Throughout life we learn as we grow. These lessons may be formal as found in academic studies, on the job through additional training, or personal in the pursuit of an interest or hobby. Regardless of what, where or when we choose to obtain knowledge, how we approach learning is unique to each and every one of us based on our individual learning style or styles. The definition from “The Nonprofit Good Practice Guide is “Learning styles are simply different approaches or ways of learning.” (www.nonprofitbasics.or) . This means the ways that people go about gathering and interpreting information can be surprisingly different and numerous research has shown that people have different preferences and strengths in how they take in and process information. These preferences are sometimes referred to as learning styles and are used to describe and help us understand the various ways in which different people learn. The idea of learning styles usually refers to a preferred way of learning. It implies that each individual has a natural inclination toward learning of some kind and, that if that preference can be identified, teaching and learning experiences can be provided to help that person assimilate more effectively. Depending on the source, there are four to seven unique styles. Fleming and Mills (1992) suggested four categories that seemed to reflect the experiences of learners and they are defined as follows:
Visual : This preference includes the depiction of information in maps, spider diagrams, charts, graphs, flow charts, labelled diagrams, and all the symbolic arrows, circles, hierarchies and other devices, that instructors use to represent what could have been presented in words.
Aural / Auditory : This perceptual mode describes a preference for information that is "heard or spoken." Learners with this modality report that they learn best from lectures,