Back to School Season: The Four Different Styles of Learning
With school back in session, we thought it was the right time to review the different styles of learning! Here at The Seasoned Chef, we pride ourselves on teaching an incredibly diverse group of people how to cook healthy, approachable meals in their home kitchens. From the beginner to the past professional; from the 11-year-old just starting to learn, to the 88-year-old wanting to develop a couple of new tricks to migrate around the kitchen with ease… everyone is welcome here!
Over the years, we’ve also kept on top of many trends in the area of education. Understanding new developments in teaching and making sure that we’re in touch with up-to-date educational concepts surrounding food preparation has allowed us to be one of the top cooking schools in the nation for several generations of students.
One such concept has become more widely known as VAKT (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Tactile) Learning Styles.
Within the concept of VAKT, we know that all humans have a dominant learning style. It’s a concept that is related to perception and memory - i.e. you remember information best when it’s presented to you in your preferred modality.
Visual Learners - Typically like to see or write the information themselves. These individuals pay attention best when they’re actually watching a lecture or teacher, rather than hearing them. They learn best by reading the information once and sometimes re-write it themselves to fully gather the concept.
Auditory Learners - These are the folks that talk to themselves. They learn best by having conversations about the material and benefit greatly from a method of teaching where the material is summarized before and after the lesson - aka “tell them what they are going to learn, teach them, and tell them what they have learned.”
Kinesthetic Learners - This group of learners benefits from full-body movement when learning. These are the people that wiggle a lot, constantly shaking their legs as they take in material because their whole body is involved. These folks benefit from actually DOING, rather than just hearing or seeing someone else do the activity.
Tactile Learners - Sometimes grouped with Kinesthetic Learners, these individuals benefit from hands-on activities. They prefer fine motor movements, such as actually applying the material, highlighting in the book they’re reading, or taking very detailed notes so that they are constantly moving.
Our Teaching Style
Here at The Seasoned Chef, we pride ourselves on accommodating individuals of ALL learning styles within our in-person classes.
When you come into a class at The Seasoned Chef, we offer printed recipes and demonstrate for the visual learners, offer small group discussion time and describe the cooking process in detail for auditory learners, and allow the material to be actually applied for those that prefer kinesthetic or tactile learning. More than just reading the instructions in a book, watching a video online or on TV, or listening to a pre-created podcast, our students have time for questions and are offered the instruction style that works best for them specifically.
Did You Know…
If you’re interested in seeing our unique teaching style at work, check out our calendar to see what cooking class speaks to you. In the coming months, we offer everything from teaching you to create cocktails from around the world, to creating delicious tailgating dishes, to cozy Fall soups, to a special class honoring Julia Childs. No matter your preferred class, we have something that fits your taste so that you can make delicious, “user-friendly” meals at home!
If you’re brand new to the kitchen, then we highly recommend checking out our signature class, Basic Skills Every Chef Should Know. This class is designed to teach all of the foundational elements of cooking so that you can quickly feel at home in the kitchen.
We look forward to seeing you in class soon!