Tip #454: Live and Learn
March 17, 2008 – 10:53 am
Live and learn, the saying goes, implying that it is life’s experiences which are humanity’s best teacher. If you’ve spent much time as a youth minister, you know that there is some truth to that saying; but you also know that there is more to learning than experiencing. Digging into how people learn at different stages of life is fascinating, and it’s fair to say that it’s hard work to teach in all the ways that will reinforce the truths and principles of Jesus.
One aspect of effective teaching in youth ministry is to make use of methods which will allow students of different learning styles to understand the building blocks of a disciples’ life. We talk a lot about this in youth ministry, yet when we do, we are generally sitting in chairs looking at someone in front of us talking. We don’t mean to, but it happens when we’re learning, and it happens when we’re teaching.
Today’s tip is to refresh our collective memory about the learning styles, and consider how we might implement them all in our ministry to students.
- Auditory learning happens by hearing the spoken word. It could be your voice, music, the audio portion of a video, a discussion. By itself, auditory learning is the least effective way to learn and the most common way to teach.
- Kinesthetic learning occurs by interacting physically with the material. Touching, tasting, moving, experimenting with the elements of an idea give it form and texture, as well as an action to go with the words. Find an illustration that helps your students physically interact with the information, this is sensory learning.
- Visual learning occurs by seeing still or moving images, observing body language, using visual associations and memory devices, and demonstrations. This is perhaps the most reinforced learning style in the present generation because of TV, video, gaming, etc. Using it in combination with the others reinforces information with a visual mind imprint.
Of course, there are also feelings associated with hearing an idea or participating in an activity, and it is important to understand the range of possible reactions to ensure your teaching is teaching and not manipulation. It is worth the work to discover your own learning means (because you’ll teach that way most naturally) and bringing in the other methods as you teach. Using each of the styles in the context of each message or activity will give the disciples entrusted to you a pattern to follow, an action to do, in combination with the instructions in the Word.
