In his article Kirschner (2016) argues that there is no scientific basis for the argument that; a learner has no optimal learning style; there is no valid mechanism to measure one’s learning style; individuals are not aware of their own learning style; instruction should not be built around learning styles. One of his main arguments is that self-reporting using instruments to assess one’s learning style is not a reliable way to actually determine a learning style. He claims (and cites many other studies) that learners are not always willing to be truthful when taking a learning styles assessment. Another key point he makes is that even if the learner was to be truthful in their assessment, this does not mean the learning style they have selected is necessarily the best one for them to learn with. For example, just because they prefer an auditory learning style, it does not mean that is how they will gain the most knowledge, they may benefit more from a kinesthetic learning approach.
When I finished reading this article I was torn, on one hand I have in the past been a big supporter of teaching to your students individual learning styles and have even administered a couple of workshops on learning styles. On the other hand, Kirschner makes some compelling arguments that have caused me to rethink my position. I dug a little deeper and read a few of the articles that Kirschner had referenced and one caught my eye. Massa and Mayer (2006) conducted a study in which they studied aptitude-treatment interaction (the idea that depending on a learner’s specific abilities, some instructional strategies are more effective). After conducting experimental research on visual versus verbal learners they concluded that there was no significant difference in their performance and suggested that learners need not be exposed to different learning methods based on their perceived learning styles.
After further investigation I am now on the fence in regards to the validity of teaching to one’s learning styles, I do however feel that their is still validity in recognizing learning styles. Whatever side of this argument one is on there is still a strong argument to be made that understanding that people learn in different ways can only strengthen your teaching practices.
Resources
Kirschner, P.A. (2016). Stop propagating the learning styles myth. Computers and Education 106(2017), 166-171.
Massa, L. J., & Mayer, R. E. (2006). Testing the ATI hypothesis: Should multimedia instruction accommodate verbalizer-visualizer cognitive style? Learning and Individual Differences, 16, 321-336.
Hi Steve,
I’m wondering what you mean by your closing statement, how it’s different from learning styles, and whether there is evidence to support this claim?
“Whatever side of this argument one is on there is still a strong argument to be made that understanding that people learn in different ways can only strengthen your teaching practices.”
Hey Jason,
I don’t think I conveyed my thinking properly in that last paragraph…what I was getting at is that I think there is still validity in recognizing that it is important not to teach only using one style (ie. always lecture). It’s important to mix it up to keep learners engaged…thoughts?
Steve
Hi Steve,
I do think it’s important to mix it up to keep learners engaged. 🙂
I teach a lot of all-day workshops in the workplace. These workshops are all focused on improving workplace communications–face2face, phone, writing. I usually have a mix of learners many who do not wish to be in the room. To keep everyone engaged, I use a variety of activities: small and large group dialogue; think-and-write; read, write, share; team editing; small and large group presentations; and, so on. By about 45 minutes into the day everyone is usually participating, even the reluctant learners.
Sometimes I will use competitive activities to encourage users to engage with unfamiliar material; other times I use kinder-surprise eggs, spaghetti and marshmallows to help people build 3D-models of abstract concepts (Let me know if you’d like more info on this activity).
When I teach live-online (webconference style-I use Zoom), I put learners into breakout rooms to do activities, similar to what I do in the classroom. I am taking the TELD program to help me make my asynchronous classes more engaging (I have been teaching online with web-conferencing since 2000, and asynchronously since 2009 when I designed a writing course in Moodle for RRU-CS). I haven’t posted to my blog on this activity yet, but I will in the next couple of days.
Thanks for your post and your question. I hope my response is helpful.
Fiona
Hi Fiona,
Thanks for the comment…I would like to know more about the competitive activities you use for facilitating if you are willing to share.
Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve,
I am always up for sharing! One activity I use is call “Dot Worthy” which involves participants awarding dots to each other for useful/insightful comments and questions. At the end of the workshop, we count the dots and award a prize. There’s a twist, though. There are four colours of dots and one colour is worth double points. No one knows which colour, including me until the end of the workshop.
The prize is something small, like a thumbdrive or notebook.
Let me know if you’d like to talk about other activities. I have more than can fit in a comment 🙂 — Fiona