A while back I commented on the British move to adopt "learning styles" approaches to teaching. A year ago, Will Thalheimer issued a $1,000 challenge to prove that matching teaching methods to learning styles improves learning. No takers so far.
The Instructivist and LDBlog also chimed in on the learning styles fad. The Instructivist reminded me of an article by a cognitive scientist:
What does matter is whether the child is taught in the content’s best modality.
The article by Daniel T. Willingham, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia, goes on:
The idea that people may differ in their ability to learn new material depending on its modality—that is, whether the child hears it, sees it, or touches it—has been tested for over 100 years. And the idea that these differences might prove useful in the classroom has been around for at least 40 years.
What cognitive science has taught us is that children do differ in their abilities with different modalities, but teaching the child in his best modality doesn’t affect his educational achievement. What does matter is whether the child is taught in the content’s best modality. All students learn more when content drives the choice of modality. In this column, I will describe some of the research on matching modality strength to the modality of instruction. I will also address why the idea of tailoring instruction to a student’s best modality is so enduring—despite substantial evidence that it is wrong.
Previously:
Learning Styles: Useful or A Crock?
Learning Styles: Construct or Bologna?
Dale's Cone not a Cone But A Crock
If Mainstream Educators Were In Charge of Athletic Training
Elsewhere
AFT's American Educator: Ask The Cognitive Scientist: (Summer 2005):
- Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Instruction?
- How Has Modality Theory Been Tested?
- The Content's Best Modality Is Key
Teach Effectively: Learning Styles Redux
Teach Effectively: Evidence-Based Practice
Teach Effectively: Learning Styles Challenge
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