LEARNING STYLES--There is a reason I cannot sit still ...

Out of the three learning styles (Visual, Auditory and Tactile), I am a tactile learner.  Considering only about 5% of all people fall in this category, it's no surprise to me that I often feel like school isn't designed for someone like me.  I get bored with lectures easily!  According to the learning style test I just took:

 "Within the kinesthetic learning style, there is also a sub-category known as
interactive learning. Interactive learners frequently find that they lose attention
easily. Like kinesthetic learners they tend to become distracted or bored very
easily within lectures. These individuals often learn best when they are in
situations in which they can actually perform or do something. They frequently
must re-write notes in their own words in order to recall relevant facts." 

The above description is definitely ringing some bells for me.  I have always enjoyed labs or hands on learning-perhaps this is why the interactive whiteboard is so fascinating to me.  I think about how much more fun I would have had in school if I had been able to use one of them! 

In school I have always enjoyed lab work or science projects.  Lectures and memorization did not work for me and it was obvious in my test scores.  I often volunteered to "go up to the chalk board" to show examples of work-not because I thought I was a smarty pants, but I actually needed to do something to learn the material better.  

I think as a teacher/trainer it would be best to have students collaborate-that way students can each participate in activities using their own learning style.  They can also present information to others that match their own learning style.  I know we can't teach each lesson in a curriculum focusing on every learning style but I honestly believe that interactive white boards can be great tools for visual, auditory and tactile learners.   I wish we could put one in every classroom in the country AND train teachers on how to effectively utilize them. I think it would have made a world of difference for me and other tactile learners out there. 

I also took a multiple intelligences test and the results surprised me.  It states if you scored over 3 on any of the types you probably use them often-all of my scores were over 3???!!!  Not surprising was my top -Music I scored a 5, followed by Nature at 4.43 and Social at 4.14. Here are my other results:

3.43	3.29	3.29	3	3

I found the recommendations from this site interesting-like incorporate songs or rhythms for memorizing things.