Miracle Math Coaching

What's VARK? It's the Single Most Important Way for Your Child to Get Good Grades.

By Deanna Hurn, Founder and Executive Director of Miracle Math Coaching

Mar 12, 2015

   

It sounds like some kind of rare bird, right?  

But VARK  - Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesis  - is a test that measures how your son or daughter learns.  Knowing how your children learn is HUGE!   (Miracle Math Coaching conducts a VARK test immediately after a student enrolls.)

Check out the students below, and see if you can recognize your own child's learning style.

Examples of VARK Learning Styles:

Some students, like Carrie, learn best by seeing information.   To memorize 3 x 4, Carrie first draws four circles and then draws three sticks in each.  Seeing that four sets of three sticks = 12 helps her remember.  

She's a visual learner.  They learn best when material is presented in diagrams and images in addition to being relayed verbally.   For textbook reading on World History, Carrie can sketch maps or images of monarchs and battles as reminders.

Travis, on the other hand, needs to read and write to absorb information.   Given the same math problem as Carrie, he would prefer to take notes from the textbook.  By reading how multiplication works in general and applying that info to 3x4, he'll figure out that the answer is 12.  

He's a read/write learner.  They learn best by reading material and taking notes.  Sometimes, this kind of learner will look at a chart or a diagram and describe it in words to better understand it.  And they love dictionaries.

Shay works best with her hands, and so manipulating building blocks will be the most effective way for her to learn 3x4.   Setting up three sets of four blocks will do the trick.  

She's a kinesthetic learning.  They're hands-on, learning best when they can handle objects, such as flash cards.  They also benefit from discussing the topic with others and developing lots of examples.

In a future post, I'll share what specific study habits work well with each VARK learner.

Does your child learn more like Carrie, Travis or Shay?  Each one of my daughters learn differently and using a tool like the VARK has helped me as a Mom better understand how to teach them!