Making up about 5% of the population, tactile and kinesthetic learners absorb information best by doing, experiencing, touching, moving, or being active in some way.

• Enjoy feeling, discovery, and action
• Remember by using tools, building models, and manipulating things
• Learn through emotions, touch, movement, and space
• Enjoy demonstrations of concept demonstrations
• Master skills through imitation and practice
• Benefit from hands-on teaching techniques
• Find it difficult to sit still for long periods of time
• Remember who did what in the past, rather than what they said or how they looked
• Prefer to stand, walk about or use large motor muscles when learning
• Learn well from field trips and excursions
• Tend to collect things
• Do not have good handwriting
• Are weaker at spelling
• Talk fast, using hands to communicate
• Benefit from role-playing and simulations
• Enjoy having background music while studying or working
• Good at sports
• Take frequent breaks when studying
• Think in terms of physical action
• May play a musical instrument
• Enjoy exploring the environment
• Participate in martial arts, dance
• Can grasp concepts when abstract theories are combined with practical experience
• Enjoy science experiments, construction games, arts and crafts
• Could be considered hyperactive
• More relaxed and open to learning in a beanbag than a hard chair
• Good internal compass for finding their way around
• Get restless during long lectures
• Comfortable touching others as a gesture of friendship
• Prefer participating actively rather than watching video or reading from a book
• Learn more effectively when free to move
• Studies effectively laying on floor or bed, fidgeting, tapping fingers, or touching objects

Suggestions for Tactile-kinesthetic Learners

• Create a model
• Demonstrate a principle
• Practice a technique
• Participate in simulations
• Engage in hands-on activities
• Study in comfortable position, not necessarily sitting in a chair

Preferred Test Styles for Tactile-Kinesthetic Learners

Multiple choice, short definitions, fill-in-the-blanks

Worst Test Type

Long essay tests

Possible Career Paths

Dancers, personal trainers, physical education teachers, actors, firefighters, athletes, mimes, martial artists, yoga teachers, personal coaches