My colleague Dan Willingham produced a brief video explaining why basing instruction on learning styles is bologna. Here it is:
Here’s the YouTube link for Dan Willingham on Learning Styles and here’s a link to Dan’s Web site where one can learn plenty of useful things. Also, see the extended discussion on D-Ed Reckoning.
Willingham says the learning styles concept is easy to believe because it is close to something that is true. My question would be what is it that does actually happen that is similar?
Did anybody respond to this? What Dan is saying is true is that some people have stronger visual memory and thus learn visual information better, while some people have stronger auditory memory and thus learn auditory information better. The important thing to consider, I think, is what TYPE of information is being taught. Dan points out that most of the information that is taught in classrooms is MEANING-BASED, not auditory/ visual. And, for the information that IS auditory or visual (e.g., the shape of countries on a map), it makes sense to teach EVERYBODY in that way, though some people will be better than others are retaining different types of information.
What is false about LS theory is the interaction it predicts.