I think it plays into peoples psychology too. They are like "oh thats why I struggle in school! im a visual learner" but in reality they just suck at school. lol
LOL that could certainly be a factor too. It's difficult because there are so many people teaching things without any actual evidence or experience so we all go on believing it! I'm not saying people don't enjoy or prefer different modes of learning...just that there is no actual thing as a purely visual learner from a neurological perspective. Thanks for sharing your insights!!
The miss gets even creepier, in its consequences, than you can imagine. I tutor handwriting (and s9metomes other things), so I had a student, and I had a new student (she was old enough to know better) tell me very firmly that I must never, ever, Ask her to look at anything or trace anything or copy anything because (she informed me) she was an auditory learner. She “needed” me, she said, to teach handwriting entirely through her ears. The student, unsurprisingly, didn’t come back for a second lesson - the only pleasant consequence of the situation was that it gave me a wonderful story to tell to advocate of “learning styles” so that I can see the stunned look on their faces when I ask them what they would suggest I should do for the next student who shows up, wants better handwriting, and declares that the lesson must be auditory-only.
Wow! That’s absurd! I see it a lot with things like “role plays” or presentations when people feel uncomfortable (or lazy!) they dig their heels in and say they are “visual learners so just need to watch other people but they don’t learn by doing it themselves!”. It’s quite interesting how these misconceptions form. Some people argue like crazy to defend their opinion! Thanks for sharing - such a great story!
There's spectacular irony in this argument apparently only having been put forward in the form of a video. Gonna assume you're full of it or you'd have a link to a transcript.
Not at all and it’s not irony. The video states that you don’t learn through a single channel. And a video utilises multiple modalities. People can take information in via any of the senses. However it’s not processed by just one. This isn’t a new concept and is a common topic in ‘neuromyths’ studied in educational neuroscience. There’s plenty of data out there if you’re interested and you’re welcome to believe what you will. Doesn’t change the data. www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf
Go nuts. Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological science in the public interest, 9(3), 105-119. - ve42.co/Pashler2008 Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266-271. - ve42.co/Willingham Massa, L. J., & Mayer, R. E. (2006). Testing the ATI hypothesis: Should multimedia instruction accommodate verbalizer-visualizer cognitive style?. Learning and Individual Differences, 16(4), 321-335. - ve42.co/Massa2006 Riener, C., & Willingham, D. (2010). The myth of learning styles. Change: The magazine of higher learning, 42(5), 32-35.- ve42.co/Riener2010 Husmann, P. R., & O'Loughlin, V. D. (2019). Another nail in the coffin for learning styles? Disparities among undergraduate anatomy students’ study strategies, class performance, and reported VARK learning styles. Anatomical sciences education, 12(1), 6-19. - ve42.co/Husmann2019 Snider, V. E., & Roehl, R. (2007). Teachers’ beliefs about pedagogy and related issues. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 873-886. doi:10.1002/pits.20272 - ve42.co/Snider2007 Fleming, N., & Baume, D. (2006). Learning Styles Again: VARKing up the right tree!. Educational developments, 7(4), 4. - ve42.co/Fleming2006 Rogowsky, B. A., Calhoun, B. M., & Tallal, P. (2015). Matching learning style to instructional method: Effects on comprehension. Journal of educational psychology, 107(1), 64. - ve42.co/Rogowskyetal Coffield, Frank; Moseley, David; Hall, Elaine; Ecclestone, Kathryn (2004). - ve42.co/Coffield2004 Furey, W. (2020). THE STUBBORN MYTH OF LEARNING STYLES. Education Next, 20(3), 8-13. - ve42.co/Furey2020 Dunn, R., Beaudry, J. S., & Klavas, A. (2002). Survey of research on learning styles. California Journal of Science Education II (2). - ve42.co/Dunn2002
There is plenty of research out there showing learning styles make no difference to outcomes. There is a good video on this by youtuber Veritsium, that describes several studies. If you really want to know what the evidence is, I suggest you look at that video. Of course, if you'd prefer to believe the myth, then don't 🙂.
I think it plays into peoples psychology too. They are like "oh thats why I struggle in school! im a visual learner" but in reality they just suck at school. lol
LOL that could certainly be a factor too. It's difficult because there are so many people teaching things without any actual evidence or experience so we all go on believing it! I'm not saying people don't enjoy or prefer different modes of learning...just that there is no actual thing as a purely visual learner from a neurological perspective. Thanks for sharing your insights!!
The miss gets even creepier, in its consequences, than you can imagine. I tutor handwriting (and s9metomes other things), so I had a student, and I had a new student (she was old enough to know better) tell me very firmly that I must never, ever, Ask her to look at anything or trace anything or copy anything because (she informed me) she was an auditory learner. She “needed” me, she said, to teach handwriting entirely through her ears. The student, unsurprisingly, didn’t come back for a second lesson - the only pleasant consequence of the situation was that it gave me a wonderful story to tell to advocate of “learning styles” so that I can see the stunned look on their faces when I ask them what they would suggest I should do for the next student who shows up, wants better handwriting, and declares that the lesson must be auditory-only.
Wow! That’s absurd! I see it a lot with things like “role plays” or presentations when people feel uncomfortable (or lazy!) they dig their heels in and say they are “visual learners so just need to watch other people but they don’t learn by doing it themselves!”. It’s quite interesting how these misconceptions form. Some people argue like crazy to defend their opinion!
Thanks for sharing - such a great story!
I use these insights as a teacher educator to inform and teach my students. Thank you!
Brilliant! You’re in a great position to promote critical thinking which is such an important skill (especially today!). Thanks for the feedback!
This is cool. I love the example with the song. Just goes to show that there’s a lot more to it than people realise.
There certainly is - which is why it’s so important for leaders to understand HOW their teams work, and not just what they do.
I like the idea of processing, and preference as a much clearer description. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching! And yeah, specific language is really important when it comes to clarity in communication.
So many teachers use this as an excuse for bad lessons with death by powerpoint or 3 hour long lectures
Death by PowerPoint, PowerPoint slides filled with text, or someone who just reads the slides to you. Three hells of attending training!
There's spectacular irony in this argument apparently only having been put forward in the form of a video.
Gonna assume you're full of it or you'd have a link to a transcript.
Not at all and it’s not irony. The video states that you don’t learn through a single channel. And a video utilises multiple modalities. People can take information in via any of the senses. However it’s not processed by just one. This isn’t a new concept and is a common topic in ‘neuromyths’ studied in educational neuroscience. There’s plenty of data out there if you’re interested and you’re welcome to believe what you will. Doesn’t change the data.
www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf
Go nuts.
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological science in the public interest, 9(3), 105-119. - ve42.co/Pashler2008
Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266-271. - ve42.co/Willingham
Massa, L. J., & Mayer, R. E. (2006). Testing the ATI hypothesis: Should multimedia instruction accommodate verbalizer-visualizer cognitive style?. Learning and Individual Differences, 16(4), 321-335. - ve42.co/Massa2006
Riener, C., & Willingham, D. (2010). The myth of learning styles. Change: The magazine of higher learning, 42(5), 32-35.- ve42.co/Riener2010
Husmann, P. R., & O'Loughlin, V. D. (2019). Another nail in the coffin for learning styles? Disparities among undergraduate anatomy students’ study strategies, class performance, and reported VARK learning styles. Anatomical sciences education, 12(1), 6-19. - ve42.co/Husmann2019
Snider, V. E., & Roehl, R. (2007). Teachers’ beliefs about pedagogy and related issues. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 873-886. doi:10.1002/pits.20272 - ve42.co/Snider2007
Fleming, N., & Baume, D. (2006). Learning Styles Again: VARKing up the right tree!. Educational developments, 7(4), 4. - ve42.co/Fleming2006
Rogowsky, B. A., Calhoun, B. M., & Tallal, P. (2015). Matching learning style to instructional method: Effects on comprehension. Journal of educational psychology, 107(1), 64. - ve42.co/Rogowskyetal
Coffield, Frank; Moseley, David; Hall, Elaine; Ecclestone, Kathryn (2004). - ve42.co/Coffield2004
Furey, W. (2020). THE STUBBORN MYTH OF LEARNING STYLES. Education Next, 20(3), 8-13. - ve42.co/Furey2020
Dunn, R., Beaudry, J. S., & Klavas, A. (2002). Survey of research on learning styles. California Journal of Science Education II (2). - ve42.co/Dunn2002
There is plenty of research out there showing learning styles make no difference to outcomes. There is a good video on this by youtuber Veritsium, that describes several studies. If you really want to know what the evidence is, I suggest you look at that video. Of course, if you'd prefer to believe the myth, then don't 🙂.