How do you learn best?

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Since school is beginning again I've been wondering about what method is best to learn new material. I've found that I have different preferences with different subjects. In humanities classes, like languages and psychology I strongly prefer listening to the teacher to reading about things myself. In maths however in the easier topics I barely listen but prefer to practice it myself and I don't really learn and comprehend it until I've practiced it enough. I've read that aspies are really good with visuospatial things and think in pictures, I suppose that's a visual learning style. I'm kind of mixed on that. I do think in pictures most of the time, or rather, have little movies in my head I play over and over again. I'm good with graphs and spatial stuff generally, but my sense of direction is really bad, esspecially when I'm in the middle of a lot of things, like walking in the city. So I can't really tell what kind of learner I am. So...What about you?

Great question.
I'm predominantly an auditory and tactile learner. Perhaps because my eyesight is bad.
When reading, I subvocalize the words. Saying them out loud helps me comprehend and retain what I read. Having something to touch or manipulate has always been a tremendous help to learning. Maybe that is why my two obsessions (plants and music) are very hands-on activities. I feel my most lucid and engaged when I am playing instruments or working out in the garden.

Im Tactile/Visual, thats why i enjoyed math and chemistry so much. If i could see it and write/draw it, i was in heaven. I didnt mind english so long as i was able to actually write, but reading only kinda bored the hell out of me (unless it was a book that REALLY caught my attention. Books that were heavy one metaphors or multiple meanings lost me entirely).

For me, it's thinking in examples while understanding the broader picture. I've always enjoyed listening to lectures to get the concepts, but then I learn how to apply them on my own. I almost never took notes in high school or in college. I just found them pretty much useless.

In history classes, I found I always visualized events I was learning about. That's true for when I read fiction, too. I simply can't not see things in my head as I read about them. It's fun, but it's a bit tiring, and I think it's one of the reasons I'm a relatively slow reader.

At work, I'm the kind of guy that delves deep into source code to see how a computer program works. I throw the debugger on and just watch the code execute. Maybe that sounds crazy, but it's far, far more effective than traditional training courses.

I personally need to put everything in pictures and things I can pick up. Pie charts, visual models, anything I can draw out. I was in heaven when I did chemistry class, all those molecules we were assigned to build . Math was my worst because the teacher did most of her stuff verbally, very rarely drawing out the more difficult equations. I might as well be wearing ear plugs when people tell me things. I purchased a real message machine after totally messing up messages for years at home. So much mis-communication...

Very strongly biased toward reading, then if appropriate looking to see what that means in practice. In training situations I get told off for reading the handout while the trainer's talking.

Long term or short term? i.e. "lifelong learning about human behavior and scripts" vs. "studying for a college course/test".

In general, I have to learn things in a very specific way. Unless I can create a system in my mind, with a place to put what I am learning, I will be unable to acquire the new knowledge.

By far my most effective channel is reading. I can learn even the most complex things by reading about them, and my mind will fill in or "ask itself" for missing pieces of the system. In stark contrast, other visual learning media (such as pictures) are ineffective - I quickly forget what pictures look like (a pronounced visual agnosia that extends to faces).

Auditory learning is challenging for several reasons. First, I have an auditory processing disorder, so if I can discern speech at all, I usually miss bits and have to fill in the blanks while following the ongoing conversation. I then need to "see" the words, and read the virtual image. All the while, I am building the system in my mind to understand and retain the information, mapping what I hear into that system. I can do all of this, but tire easily. My daily limit is about three hours, with breaks, before my mind totally shuts off, after which I am reduced to staring out the window and allow my mind to catch up and organise all of the new stuff. Even in the attentive state, there's no way I can be expected to look at the speaker; more commonly, when listening intently, my eyes are either closed or fixated on a distant object.

Tactile learning for me is only effective when I am learning how to do something requiring motor activity (beyond writing or typing). I am dyspraxic and somewhat apraxic, and need to slowly repeat the actions many times before retaining them. If the order is changed, or if I don't do the activity for a while, I am essentially starting over learning how to do it - frequent reinforcement is necessary.

Learning independently works best for me.

I'm a visual/tactile learner. I can't learn anything form just hearing it. One technique I've picked up to help learn is to create characters out of new concepts or ideas that can't be visualized. Then I draw those characters as doodles and comics to help illustrate what they represent.

Visual/tactile...Plus I sorta absorb things in a roundabout way sometimes..

Very bad at learning things in an auditory way, but sometimes I will absorb an auditory trigger that will make certain things fall into place. I can learn through reading as long as there are also pictures to illustrate.

I cannot truely learn something unless I am able to apply the knowledge after learning it.

I'm definitely a visual learner, and I generally take my time with things so I can absorb it.

Visual. I have a difficult time processing things I hear quickly enough, which sometimes made college difficult for me because they try to cram so much into a lecture and you can't really tell your professor to slow down if you are in a lecture. However a lot of professors are now using power point and handouts more. And I did like courses that were more discussion based, depending on who was in my courses. I tend to take very detailed notes because writing things down helps me remember them, so fast paced courses would also frustrate me if I felt that I couldn't write everything I needed to write down.

For things like math and scientific equations I was always better off figuring out how to do it on my own. I was very good at math and science, but it was difficult for me at times to do things the way it was taught in class. I had to sit down on my own and figure it out most of the time.

The only subject I ever disliked somewhat was English. I love reading just about anything, but I don't like being told that I have to read X work of fiction just "because". I also hated any kind of creative writing because it was always so difficult for me to begin writing something so open ending and I didn't like being graded on something that was that extremely subjective. I did get good grades in English however and I loved analyzing literature, but I love analyzing anything and everything.

I majored in art history and I really loved it because it was a visual way to learn about so many different things. Politics, religion, history, culture, fashion, design, etc. I never realized that before I began to study it. I just really loved the subject and decided to major in it, somewhat hastily however. I was a wildlife biology major and I do now regret not getting a degree in the sciences because I think it would make finding a job and being employed a lot easier. But I wasn't thinking of such practicalities at the time. Now I don't know what I want to do.

Also my sense of direction is terrible, but I'm not sure that would make me any less of a visual learner. Visual landmarks are the only way I really know where I am at times. Like others I can read maps very well, but when I am trying to find my way around places, especially crowded areas, I have a difficult time. I think it is because there is so much to process in general and if there are no prominent landmarks I have stored in my memory things just look the same, especially when I am overwhelmed. Also I tend to just not pay attention to my destination a lot of the time because I'm focusing on other things. But mostly I go to the same places and take the same routes after awhile so it is like autopilot. I don't drive though, for this reason and many others.

Hands on and by repetition.
Get the hands dirty, work up a sweat.

ruveyn

By finding out myself. If someone tells me a lot of information I wont get it at all.
Right now Im attending a course in creating websites. I never ask the teacher for help, I did twice but he talks fast and I dont understand....

I search within the tools and information he have provided us