Duct Tape Has Many Uses—But It's Not a Recommended Study Aid

Duct tape has many uses—but keeping your child seated to study is NOT one of them. 

Recently I was having tea with a friend and we were discussing how different her three children are and how she can get them to sit down and study. She actually brought up the duct tape part as a joke, but it gave me the inspiration for this article.

Schools are left brain hemisphere havens—lots of talking, sitting, and listening.  Many children are not wired to just sit and listen.  We see evidence of that in our own homes. 

What brain research has taught us is that students learn in three ways: auditorially, visually and kinesthetically.  Teachers are aware of these three modalities, so it is the basics of every teaching program. Just like students have a preference, teachers do as well and sometimes that carries over into the classroom. 

A teacher that is a visual learner will most likely rely on visual teaching strategies.  If there is a student in that particular classroom that is a kinesthetic learner, this can result in a disconnect from the lesson.  Luckily, all learning styles can succeed in any classroom. 

The reality is that most teachers incorporate all three learning styles into their lessons.  Students can continue this at home to reinforce and rehearse in their own preferred learning style.  It is finding what works for the student.  Let’s take a look at what this looks like at different levels:

Elementary—Addition problems

• Visual—Teacher models on a felt board three apples plus two apples equals five apples.
• Auditory—Teachers have students repeat the math fact over and over and over again so that they can hear it.
• Kinesthetic—Teacher gives students counters to add four red + five blue.

Middle School—Subordinating Conjunctions to identify dependant clauses

• Visual—show students a list, give them a list to keep in their binder and post it in the room.
• Auditory—, thus making mnemonics work!
• Kinesthetic—Have students stand up and create a dance to go along with the song, sing it and move to it.

High School—Studying for a test in English on Romeo and Juliet

• Visual—Look over notes, read over the play again.
• Auditory—Explain to a parent what happened in that particular scene.
• Kinesthetic—Re-enacting what has happened in that scene.

Sometimes we, as parents, try to make our children study the way we learned, because that’s what we know and that is what makes sense.  If you were a child that sat and studied by looking at your notes and your child studies by adding music to the concept or doing something physical, then  encourage that!

Remember, we are all unique. When we try to fit a round peg into a square hole, it just doesn’t happen.  Most importantly, there is not enough duct tape to make them sit and do it your way.