There are many ways to learn topics in school, and teachers use a variety of different techniques to teach their students the topics at hand. Many students learn differently than others, and the result of this is very clear.

Catalina Castro (’25) is in the IB program and during school she enjoys hearing the teacher talk and explain the lesson a few times over in order to help her learn better.

“Honestly a mix of all but I definitely learn better with auditory learning — like lectures and notes because seeing the teacher go over it a couple times and explain it is really helpful for me,” said Castro.

Ella Baker (’25) is a university student and has a different way of learning the lessons she’s taught during school. As a university student and not IB, she may have a different way of learning because her teachers may teach in a different way than other programs would.

“Hands-On because it’s easier to learn and doing it over and over is helpful. I also like visual because I can see what the teacher is trying to explain and copy it down to study later,” said Baker.

Madeleine Skryd (’25) is also a university student. Her response is similar to Baker’s and both are in the same program.

“I like hands-on because it helps me learn better and understand the ways of everything. Putting my hands on things and actually doing it helps me learn better in class,” said Skryd.

Elena Zheng (’25) is an IB student and has a different way of learning than the others. She learns different than the other students in IB, which shows the openness between how the teachers teach their students within different programs.

“I learn better with a more hands-on teaching style because I like to use more than just auditory and visual aids when learning about something. It also helps me better understand the lesson because I am able to handle it and tackle the problem better than with other teaching styles,” said Zheng.

Alie Homa (’25) is another IB student and feels differently about other teaching styles than others she’s used to using or being taught to learn different subjects and lessons.

“I like the auditory teaching style more because I’m good at listening and when I was younger, my parents would just explain new things to me by talking to me, so I just got used to learning that way,” said Homa.

Different teachers have different styles of teaching. Some may teach with lots of practice problems, some may use notes, or some may just lecture and expect the student to listen and understand. But many students may not be able to learn easily by using a style they’re not used to, and so it’s good to know what styles students prefer more so that maybe teachers can start integrating those facts into their lessons.