Remember Anything

How a person learns has fascinated philosophers and teachers as well as parents for nearly forever. How exactly does a baby learn to speak, for instance? And why is it that similar breakthroughs are made simultaneously in different areas? The answer to these and many other questions may take far too long to understand, but understanding several learning skills will scratch the surface and catapult you into greater understanding. For the sake of convenience, the learning skills used universally will be covered by paragraph in the following categories: Visual, Auditory, Experience, and Reflection.

First, Visual. The Visual skill is the most commonly used and taught, as it has proven success rates. It is a teaching technique that teaches the student to observe through discussions of visual images. Though we could easily fill this essay with theories, suffice it to say that as a student visualizes things it aids in cognition. The popular game console, the Wii, uses visual representations; in Yoga a virtual personal trainer is assigned who then teaches by demonstration and asks the player to “mirror” their movements. Likewise, there has been a surge in videos for people who prefer to receive information visually.

Next is Auditory. We all know that there must be more to life than what we see, but how do we learn this? By using our other senses. It has been said that musicians use another large percent of their brains, and a study of Music Therapy has been used to teach in ways visual techniques fall short. For instance, when children learn to speak, they sing the alphabet song. Some people learn to detect cadence and pitches to increase retention. Auditory learners also may have a knack for ascertaining the true meaning of someone’s words by listening to audible signals like changes in tone. Many teachers recognize this attribute and include things like oral presentations in class. Actors often use this style of learning, enabling them to become quite proficient in mimicking.

Third is Experience, or as the French philosopher Rousseau called it, Sensation. More commonly this skill is called Tactile. On its most basic level it is simply feeling a thing. Many a student has been labeled a “hands-on” learner. Two specific such learners come to mind: The religious student and the athlete. The two may seem quite different, but they share a skill. A student of religion is required to be skillful at recognizing and converting truth as it flows unseen into the mind. Likewise, a basketball player must be adept at repeating the sensation of making a free throw, something that could not be easily explained otherwise.

Lastly, we will touch on Reflection, which is a combined skill. Artificial intelligence has been created this way. Many programmers feed facts though methods with which a robotic mind then makes new information, which can sometimes be false. For instance, if the intelligence “learned” that the sun is hot, the sun appears yellow, and daffodils are yellow, it might conclude that daffodils are hot. This learning skill does, however, allow a student to make deductions, which is quite useful even if the student is not always right.

A person usually assumes his own style of learning by using these skills in various ways. These learning skills can be nurtured to increase comprehension, and by failing to recognize differences teachers may falsely diagnose a learning disability when it may be a teaching failure. In conclusion, the learning skills—Visual, Auditory, Experience, and Reflection—must be carefully studied and understood if one ever hopes to answer such questions as, “How, exactly, does a baby learn to speak?”

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