Articles:Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence
From unthinkMedia
Learning styles is a term that refers to the different methods people learn information.
The main purpose of this article is to show the lack of evidence for having individualized learning,
Contents |
Learning Style Schemes
There have been many commercial products that have profited from learning styles. These activities are centered around the publishing and selling of measurement devices to help teachers assess individual learning styles.
- Dunn and Dunn learning-styles model (e.g., Dunn, 1990)
- Learning Styles Inventory (Kolb, 1984, 1985)
- Learning Styles Questionnaire. (Honey and Mumford, 1992)
Appeal
- people enjoy the idea of finding out ‘‘what type of person one is’’
- people want to be treated by educators as unique individuals.
- all people have the potential to learn effectively if instruction is tailored to their individual learning styles.
- the ability to point a finger to the institution and not at our students.
Findings
Massa and Mayer (2006), Cook, Thompson, Thomas, and Thomas (2009), Constantinidou and Baker (2002) failed to find any positive result from learning styles.
locus of control
locus of control refers to an individual’s belief about whether his or her successes or failures are a consequence of internal or external factors (Rotter, 1966).
- internal locus of control: outcomes are a consequence of one’s own actions.
- may fare better with less structured than with highly structured instruction
- external locus of control: outcomes are unrelated to one’s own actions.
- achieve more with highly structured than with less structured instruction.
Finding: In a study internal locus of control students performed better on immediate and delayed computation and story-problem tests when in the less guided small group setting than when in the highly guided direct-instruction setting.
Aptitude-Treatment Interaction
Aptitude-Treatment Interaction is a multidimensional view of ability that states how some instructional strategies are better then others depending on an individuals specific abilities.
Snow (1977) states:
- students with high ability tend to fare better in less structured learning environments than in highly structured learning environments.
- students with low ability fare better with instruction that is highly structured and provides explicit guidance than with instruction that is less structured and provides little guidance
Findings: "ATI literature provides a mixed picture."
Cost
If learning styles where seen to be effective, which the author makes a case against, the practicality and monitory investment is still high. He states that it would require learners to be assessed in groups based on learning style, which may require more teachers and the creation and validation of instructional activities for each learning style, all of which cost money.
Belief Versus Evidence
The author makes a strong argument that out beliefs on how we learn are often flawed. For this reason "research - not intuition need to be the foundation for upgrading learning".
Interesting Quotes
Learning style is the way in which each learner begins to concentrate on, process, absorb, and retain new and difficult information (Dunn and Dunn, 1992; 1993; 1999). The interaction of these elements occurs differently in everyone. Therefore, it is necessary to determine what is most likely to trigger each student’s concentration, how to maintain it, and how to respond to his or her natural processing style to produce long term memory and retention. To reveal these natural tendencies and styles, it is important to use a comprehensive model of learning style that identifies each individual’s strengths and preferences across the full spectrum of physiological, sociological, psychological, emotional, and environmental elements. (International Learning Styles Network, 2008)
Omrod (2008) wrote, ‘‘Some cognitive styles and dispositions do seem to influence how and what students learn. . . . Some students seem to learn better when information is presented through words (verbal learners), whereas others seem to learn better when it’s presented through pictures (visual learners)’’ (p. 160, italics in original).
‘‘no relationship between a visual learning style and the actual learning of verbal items that are presented visually or auditorily’’ (Constantinidou & Baker, 2002, p. 306).
