I teach a class on critical thinking and try to incorporate a number of different ideas to open this topic up to folks who have never thought about “thinking about your thinking.”

In several classes students mentioned learning styles and how that affected their critical thinking abilities. One reason that caused me to give this extra attention was an implication that learning did not take place for a student unless it came packaged in the preferred learning style. Thus, the burden of gaining knowledge could be transferred  from the student to the way it was shared.

Being a professional disseminator of information and an advocate of helping people continue to move forward in their educational journey, I had to look at this viewpoint critically. From a personal standpoint, I wanted to review to see if I had done everything I could to present the information in my classes so that whether students were  visual, auditory or kinesthetic leaners, they all would benefit.

This concept of learning styles is readily accepted by students and educators alike. A recent survey showed that over 96% of educators subscribed to the idea of learning styles (Dekker, etal, 2012).

Using critical thinking, I asked another, more foundational question: Do learning styles actually exist? Further, does emphasis on learning styles help or hurt the student experience?

It turns out that this concept is actually a compelling myth.  A recent study set up a controlled experiment in which students were provided input on their preferred leaning styles and given a test. The results showed that there was no memory aid from giving the information in a specific style more than any other style (Kratzig, etal, 2006). Another study showed that students actually performed worse when given tests in their preferred learning styles. The study concluded that students assumed that the test would be easier because of the personal learning style connection. It seemed that assuming something was going to be easier had resulted in the students putting less effort into learning in the first place (Saloman, 1984). Thus, a focus by either students as they study or instructors as they design coursework can mean less learning if learning styles are the deciding factor, which of course is exactly the opposite of the goal of education.

I welcome your comments about this concept!

 

References

Dekker, S., Lee, N. C., Howard-Jones, P. & Jolles, J. Neuromyths in education: prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers. Front. Psychol.http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00429(2012).

Kratzig & Arbuthn Ott. Perceptual Learning Style and Learning Proficiency: A Test of the Hypothesis (2006)

Salomon, G. (1984) Television is “easy” and print is “tough”: the differential investment of mental effort in learning as a function of perceptions and attributions. Journal of Educational Psychology 76(4), 647-658.