SnopesSolo

Myth: Using a learning styles approach to education will increase student performance. //Myth:// Learners have preferences about how to learn which are independent of both ability and content and have meaningful implications for their learning.

The learning-styles approach has been gaining significant attention among educators and parents alike since the 1970’s. Assessing said styles and the subsequent differentiation of instruction to accommodate students’ identified tendencies takes place at all level of education from kindergarten to graduate school. Publishing learning-styles tests and guidebooks for teachers continues to be a thriving business, and numerous organizations offer professional development workshops for educators and parents built around the concept of learning styles.
 * Learning Style Approach**

The approach of evaluating and categorizing learners ignores two classic characteristics of learners: 1) Learning is unpremeditated 2) Learning is vicarious
 * Classic Viewpoint**

Smith, F. (1998). //The book of learning and forgetting//. New York: Teachers College Press.

"Our review of the learning-styles literature led us to define a particular type of evidence that we see as a minimum precondition for validating the use of a learning-style assessment in an instructional setting. As described earlier, we have been unable to find any evidence that clearly meets this standard. Moreover, several studies that used the appropriate type of research design found results that contradict the most widely held version of the learning-styles hypothesis, namely, what we have referred to as the meshing hypothesis (Constantinidou & Baker, 2002; Massa & Mayer, 2006). The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing. If classification of students’ learning styles has practical utility, it remains to be demonstrated."
 * No Credible Evidence**

Pashler, Harold, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork. "Learning Styles ." //Psychological Science in the Public Interest//. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. <[]>.

"The [next] claim is that //learners have preferences about how to learn that are independent of both ability and content and have meaningful implications for their learning//. These preferences are not “better” or “faster,” according to learning-styles proponents, but merely “styles.” In other words, just as our social selves have personalities, so do our memories.
 * What Do Learning-Styles Theorists Get Wrong?**

Students do have preferences about how they learn. Many students will report preferring to study visually and others through an auditory channel. However, when these tendencies are put to the test under controlled conditions, they make no difference—learning is equivalent whether students learn in the preferred mode or not. A favorite mode of presentation (e.g., visual, auditory, or kinesthetic) often reveals itself to be instead a preference for tasks for which one has high ability and at which one feels successful."

Riener, C., & Willingham, D. (n.d.). Change Magazine - September-October 2010. //Change Magazine -- September/October 2011: In This Issue//. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from []