A Critique
16 Characteristics of Kinesthetic and Tactile Learners
Overall this piece moves too quickly from observation (and description) to proposing techniques. It needs to dwell in the body in the world (read, observe) before moving on to report (describe) and then to tips & techniques (action). One senses the urgency in the piece to reach all learners but the authors miss the opportunity to make their findings universally applicable to all learners. (See applications of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences < approach carefully with a view that "independent" faculties are not unconnected < Wikipedia entry: “these ways are relatively independent of one another” our emphasis).
1. Kinesthetic learners need to move.
2. Kinesthetic learners have excellent “physical” memory.
3. Kinesthetic learners are often gifted in physical activities
3. Kinesthetic learners are typically very coordinated and have an excellent sense of their body in space and of body timing.
Tactile learners learn through fine motor movements rather than whole body movement. [such learners are actually quite good at navigating multiple levels of granularity i.e. every one is]
Tactile learners learn primarily through the sense of touch. [where does touch end and begin?]
(We are all Kino-tactile learners.)
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7. Tactile learners learn best through hands-on activities. [Not just hands … the locus is throughout the whole body — the erotophobia hinted at here in the limitation to hands (Nose and tongue are important learning]]
Incorporating related motions into teaching is one way to strengthen tactile learners. Explore our Alphabet Teaching Cards to see how hand gestures can play out in learning letters. [See : http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/S6.HTM#5.21 < This link actually leads to 5.12 : equally applicable <dyslexia is delightful< < this may be a browser quirk via Safari [Version 13.1 (15609.1.20.111.8)])
The pathways between perception and narration are particularly evident in non-linguistic narrative. Set in the context of general semiosis, narration crosses sensory modalities. This does not explain how a series of events becomes a sequence. Sequences arise from learning. They develop from bodies attempting to preserve and process knowledge. Sequences disentangle synaesthesia. For example, teaching children to count aloud on their fingers is enhanced by the introduction of slight pauses. The teacher touches the child’s finger, pauses, voices a number, pauses, and makes eye contact with the child, pauses, makes eye contact with the touching fingers. The pattern which consists of tactile sensation, oral marking, aural sensation, and concludes with an invitation to shift to a visual mode, can of course be varied. With two or more teachers the potential for variation increases: sequences can be assigned either solo or group performance and can be distributed according to sensory modality. One teacher voices, an other points, the child connects.
8. Tactile learners express their learning best with projects. [define “project” < this seems too goal-directed]
9. Kinesthetic and tactile learners have trouble sitting still. <simply not true [see remarks above on tongue and nose learning]
10. Kinesthetic and tactile learners lose interest quickly. <they don't loose "interest" in fact they are compounding it — they are mapping experiences to various parts of their body — on the outside a pause looks like loss of interest < they are processing how to retrieve info from their cognitive map ….
11. Kinesthetic and tactile learners have difficulty learning steps and procedures. <False — they are excellent at choreography — even of minute details in long sequences and strings
12. Kinesthetic and tactile learners are easily distracted by their environment. Their attention follows their hands.< see remarks about on hand-centricism
I give up (there are 13, 14, 15, 16 on the checklist < same remarks about anti-erotic and anti-intellectual bias pertain to these characteristics < needs more field work and experiential reporting to trim down the characteristics to five or six and make them applicable to any learner <<<<< See Langston Hughes on rhythm and intercessory & intersensory translation https://berneval.hcommons.org/2012/03/14/rhythm-seen-and-heard/
BTW – Five fingers, Six senses
And so for day 2757
01.07.2014