This video by neuroscientist/cognitive psychologist Daniel T. Willingham (U. of Virginia) suggests teachers do NOT need to change what they do to accommodate different learning styles...
Then there was this article from the Dec. 15, 2009 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students." Quoting Pashler and colleagues, "We were startled to find that there is so much research published on learning styles, but that so little of the research used experimental designs that had the potential to provide decisive evidence." They are not asserting that people don't have preferences, but that those preferences are not the primary driver of how well students learn. In fact, different types of material are more effectively taught in different ways, and the important teaching strategy is to determine that--i.e., "matching style with content"--rather than accommodating multiple student learning styles. Learning styles advocate and researcher Robert Sternberg disagrees with their conclusions, but David Kolb, one of the earliest proponents of learning styles, "says that the paper's bottom line is probably correct: There is no strong evidence that teachers should tailor their instruction to their students' particular learning styles."
All this consideration was prompted by a recent (Aug. 29, 2011) piece on NPR's "Morning Edition." "Think You'e an Auditory or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely" revisits both the Pasher, et al. literature review and the work by Willingham to conclude that the evidence just isn't there.
What do you think and teach about using learning styles in the classroom?
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119.
Then there was this article from the Dec. 15, 2009 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students." Quoting Pashler and colleagues, "We were startled to find that there is so much research published on learning styles, but that so little of the research used experimental designs that had the potential to provide decisive evidence." They are not asserting that people don't have preferences, but that those preferences are not the primary driver of how well students learn. In fact, different types of material are more effectively taught in different ways, and the important teaching strategy is to determine that--i.e., "matching style with content"--rather than accommodating multiple student learning styles. Learning styles advocate and researcher Robert Sternberg disagrees with their conclusions, but David Kolb, one of the earliest proponents of learning styles, "says that the paper's bottom line is probably correct: There is no strong evidence that teachers should tailor their instruction to their students' particular learning styles."
All this consideration was prompted by a recent (Aug. 29, 2011) piece on NPR's "Morning Edition." "Think You'e an Auditory or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely" revisits both the Pasher, et al. literature review and the work by Willingham to conclude that the evidence just isn't there.
What do you think and teach about using learning styles in the classroom?
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119.
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