As part of YouthWorker Journal’s 25th anniversary, we are pleased to revisit this classic article from 1991 by Marlene LeFever, who has kindly added an update at the end.

Sarah learns by listening and verbally responding. She enjoys her youth leader’s stories and mini-lectures. She’s adept at class discussion and almost always volunteers to participate in roleplay. At the end of the 45-minute class period, Sarah will remember about 75 percent of everything she heard and said. She will get the most out of a mission trip when she is able to debrief by sharing the stories about her days. Sarah is an auditory learner.

Jack learns by seeing. He remembers PowerPoint slide information that illustrates what his youth leader says. He often takes notes and he may decorate them with swirls and geometric shapes. He claims he’s addicted to text messaging and enjoys reading the Bible and Christian books. Jack can remember about 75 percent of what he has seen in a teaching session. He is a visual learner.

Michael learns by doing. He needs to move in order to learn. Simulations, games and projects help him process information and respond personally to learning in a classroom. However, he may retain best what he believes during missional activities--hands-on learning. One mission trip a year may not be enough movement to hold his interest in what Christ could do through his life. Michael is a tactile/kinesthetic learner. Students such as Mike are often at risk when they are taught in any other way.

Sarah, Jack and Michael are equally smart. They have different learning styles, or different senses they prefer to use when they learn. While they are not the only senses teens use to learn, their auditory, visual and tactical senses are primary. When their leaders teach with methods that use their preferred senses, often called modalities, they learn more and faster; and they enjoy the learning process. Most importantly, they are more likely to put what they have learned into practice; 70 percent of teens have a preference.

A learning style is like a fingerprint--unique to each student. Students of equal intelligence learn in very dissimilar ways. Successful teachers adapt their teaching to the ways students learn rather than expecting them to adapt to our preferences. Learning-style language can help equip teachers to do deliberately what many gifted leaders do intuitively. Conversely, teachers who have not learned to “read” students may teach only the students who process information most like the teachers themselves do--wonderful for the students who are most like the youth leader, but how disastrous for those who are different.

A year with a youth leader who never provides for students’ innate learning preferences can negatively affect their feelings about youth group--and perhaps God--forever. The opposite is also true. Christian educators should adapt the mindset reflected in the old Yiddish proverb, “All our kids are prodigies,” and edit their Bible studies and youth curriculum in ways that allow the adage to be (almost) true.