some characteristics of Kinesthetic Learners are:
- A keen sense of the surrounding (details of textures)
- Need to be active and take frequent breaks
- Great recollection of actions, but not words or visuals
- Enjoy field trips or tasks that includes hands-on experience
- Preference for making models
- Find reasons to doodle or stay distracted during lectures
- Use of large hand gestures when communicating
- Members of sports teams
When Kinesthetic Learners learn, they comprehend the material best through on-hands-action. They are the adorable troublemakers who insist on taking apart the television to understand how it works instead of reading the instruction manual. Sitting still in lectures is hard for kinesthetic learners because their nature is to get up and move around.
Some strategies to aid Kinesthetic Learns in school, where most of the learning is conducted in visual or verbal styles, is to:
- Incorporate movement and hands-on work in activities
- Include descriptions of sensations in explanations
- Describe physical feelings of actions
- Use models
- Use flashcards
- Make use of Role-play activities
Lastly, an exercise for Kinesthetic Learners to stay focused during long classroom hours is to practice meditation. Try soothing the body with deep breaths and exhales. Concentrating on breathing techniques will keep the body from being agitated and thus maintain calmness and awareness during lectures.
