Tactile vs kinesthetic learning styles: Which has a greater impact on students?

A teacher has a tough job understanding all of the students in class. It is totally on a teacher to introduce effective teaching and learning methods for students. Students rely on teachers to figure out the qualities present in them even if it’s regarding the childs learning style.

Although many researchers consider tactile learners and kinesthetic learners as the same. And both styles lie under one category. According to these researchers, we can apply the same teaching and learning strategies to both types of students.

But some other researchers believe that there is a difference between tactile and kinesthetic types of learning. They say that tactile learning is about learning through the sensation of touch with our skin. While kinesthetic learning is more about moving large muscle groups of the body.

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The difference between tactile learners and Kinesthetic Learners

Tactile learners

Tactile learners learn best by using their hands. These students like acquiring skills and knowledge with the sense of touch. When a tactile learner uses their hands to study, they will learn more effectively.

Students who are tactile learners may get easily distracted or frustrated if solely visual or aural content is provided in the classroom. Tactile learners are also more sensitive than non-tactile learners.

Kinesthetic learners

Kinesthetic learners engage their whole body to pay attention to a task. It helps these learners to turn into great athletics over time. They are great dancers and have high-level acting skills with perfect body moves.

Kinesthetic learners have trouble with learning styles that only revolves around visual lessons or audios. Students with kinesthetic qualities continuously wiggle in their chairs and teachers often mistake in considering these students hyperactive.

Characteristics of a kinesthetic learner.

Kinesthetic learners can not sit still in one place. They need to move themselves to keep their minds working. They swing their legs, wiggle on a chair while sitting, and even sometimes bounce or jump while sitting and walking. Their bodies and sense of touch are a source of learning for them.
Kinesthetic students have great memories and they tend to pick everything quickly.
They are extraordinary and blessed with physical activities like dancing, swimming, running, and much more.
Kinesthetic learners are good coordinators following their body movement. You will notice them moving their eyes and hands too when they are speaking with some great reactions.
You will see an exponential improvement in their performance when they are moving their hands or touching stuff.
They never like the feeling of being trapped. If you ask them to sit still on a chair or to stop moving, you will eventually see a downfall in their productivity and their performance. Not only physical confinement is a hurdle for them but mental confinement equally causes trouble to their performance.
Kinesthetic learners often ignore instructions as they are not able to remember following rules.
This group of learners can not stay focused on a certain task for a long period. If you ask them to sit on a particular seat and learn an essay, you’ll get disappointed later to know the task is not complete yet. They want to indulge in physical activities and some movements to stay active.

Characteristics of a tactile learner

Tactile learners can learn through fine motor skills instead of moving their whole body (fine motor skills is the ability to move muscles in our hands or wrists).
Subjects like spelling learning or phonics can be learned using some enjoyable tactile or visual activity.
Tactile learners come up with creating the best projects using hands. It can be like building blocks, games, hands-on activities, and so on.

Often teachers make a big mistake by not understanding the difference between tactile learners and kinesthetic learners present in the class. Being a teacher, your first task is to differentiate hyperactive students from tactile and kinesthetic students.

Pay attention to the students in class instead of scolding them for not taking interest during your period. Instead, introduce activities in class that goes best for these students!

Teachers need to start paying more attention to improve the learning style of students according to their personalities. It may help in raising the Education bar in Dubai that will increase the merit rate in the future!

Learning strengths of tactile/kinesthetic learners

Once you recognize that your students are tactile or kinesthetic learners, start working on ways to enhance their strengths. You can introduce new strategies to them to see progress in their performance.

These kinesthetic and tactile learners are on the top list of:

Navigating something.
Remember paths once they have walked on it.
Know how to do a certain task once they have performed it before.
Indulge in creative activities with a good outcome.
Understanding and absorbing the environment and working according to it.

Learning strategies of tactile/kinesthetic learners

There are various strategies a tactile or kinesthetic learner must know to focus on the work.
Play light music in the background while a tactile or kinesthetic student or person is working. With body bumps, leg swinging, or body movement – a person can learn faster.
Try taking (or giving) short breaks.
You can make puzzles or games for your students out of what they have recently learned.
Ask your students or children to trace fingers on objects with a pattern.
For example, to ask them to learn the names of fruits you can make them blindfold and place fruits in a basket. Now ask them to pick one at a time. Recognize it and tell its name.
Ask your students to walk in the room while learning.
Tell them to note it down and recall it later.
You can ask them for group activities as working in groups is profitable.

Teaching strategies

Researchers from Dubai assignment makers believe; using the right teaching strategies can brighten the performance and personality of students. These professionals further emphasized; using strategies on children or adults boosts academic performance.

Teachers can search on Google or take sessions arranged by experienced personality-readers to handle children. Therefore these teachers can get awareness on how to increase the learning power of students.

If you are a teacher looking for some teaching strategies to incorporate in your way – go through the ones we have listed below:

Do not yell at students when you see them standing or moving in the room. The more you put restrictions on them, the more you will notice them getting dull. So, allow them to move freely in your classroom when you are teaching them.
Permit a small short break. You can play a quick game to charge them again.
Teach while using objects around them. If you are teaching children 3D shapes – you can ask them to bring a ball to school or a can of pringles chips for the shape of the cylinder.
Help them in arts and crafts.
Sing and dance while teaching – the children will copy you and remember whatever they have learned during this time.
It’s okay if children are making mistakes. Let it happen!
Arrange lessons outside the classroom every week.

What are the benefits of kinesthetic or Tactile learning?

Learning in a kinesthetic method has various advantages, including;

Increased knowledge storage and improved muscle movement.
More engaged participation.
Critical thinking and problem-solving abilities significantly strengthened.
Increased autonomy and self-assurance.
Relationships with coworkers have improved.
Higher chances to get a scholarship in UAE by getting high grades.

Learning examples for Kinesthetic and Tactile learners

Some of the learning examples that can be utilized in kinesthetic and tactile learning include:

Ask students to touch and observe various kinds of rocks if you are teaching geology subject. Set up a more hands-on exercise rather than having students watch a film about rocks or look at photographs. Place rocks across the room and have students walk to each point, inspecting and touching the rocks to determine their type.
You can give students flashcards to learn. You can ask students to learn the dates or names of famous personalities using flashcards.
Are you teaching them literature? You can ask students to prepare for a stage drama to present in front of other students. Allow students to pick any topic from the course. It can either be Hamlet or Waiting for Godot! Students will learn best from watching a stage performance.
Students should be given choices.
Give students the option of writing a book report or creating a video book report, for example. The option to do a highly creative, hands-on project may appeal to kinesthetic learners.

How you can teach Kinesthetic and Tactile learners at school and home?

The knowledge they are getting by learning through body movements will be stored in their brains for a long time.

At school: Include images and activities in the lesson. When introducing a sight word like “help,” for example, demonstrate a bodily movement that both mimics the word’s shape and meaning.

At home: your child’s memory is unrelated to how many times you’ve taught them to do something. They acquire knowledge through doing. Create entertaining, repeated actions or visual signals, such as whiteboards with lists and illustrations, to help them remember words or facts.

The attention of kinesthetic and tactile learners diverts quickly.

At school: Keep their focus on one thing by adding visuals, some fun activities, and lessons with some movements in your teaching style. It is on you, whether you take small breaks or you want to have some games related to your lesson during class.

At home: In a busy or quiet environment, homework can be tough to complete. Change up where your child (or you) do homework. Tell your child that they have a special learning ability that pictures help them learn faster, and that body movement can help them recall things. Once a youngster understands that their “issues” aren’t proof of a disability, but rather evidence of a unique gift, they can be their own best helper.

Kinesthetic learners and tactile learners can not sit straight still for a long time.

At school: Allow them to move! Tell them as long as they do not interrupt or interact with others, they can get up from their seats and they can move in the room without making any noise. It will help them in improving their performance in the class.

At home: Some children learn new things when they are asked to move freely. So, let them move their legs while reading or if they are playing with their pencils – allow them to do so!

Tactile vs kinesthetic learning styles: Which has a greater impact on students?

Tactile and kinesthetic learning styles both are equally important for students. If one allows students to dance and move the other learning style helps students to absorb knowledge by the sense of touch.

Every student has a different style of learning. Teachers must not impose their specific way of teaching on students. It is better to know which way is best for students to get an engaging response from all the students present in the class.

Considering which way has more impact on students, then kinesthetic learning leaves a greater effect on them! Students can recall what they have learned in the class by thinking of the activity they did while performing a particular task.

A little movement of muscles will also leave an impact on students but they may not get as excited as taking an active part in classroom interactions.

Conclusion

With the advent of time, the digital era is conquering all elements of life, including education. The debate around the use of technology will supplant the function and role of teachers, who will be replaced by online learning material. On the other hand, education is more than just the transfer of information. It requires a response from students in return – as getting an education is always a two-sided process. For that, you can introduce some physical classes at the campus to implement the strategies we have mentioned above. You can improve your teaching style and get a positive response from all the students present in your classroom.