Learning Styles Don't Exist

Professor Daniel Willingham describes research showing that learning styles are a myth

Category:

Education

Tags:

• learning
• styles
• visual
• auditory
• kinesthetic
• education

[burgercide]

Is seeing pictures of specific objects really equivalent to hearing someone read the names of categories of objects? I would think that a better experiment would be to read the names to one group, and show the other group the names in writing.

[dbw8m]

@burgercide "VAK actually explains why some people learn some types of information better than other types. A visual learner will learn the shapes of countries quicker than an auditory learner." No, that's a difference in ability, not styles. No one disputes that there are differences in ability.

[CreatorCoach]

I love it when psychology begins to catch up with NLP. (Neuro-linguistic Programming as discovered and developed originally by Richard Bandler and John Grinder). This video shows just how misinterpreted the VAK model has been - especially in educaiton circles. Other NLP references explain the other misnomers around learning styles.

[dbw8m]

@CreatorCoach Can you provide some references showing empirical support for NLP?

[williamstierle]

More suffering for creative and interpersonal children. Fact based education based on: "Get the right answer, in the shortest amount of time." kills creativity and innovation. I agree with your slice of truth and disagree with your limited perspective. You offer no alternative, good teachers, don't have to adjust? What is a good teacher? What is optimal learning? Continue teaching academic silos? Disappointment this does not meet full truth, it is not because I have a limiting belief.

[dbw8m]

@williamstierle Um, okay, glad you agree with my slice of truth. Not sure why you think my perspective is limited, based on this video. My alternative--what I suggest teachers think about from the perspective of cognitive science--is outlined in a 2009 book and in regular columns in _American Educator_

[pedanticlibrarian]

My visual learning style suggests that that's not Algeria on your map.

[jdbsiratt]

I think people are using leraning styles and ability interchangeably. The flat simple truth is that teachers need to use multi-sensory teaching in order to reach all of their students. The best way to learn is to involve all the senses. It just makes good common sense!

[garethgee]

Great, Dan! Frank Coffield et al have helped to debunk this 'VAK' nonsense here in the UK, where Learning Styles theory has been used effectively to blame teachers for low attainment in poorly-resourced institutions, shifting the blame from management, where it belongs. I have been asked to complete blank lesson plans in adult colleges which include 'V - A - K' and also 'O - T' (Olfactory / Touch) as headings, under which I am supposed to show how my English lang classes will meet these 'needs'.

[burgercide]

Does VAK theory really predict that all learners will learn everything equally well, as long as the information is presented to them in their preferred modality? No. VAK actually explains why some people learn some types of information better than other types. A visual learner will learn the shapes of countries quicker than an auditory learner. Of course both visual and auditory learners will have a much harder time learning the shapes of countries by ear.

[steeldragonx]

I imagine that the more senses that are engaged in a specific task, the more one would learn the task, as more sensory input is involved, as this would on the surface seem to indicate that one is more focused on the specific task that one is engaged in.

[MrQuransunnah]

learning through pain and trauma, best way of forging neuron connections, lol

[MrQuransunnah]

oh yeah, if you get an electric shock everytime you are slacking, that will make your learning faster

[MrQuransunnah]

and then after that keep doing example after example, that's it