The Learning Styles Controversy - Arguments For and Against

Think You're an Auditory or Visual Learner? Unlikely.

Doug Rohrer, a psychologist at the University of South Florida, investigated the learning style theory for NPR (National Public Radio), and found no scientific evidence to support the idea. Read his story and the hundreds of comments it garnered. The social networking this piece inspired is also impressive.

Learning Styles: Fact and Fiction – A Conference Report

Derek Bruff, CFT Assistant Director at Vanderbilt University, shares what he learned about learning styles at the 30th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching at Miami University in Ohio in 2011. Bruff offers a lot of detailed references, which is nice.

The bottom line? Learners definitely have preferences for how they learn, but when put to the test, these preferences make very little difference in whether or not a student has actually learned.  The controversy in a nutshell.

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Varying Assignments to Enhance Student Learning Styles

By Melissa Kelly

Learning Styles Debunked

From

, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, comes this article about 2009 research showing no scientific evidence for learning styles. "Nearly all of the studies that purport to provide evidence for learning styles fail to satisfy key criteria for scientific validity," the article states.

Are Learning Styles a Myth?

Education.com takes a look at learning styles from both points of view - pro and con. Dr. Daniel Willingham, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Virginia, says, "It's been tested over and over again, and no one can find evidence that it's true. The idea moved into public consciousness, and in a way it's perplexing. There are some ideas that are just sort of self-sustaining."

Daniel Willingham's Argument

"How can you not believe people learn differently?" That's the first question in Willingham's Learning Styles FAQ. He's a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and author of the book, When Can You Trust the Experts, as well as numerous articles and videos. He supports the argument that there is no scientific evidence for the learning styles theory.

Here's a bit from Willingham's FAQ: "Ability is that you can do something. Style is how you do it. ... The idea that people differ in ability is not controversial—everyone agrees with that. Some people are good at dealing with space, some people have a good ear for music, etc. So the idea of "style" really ought to mean something different. If it just means ability, there’s not much point in adding the new term.

Do Learning Styles Matter?

This is from the Cisco Learning Network, posted by David Mallory, a Cisco engineer. He says, "If accommodating learning styles does not increase learning value, does it make sense for us to continue [generating content in multiple formats]? For a learning organization this is a really key question and it has generated a lot of passionate discussion in education circles."

Stop Wasting Resources on Learning Styles

ASTD, the American Society for Training and Development, "the world's largest professional association dedicated to the training and development field," weighs in on the controversy. Writer Ruth Colvin Clark says, "Let's invest resources on instructional modes and methods proven to improve learning."