The idea that different kinds of learners (such as “auditory learners” and “visual learners”) learn best when they are taught in their preferred learning style modality has had a tenacious grip in classroom settings in recent decades. Here is yet another report, this one commissioned by Psychological Science in the Public Interest, that condemns the use of learning styles in school settings. Frankly, it’s interesting if you are a teacher, trainer, parent or employed in the vast industry of learning style assessments, but it is less interesting if you are a learner or interested in personalized learning in non-structured settings. School is such a narrow slice of the learning landscape, and it distressing to hear of all the resources spent on promoting a suspect proposition, then again to quell it. These findings are not relevant to unstructured learning environments, and the strict type of randomized research designs advocated (e.g., classify learners into categories, then randomly assign the learners to use one of several different learning methods and assess effectiveness of the learning methods with a test given to all participants) is a steep hurdle. Thanks to Will Thalheimer for pointing to the study.
Learning styles: Reports of demise exaggerated
The idea that different kinds of learners (such as “auditory learners” and “visual learners”) learn best when they are taught in their preferred learning style modality has had a tenacious grip in classroom settings in recent decades. Here is yet another report, this one commissioned by Psychological Science in the Public Interest, that condemns the use of learning styles in school settings. Frankly, it’s interesting if you are a teacher, trainer, parent or employed in the vast industry of learning style assessments, but it is less interesting if you are a learner or interested in personalized learning in non-structured settings. School is such a narrow slice of the learning landscape, and it distressing to hear of all the resources spent on promoting a suspect proposition, then again to quell it. These findings are not relevant to unstructured learning environments, and the strict type of randomized research designs advocated (e.g., classify learners into categories, then randomly assign the learners to use one of several different learning methods and assess effectiveness of the learning methods with a test given to all participants) is a steep hurdle. Thanks to Will Thalheimer for pointing to the study.