Learning Style Theory

                                          within the Learning Sciences

 

What are Learning Sciences?

Learning sciences are the study, analysis, and research of how people, most significantly children, learn best with the pursuit of developing innovative educational devices. When utilized properly, it employs scientific methods, findings and results, to impact teaching methodologies. Developing teaching practices that are scientifically based takes years of research by multiple levels of professionals from different fields, collaborating with the same goal in mind. Often, theories of learning are implemented too quickly due to their appearance of validity. Companies market the sale of educational tools based on these theories as they are highly profitable for the authors and publisher. One such method is teaching directed by the learning style theory.

 

Learning Style Theory

Learning style theory encompasses a vast array of models (over 72 have been developed and marketed!) in which most learning style theorists agree on three to four basic styles (Dekker, 2012). The one theory highlighted on this site details the VAK theory which focuses on visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities of learning. (For more information on VAK visit this link).

 

Neuromyths & Neurosciences

The learning style theory is the most widely accepted and believed neuromyth, or misconception about the brain, in the teaching field. A study by Paul Howard-Jones and colleagues, showed that 93% of 242 educators interviewed believed "individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (e.g. auditory, visual, kinesthetic)", despite the fact that there is absolutely no scientific evidence to point to this conclusion (Dekker, Lee, Howard-Jones, & Jolles, 2012). There is growing interest by teachers in the neurosciences, but their lack of specific knowledge, training and understanding, makes eager educators easy prey for companies selling 'neuroscience' or 'brain-based' teaching materials and methods. The hard, research based, scientific evidence of how individuals learn is still in the infant stage and thusly, when reports, articles, books, and proposed theories tout that they are ‘brain based’ or ‘research based’ we must use caution and restraint in their implementation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several factors that can impact the perceived effectiveness of learning style theory are:

 

• Prior Knowledge or Attribute Treatment Interaction (ATI)

• Liking is NOT the same as Learning

• Learner’s Characteristics must be Accounted for in Evidence and Evaluation

 

Prior Knowledge or ATI: The skills, or attributes, a student brings to an assignment can dramatically impact the perceived effectiveness of a learning style for an individual (Mayer, 2011). For example, a student who believes they cannot draw will focus their attention on the act of drawing the bones correctly opposed to learning the parts of the bone they are drawing. A student who already possesses strong drawing skills, will cognitively focus on the remembering the parts of the bone, not the drawing. Both of the students may be equally capable of mastering the assignment (learning the parts of the bone), one just needs to develop their drawing skills first, then they can be just as effective at learning through drawing as their counterpart.

 

Liking is NOT the Same as Learning: 

Even though a student may enjoy or prefer a method of teaching, there is no correlation between that enjoyment and learning outcomes. The measurement of how much a child enjoys an activity is weighing the incorrect variable, or attribute, being evaluated. The measurement should be on the amount of knowledge attained, not the perception of engagement. Often times true learning is not pleasant, it is hard, uncomfortable and extremely difficult to account for when incorrectly bundling it with how much a student 'likes' a lesson or instructional activity (Mayer, 2011).

 

Learner’s Characteristics must be Accounted for in Evidence and Evaluation:

When an instructor evaluates the performance of a student on a given lesson, there are multiple factors that can impact its effectiveness. An individual's personal characteristics, or experiences, prior knowledge, environment, and comfort zone can all have a dramatic effect on their performance and thusly the evidence generated in studies. The findings that specify the effectiveness of Learning Styles with students are not properly accounting for all the variables, and there are many. Each needs to be determined and accounted for before claims can be scientifically proven and properly duplicated (Mayer, 2011).

 

Cognitive Psychologist Point of View 

Cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham states that other cognitive psychologists are incorrectly equating cognitive strengths with learning styles. One defines an individual’s cognitive ability to learn while their ‘style’ does not. The learning style is simply their preferred method to learn.  (Guterl, 2013). If learning Style theory was scientifically valid, then when you teach to an individual's style (visual, auditory or kinesthetic) versus outside said style, then that should make a difference in learning outcomes. Being taught in a preferred learning style should equate to higher levels of learning and retention but it does not (Willingham, n.d.). That being stated, the learning Style theory does have it’s strengths when utilized properly and with consideration.

 

For more information on how to appropriately incorporate portions of this theory into the classroom please see the video below by Dr. Judy Willis. Dr. Willis talks about the plasticity of the brain, and how she uses her vast knowledge and experience as a neuroscientist and as an educator, to engage and educate her students effectively. She uses a variety of methods and practices to create a classroom of happy, eager students who are also using and developing their cognitive and non-cognitive skills.