Modalities
Theory Behind
the Model
Learning
modalities are the sensory channels or pathways through which individuals give,
receive, and store information.
Perception, memory, and sensation comprise the concept of modality. The modalities or senses include visual,
auditory, tactile/kinesthetic, smell, and taste. Researchers, including Reiff,
Eisler, Barbe, and Stronck have concluded that in a classroom, the students
would be approximately:
§
25-30% visual
§
25-30% auditory
§
15% tactile/kinesthetic
§
25-30% mixed modalities
Therefore,
only 30% of the students will remember most of what is said in a classroom
lecture and another 30% will remember primarily what is seen.
Visual learners are those who learn by
seeing. They need to see overheads,
diagrams, and read text books, etc. to understand a concept.
Auditory learners must hear what they are
learning to really understand it. They enjoy listening, but cannot
wait to have a chance to talk themselves. These
students respond well to lecture and discussion.
Tactile/kinesthetic
learners
need to feel and touch to learn...these learners also learn better if movement
is involved. They may be those students
who are not doing well in school.
Instruction geared to the auditory learner can be a hindrance to these
learns, causing them to fall behind. One
key reason at-risk children have trouble with school is that they tend to be
these types of learners. About one-third
of students do not process auditorially
and are educationally deaf. Students
with a tactile strength learn with manipulatives such
as games, the internet, and labs.
An
effective means to reach all learners is modality-based instruction; this
consists of organizing around the different modalities to accommodate the needs
of all learners. Most students learn
with all their modalities, but some students may have unusual strengths and
weaknesses in particular modalities. For
example, students strong in the visual modality will be frustrated or confused
with just verbal explanations.
The
following chart describes each modality and can help you determine your
learning style; read the word in the left column and then answer the questions
in the successive three columns to see how you respond to each situation. Your
answers may fall into all three columns, but one column will likely contain the
most answers. The dominant column indicates your primary learning style.
|
MODALITES….How
do you Learn? |
|||
|
When you.. |
Visual |
Auditory |
Kinesthetic & Tactile |
|
Spell |
Do you
try to see the word? |
Do you
sound out the word or use a phonetic approach? |
Do you
write the word down to find if it feels right? |
|
Talk |
Do you
sparingly but dislike listening for too long? Do you favor words such as see,
picture, and imagine? |
Do you
enjoy listening but are impatient to talk? Do you use words such as hear,
tune, and think? |
Do you
gesture and use expressive movements? Do you use words such as feel,
touch, and hold? |
|
Concentrate |
Do you
become distracted by untidiness or movement? |
Do you
become distracted by sounds or noises? |
Do you
become distracted by activity around you? |
|
Meet someone again |
Do you
forget names but remember faces or remember where you met? |
Do you
forget faces but remember names or remember what you talked about? |
Do you
remember best what you did together? |
|
Contact people on business |
Do you
prefer direct, face-to-face, personal meetings? |
Do you
prefer the telephone? |
Do you
talk with them while walking or participating in an activity? |
|
Read |
Do you
like descriptive scenes or pause to imagine the actions? |
Do you
enjoy dialog and conversation or hear the characters talk? |
Do you
prefer action stories or are not a keen reader? |
|
Do something new at work |
Do you
like to see demonstrations, diagrams, slides, or posters? |
Do you
prefer verbal instructions or talking about it with someone else? |
Do you
prefer to jump right in and try it? |
|
Put something together |
Do you
like at the directions and the picture? |
|
Do you
ignore the directions and figure it out as you go along? |
|
Need help with a computer application |
Do you
seek out pictures or diagrams? |
Do you
call the help desk, ask a neighbor, or growl at the computer? |
Do you
keep trying to do it or try it on another computer? |
Adapted from Colin Rose(1987).
Accelerated Learning.
Link to Modality Test
To
help understand how you learn best, take one of these learning styles tests to
determine your strongest Modality. There are just a few questions to answer and
the test should take approximately two minutes to complete.