Tag: Learning Styles

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Parenting

So Your Kid Is A Verbal Learner – Now What?

Of all the learning styles, verbal learners tend to be the rarest. This doesn’t mean that they are harder to teach or destined to have problems in school. In fact, verbal learning indicates that people will succeed later in life because they have better language skills. 

It is important to understand that verbal learning is different from auditory learning. Auditory learners learn the best when they hear about a topic, whereas verbal learners need to hear the words and speak them in order to understand. 

Interested in helping your verbal learner succeed? MindFinity helps you to teach your children and increase their Inventive IQ through various activities that strengthen all of their learning styles. Our games will have your children learning while dancing, singing, cooking, and more. The games only take a few minutes every day, but they will quickly become your favorite time with your kids. To learn more, click here.

For now, let’s talk more about your verbal learner.

What Is A Verbal Learner?

Verbal learners tend to learn best through the words that they hear and the words that they say. They need to have both levels in order to understand a topic, though they can usually learn just by hearing words spoken out loud. Traditionally, they benefit from singing songs, repeating chants, and lectures.

Verbal also includes writing. Verbal learners can best express what they know through written essays, speeches, and presentations.

How Do I Know If My Child Is A Verbal Learner?

Has your child ever used a word that you weren’t even sure if you knew the meaning to it – and then you looked it up and they used it correctly? That’s a sign they are a verbal learner. Some other signs include:

  • Loving reading, vocabulary, and spelling
  • Enjoying writing activities
  • Playing word games like Scrabble or crossword puzzles
  • Learning new languages easily
  • Disliking silence or independent study
  • Performing well in front of crowds
  • Preferring writing, history, and reading over math and science
  • Remembering quotes, passages, and songs easily

Of course, every child is different and some verbal learners may excel in math or science. It really just depends on the instruction, teacher, and the child.

How Can I Use This Information To Help My Child Succeed?

If you think that your child is a verbal learner and you want to help them succeed, there are a few different steps that you can take to improve their study skills and performance in school. The first is to encourage your child to read instructions to themselves by mouthing the words. When your child is learning a new subject, have them read the textbook or story aloud to you instead of to themselves. You don’t need to give it your complete focus, as it will benefit your child either way.

Encourage your child to learn as many songs, mnemonic devices, puns, riddles, and wordplay to remember topics – think something like “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” to remember the planets or “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” for mathematical equations.

Encourage your child to write things out that they don’t understand – verbal doesn’t just mean speaking and hearing. It can mean writing something down. These are the kids that are going to benefit from well-written notes that are color-coded and organized perfectly.

MindFinity Helps Kids Learn Through Gameplay

Our award-winning program helps your children expand their brains and learn polymath thinking skills while dancing, playing music, doing martial arts, and moving around! You get a new game each day of the week, which takes a few minutes a day. And you can expand on the games and have your child put their imagination to use. For visual learners, the games can help to quickly spot patterns and increase their Inventive IQ, which can help them to learn better throughout their entire school career.

Interested in learning more? To learn more about MindFinity and sign up for a free trial, click here.

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Parenting Schooling

So Your Kid Is An Kinesthetic Learner – Now What?

If your child is a kinesthetic learner, they have a few things going for them and a few things that you need to be on the lookout for, especially in schools. Kinesthetic learners are the types of people who learn by getting up and doing things instead of sitting there and hearing about doing them. Often, they are the kids who succeed in science or math because it involves movement. They may struggle with more introverted subjects like English or history.

MindFinity helps you to teach your children and increase their Inventive IQs through various activities that strengthen all of their learning styles. Our games will have your children learning while dancing, singing, cooking, and more. They only take a few minutes every day, but they will quickly become your favorite time with your kids. To learn more, click here.

What Is Kinesthetic Learning?

Kinesthetic learners are the types of kids who move around a lot, and they do better when they are active. Whether they remember things better when singing a song that has movements, or they are gifted in some type of movement, they will always remember things better when they can use their bodies as well as their minds.

How Do I Know If My Child Is A Kinesthetic Learner?

 Children who are kinesthetic learners aren’t just the kids who can’t sit still, and kids who can’t sit still aren’t always kinesthetic learners. To spot a kinesthetic learner, look for these signs:

  • Your child excels in sports or physical activities
  • They move their hands or bodies when working on a problem
  • Your kid has a good sense of body awareness
  • Kinesthetic learners often grow bored of assignments quickly
  • They don’t like “step by step” projects

There are some negatives to having a kinesthetic learner as a child as well. Some of these signs include a general disinterest in things like reading or studying. These learners are easily distracted by what is going on around them, if only because it allows them to move their heads. 

How Can I Use This Information To Help My Child Succeed?

Kinesthetic learners are some of the most easily spotted learners in a class, but they are also some of the most underserved students. With class sizes swelling to 30+ in almost every public school, teachers can’t incorporate learning into their lesson plans. There simply isn’t enough room! Unfortunately, kinesthetic learners also tend to be very bad at auditory learning, which is what the modern school system uses the most often.

To help your child succeed, you need to figure out a way to get them moving. This could be by using manipulatives while doing something like math or science, building out labs or projects that require them to physically move around. For English class, buying an audiobook and having them walk on the treadmill while listening can be helpful. 

With younger children it is a bit harder, but if you can find dances, plays, or activities that require them to at least stand, which can be helpful.

Consider the environment as well. Kinesthetic learners benefit from standing desks, peddlers, yoga balls, and even fidget toys. Teach your child how to calm themselves down when they get the urge to move around the room. If you can control the classroom or the schedule, make sure your child has breaks to get in movement. If you don’t, talk to the teacher to see if he or she can schedule some movement. Teachers often need a student to run errands for them, and kinesthetic learners are great for that.

MindFinity Helps Kids Learn Through Play

Our award-winning program helps your children expand their brains and learn polymath thinking skills while dancing, playing music, doing martial arts, and moving around! You get a new game each weekday, which takes about five minutes a day. And you can expand on the games and have your child put their imagination to use. For auditory learners, many of the basic skills are taught through music and patterns, which they then learn to transfer into visual and kinesthetic disciplines, helping them to develop the skills that they need to thrive.

Interested in learning more? To learn more about MindFinity and sign up for a free trial, click here.

Categories
Parenting Schooling

So Your Kid Is An Auditory Learner – Now What?

As we have already discussed, there are a few different learning styles and everyone has one learning style that is their strength. For some, it is visual learning and others excel in auditory learning, meaning they operate best when they hear information or examples. While the school system does try to teach all types of learning, auditory learners often do fairly well because of lectures and traditional teaching.

Kids who are auditory learners may even choose to close their eyes and listen to lectures instead of taking notes, though that often doesn’t go over well with their teachers. If your child is struggling in school, it could be that they aren’t getting information in a way that helps them learn. For example, simply copying down notes isn’t going to help kids who are auditory learners.

MindFinity helps you to teach your children and increase their Inventive IQs through various activities that strengthen all of their learning styles. Our games will have your children learning while dancing, singing, cooking, and more. They only take a few minutes every day, but they will quickly become your favorite time with your kids. To learn more, click here.

For now, let’s talk more about your auditory learner and how you can best help them to succeed.

What Is Auditory Learning?

As mentioned, auditory learning means that someone learns best when they listen to directions, facts, or discussions. They prefer to sit in a lecture over reading a textbook. Some auditory learners prefer to listen to teachers, whereas others prefer general conversations in class. These are the students who need to hear directions instead of reading them on a piece of paper.

Of course, these learners can get information in other ways, this is just the best way to reach them.

How Do I Know If My Child Is An Auditory Learner?

Auditory learners can be slightly more difficult to identify than other types because we tend to explain something and visually show it, so we don’t pick up on those children who learn better from hearing things. However, early signs include:

  • Well developed communication skills
  • High-level vocabulary
  • Good imagination and storytelling skills
  • Strong listening skills
  • Not afraid to speak in public
  • Easily distracted by background noises or conversations
  • Talks to oneself out loud when solving problems
  • Reads directions out loud

There are other signs as well, including general interest in music, podcasts, radio, and other forms of “listening” entertainment.

How Can I Use This Information To Help My Child Succeed?

If this sounds in any way like your child, you are pretty lucky in that there are some easy ways to help your child succeed. The first is that you need to use your voice when helping them with schoolwork or even just teaching them something about life. 

Children who are auditory learners will benefit from repetition, so repeating information that you need them to know and remember is important. If your school offers it, maybe consider recording lessons so that they can hear them again.

Another way to help your child succeed is to simply have conversations with them about what they are learning. Engage in that conversation, when they hear you say things, they will remember it. Just make sure that what you are saying is accurate.

This may be easier for certain subjects, such as history or science, but consider supplementing with YouTube videos, documentaries, podcasts, and other mediums that they can listen to instead of reading textbooks. You may even consider getting audiobooks for their English classes.

MindFinity Helps Kids Learn Through Gameplay

Our award-winning program helps your children expand their brains and learn polymath thinking skills while dancing, playing music, doing martial arts, and moving around! You get a new game each day of the week, which takes about five minutes a day. And you can expand on the games and have your child put their imagination to use. For auditory learners, many of the basic skills are taught through music and patterns, which they then learn to transfer into visual and kinesthetic disciplines, helping them to develop the skills that they need to thrive.
Interested in learning more? To learn more about MindFinity and sign up for a free trial, click here.

Categories
Parenting

So Your Kid Is A Visual Learner – Now What?

There are a few different types of learning styles, and some kids are what we call “visual learners.” This isn’t a good or a bad thing, it is just the way that our brains best process information and catalog it. The school system tries to teach to all of the different learning styles, and many lessons are visual, so your child is off to a good start there. 

Kids who are visual learners tend to be better served by the school system than others, but they may still need some extra support from you. As a parent, you may want to help them connect their natural learning style and strengthen some of their other learning styles. 

MindFinity helps you to teach your children and increase their Inventive IQs through various activities that strengthen all of their learning styles. Our games will have your children learning while dancing, singing, cooking, and more. They only take a few minutes every day, but they will quickly become your favorite time with your kids. To learn more, click here.

For now, let’s talk more about your visual learner.

What Is Visual Learning?

For visual learners, they learn best when they see things. This can look like many different things, including watching videos, seeing demonstrations, or simply watching someone “do” a math problem. These are the students who can watch their teacher do something and they can mimic it back to them – whether it is playing the guitar, solving long division, or performing an experiment.

How Do I Know If My Child Is A Visual Learner?

There are some pretty obvious cues that your child is a visual learner. These can include:

  • Drawing or mapping things out;
  • Taking notes using pictures or diagrams;
  • Learning better when they see a picture or a video;
  • Asking for someone to show them something;
  • Preferring assignments that involve coloring or something visual.

There are some other signs that might symbolize a visual learner:

  • They can draw pictures from memory;
  • They are usually very organized;
  • They have good spatial-awareness;
  • They enjoy drawing; 
  • They often use visual aids to help explain themselves;
  • They choose the more visual approach in projects.

How Can I Use This Information To Help My Child Succeed?

If this all sounds like your child, there are a few different things that you can do to help them succeed – and help them when they are struggling to learn a new topic. The first thing is that you can always show them how to do something. Walk them through the steps visually. You can also buy them highlighters and pens in different colors and allow them to take notes how they like to – even if that includes doodling. Color coding is a big part of learning for these kids.

To keep your child on track, write out to do lists and write down instructions, as this will help them to keep everything they need to do straight. 

If they are struggling with topics, these are the students who do much better when they have flashcards to memorize the information. They also do well with learning from YouTube videos, watching other students work, and getting written feedback instead of verbal feedback on what went wrong.

MindFinity Helps Kids Learn Through Gameplay

Our award-winning program helps your children expand their brains and learn polymath thinking skills while dancing, playing music, doing martial arts, and moving around! You get a new game each day of the week, which takes a few minutes a day. And you can expand on the games and have your child put their imagination to use. For visual learners, the games can help to quickly spot patterns and increase their Inventive IQs, which will help them to learn better throughout their entire school career.

Interested in learning more? To learn more about MindFinity and sign up for a free trial, click here.

Categories
Parenting Schooling

Develop Pattern Recognition Skills

Patterns are fundamental in nature. They surround us, whether in books, sports, games, music, or otherwise. That’s why developing strong pattern recognition skills at a young age is crucial in preparing the mind to be more active and more powerful.
MindFinity focuses on the development of four key components of polymath thinking; pattern recognition, pattern design, analogy, and real-time composition.

At its core, pattern recognition is the process of training ourselves to spot trends. As we age and gain critical thinking skills, pattern recognition skills can help us to make decisions, and eventually our brains naturally recognize patterns and learn from them. This allows us to sort objects and situations in the mind and determine the next steps we should take.

For example, we use pattern recognition when we drive. We are aware of traffic patterns and how they play into the rules of the road. We know (or at least we should know) the first person who goes at a four-way stop, that yellow lights will always turn red, and how to use a roundabout. Even if we drive on roads that we have never been on before, we can still safely navigate by relying on our knowledge of traffic patterns.

Without these abilities, it would be impossible for us to get from place to place. Patterns allow us to get through life and understand the things that we encounter. We are able to make educated choices.

In the same way, our understanding of patterns can help us navigate unfamiliar territory. MindFinity’s method of knowledge transfer trains your child to take the patterns they learn in one field into new subjects in order to accelerate learning. By placing an emphasis on play and exploration, MindFinity’s games speed learning through analogy. How can swimming be like painting? How can Karate translate into music? This sort of knowledge transfer is just one of the skills that MindFinity’s games will help your child learn. Go to our Getting Started Facebook member community to learn more.

What Are Pattern Recognition Skills?

Pattern recognition is the ability to recognize emotional, intellectual, and physical patterns, and articulate how they connect. Of course, this is helpful in many different subject areas, particularly as children are learning.

Pattern recognition can be used to classify data, predict the future, problem solve, and more. Nearly everything we do on a daily basis revolves around patterns in some way, from the things we do when we wake up in the morning, to the way we get work done, to the ways we settle down at night.

Types of Pattern Recognition Skills

Throughout everything we do, there are patterns. There are different types of pattern recognition skills.

Patterns in Art: The ability to explain differences and similarities is at the heart of any practice of pattern recognition. Children will likely have the easiest time spotting patterns in art. At MindFinity, one of our earliest games asks kids to notice and begin to articulate the difference between a triangle and a square. We then ask our kids to fill the shapes with two colors, then redraw the shapes and swap the colors. This helps children understand visually how to recognize and design their own patterns. You can spot this one easily as they grow, because you will see them drawing lines or circles on paper.

Patterns In Math: Of course, most people think about the patterns we approach from a mathematical perspective. Solving mathematical problems, spending money, and determining budgets all require a nuanced capacity to recognize and explain patterns.

Patterns in Music: Music is composed of repeated patterns and those who recognize these patterns tend to be better at playing and composing music. This is because once we learn the components of music we can imitate the patterns we hear and teach ourselves to play.

Patterns in Language: At developmental ages, children learn language largely through imitation. In this way, children learn manners and the means by which to behave. While English is a difficult language to learn, there are patterns in it. Every language bears traceable patterns that help us to remember when and how to formulate ideas. These things can seem obvious to those that know the rules – when to add a feminine ending in Spanish, when to add an -es to make something plural in English, or when to put an accent over a letter in German – but for children who are acquiring language, it can be difficult to articulate these patterns. However, by reinforcing the skill of imitation and by giving children the tools to recognize patterns of grammar, they can take on new languages faster..

Patterns in Emotion: Children need to be able to learn what types of statements make people upset, what happens when they do something wrong, and how to protect themselves against emotions. For example, they need to learn that if they misbehave in the classroom during the day, they may face a punishment (some might not get to eat dessert that night). Or they may learn that if they are mean to a child on the playground other children might not want to play with them. Once they begin to recognize these patterns, they can navigate life while instructing themselves and become successful.

MindFinity prepares your child to utilize the recognize the patterns in each of these domains and to utilize them as polymath thinkers, able to competently use the strength of their artistic talents in math and vice versa. As automation and AI forever alter the world’s job market, the acquired skill of polymath thinking will prepare your child to become an innovator. Click here to get started playing games.

Why Is Pattern Recognition Important?

Pattern recognition skills build on your child’s thinking process and strengthens their ability to understand shapes, sequences, and systems. Having these skills means that young students can grow and focus their imagination into the development of innovative ways of thinking.

Pattern design, analogy, and real-time composition are all essential skills needed for polymath thinking too – all of which your child will acquire through our program as they move patterns from one discipline to another.

One of the reasons that computers have started to take jobs away from people is because computers are about to use pattern recognition to automate simple repeated tasks. However, computers can only imitate existing patterns, it is difficult for them to discover new one.

When it comes to spotting patterns in emotional responses, unique situations, and in newer areas, computers haven’t had the time or ability to collect data that allows them to predict. The jobs of the future will be for those who are able to utilize polymath thinking to creatively design new patterns.

Pattern recognition is so important for children because it helps with:

  • Recognizing and classifying concepts
  • Identifying solutions to problems
  • Developing autonomy in the thinking process
  • Working with Other People to find creative solutions.

How Does MindFinity Help With Pattern Recognition?

To develop pattern recognition skills, it is crucial to introduce new concepts a little at a time and then expand on them. The micro-games on MindFinity start out very simple, but become increasingly more complex. We start with patterns of two, and then three. Once we master the various permutations, and learn to move them more rapidly across disciplines, we then begin to combine them in more challenging ways.

Being able to recognize patterns, redesign them, and apply them to new fields is at the heart of this practice. In as little as five minutes, your child will be able to translate an arrangement of shapes into a musical sequence. After a few weeks, they’ll know how to translate this same sequence into karate, cooking, dancing and more. The best part is that this is all achieved through play.

MindFinity’s games are designed to make learning a joy by giving parents a methodology that only requires 5 minutes of play every day. MindFinity asks you and your family to access polymath thinking on a daily basis in order to prepare your child to cultivate multi-talent acquisition. This skill prepares the mind to see similarities across disciplines and recognize how the mathematical possibilities can lead to creativity. As your child develops his or her Inventive IQ, the ability to recognize similar patterns across a variety of disciplines becomes second nature. This ability will be vital as tomorrow’s job market increasingly gives way to automation and AI. Instead of worrying if your child is being prepared for the future, give them the tools to become the innovator of tomorrow.

MindFinity also connects you with a community of like-minded parents who are giving their children an edge in the future. Our member community serves as an invaluable resource to see how other families have adopted this award-winning methodology. Eventually, you’ll be able to create your own games and share them, seeing how other families are playing.

With short practices every day, your child can expand their way of thinking and grow into the creative problem solver they were meant to be.