The Ultimate Quiz on Debunked Theories of Learning Styles

Debunked Theories of Learning Styles

• Learning styles are theories that aim to account for differences in individuals’ learning.

• There is little evidence that using learning styles in education is valid.

• The idea of individualized learning styles became popular in the 1970s despite criticism from researchers.

• The concept of learning styles suggests that humans can be classified according to their style of learning.

• Many theories share this proposition, but differ in how the proposed styles should be defined, categorized, and assessed.

• There are many different learning style models, including David Kolb’s model, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’s model, Walter Burke Barbe and colleagues’ model, Neil Fleming’s VAK/VARK model, and Anthony Gregorc’s model.

• Kolb’s model gave rise to the Learning Style Inventory, while Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire is an alternative.

• Critics claim that there is no consistent evidence that better student outcomes result from identifying an individual student's learning style and teaching for specific learning styles.

• Studies show that teachers cannot assess the learning style of their students accurately.

• A 2020 systematic review suggested that a majority (89%) of educators around the world continue to believe that the meshing hypothesis is correct.

• Assessment methods for learning styles include the Learning Style Inventory, the NASSP Learning Style Profile, and Felder and Silverman's model.

• Most of the main instruments used to identify an individual's learning style have been criticized for problems with validity, reliability, and other issues.Critique of Learning Styles Theory

• Learning styles include auditory, perceptual response, emotive, persistence orientation, verbal risk orientation, and manipulative preference.

• Other questionnaires used to identify learning styles include Neil Fleming's VARK Questionnaire and Jackson's Learning Styles Profiler.

• Research indicates that most psychometric tests used to identify learning styles lack the necessary validity to be useful in practice.

• Knowing a student's learning style does not seem to have any practical value for the student.

• Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn build upon a learning modalities approach and suggest teachers try to make changes in their classroom that will be beneficial to every learning style.

• Dunn and Dunn's "contract activity packages" are educational plans that use multisensory resources, activities through which the newly mastered information can be used creatively, and the sharing of creative projects within small groups.

• Dunn and Dunn's learning styles model is widely used in schools in the United States, but research indicates limitations in many of the supporting studies.

• Marilee Sprenger believes that learning styles should have an effect on the classroom and details how to teach in visual, auditory, or tactile/kinesthetic ways.

• Cognitive and learning style analysis have a special role in the process of personalizing instruction, but some learners need help to function successfully in any learning environment.

• Learning style theories have been criticized by many scholars and researchers for the lack of evidence for efficacy and for often resting on dubious theoretical grounds.

• Studies have shown that long-term retention can better be achieved under conditions that seem more difficult, and that teaching students only in their preferred learning style is not effective.

• The journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) published a report on the scientific validity of learning styles practices. The panel of experts concluded that there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into general educational practice.