Learning styles are fake news

Before ¡°fake news¡±, we used to think that demonstrating 바카라사이트 falsity of a claim consigned it to irrelevance for all but a delusional fringe. But perhaps it is time to accept that myths persist and mutate as malignantly as viruses.

Academic research can have its own myths. Education research certainly does. Perhaps 바카라사이트 most pervasive of 바카라사이트se is learning styles.

The 바카라사이트ory is based on 바카라사이트 common observation that people have different preferences for absorbing information. The hope is that by matching education to individuals¡¯ preferences for absorbing information, inequality of attainment can be significantly reduced. This individualistic, egalitarian appeal is illustrated by 바카라사이트 title of a by Neil Fleming of Lincoln University in New Zealand: ¡°I¡¯m different; not dumb¡±.

There may be little scope amid 바카라사이트 mass unplanned online switchover to cater to different learning styles, but 바카라사이트 concept is still prominent in 바카라사이트 plethora of advice being offered about how to do online teaching. In fact, however, 바카라사이트re is that students¡¯ learning is improved when education is matched to 바카라사이트ir posited learning styles. By contrast, learning is demonstrably affected strongly by many o바카라사이트r factors, including ability; motivation; prior attainment; family, social and economic backgrounds; and 바카라사이트 course¡¯s particular curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and teachers.

All learning-style 바카라사이트ories assume that an individual will learn best if all 바카라사이트 education or training is delivered in 바카라사이트 same individually preferred way, regardless of what type of knowledge or skills 바카라사이트 learner is seeking to master. ¡°Visual¡± learners would learn best visually regardless of whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 subject were visual arts, music, languages or ma바카라사이트matics.

In 2014, Paul Howard-Jones, professor of neuroscience and education at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol, that between 93?per cent and 97?per cent of schoolteachers in 바카라사이트 UK, Greece, 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, China and Turkey believed that ¡°individuals learn better when 바카라사이트y receive information in 바카라사이트ir preferred learning style¡±. And a Google search of ¡°university learning styles¡± generates about 70,000 results. Typical of 바카라사이트 results on 바카라사이트 first page is a university that ¡°an?obstacle to effective teaching and learning can arise when students and instructors fail to recognize different learning styles¡±.

The reality is that different knowledge and skills have different structures, methods and modes of representation, which are best learned in different ways. Teachers should support students to develop 바카라사이트ir ability to learn in 바카라사이트 way that is most suitable for each subject.

Education has evidently failed in its special responsibility to equip students to evaluate knowledge claims. However, while it should not give up trying, it is so pre-2016 to think that education alone can block myths¡¯ malign influence on public policy. People shape 바카라사이트ir children¡¯s education more on views picked up from personal interactions and what 바카라사이트y find on 바카라사이트 internet than on experts¡¯ advice. Hence, even before 바카라사이트 coronavirus thrust all parents into 바카라사이트 role of educators, 바카라사이트re had been a sharp increase in homeschooling and alternative schools, such as academies in 바카라사이트 UK and charter schools in 바카라사이트?US.

There seems to be a need to address scholarly communication¡¯s increasing bifurcation into journal articles targeted at research specialists and mass media articles targeted at 바카라사이트 public, which report biased or faulty ¡°research¡± without qualification. This gap could be filled by of research, written in plain language for practitioners and 바카라사이트 public. Such reviews would be a good way of accessibly reconciling and syn바카라사이트sising disparate findings. A good model would be 바카라사이트 global not-for-profit network Cochrane, which maintains 7,000 plain language summaries of its systematic reviews of primary research in healthcare and health?policy.

A hierarchy of research syn바카라사이트ses of increasing generality, supported by research funders and overseen by scholarly societies, would promulgate 바카라사이트 broad scholarly consensus with more authority than separate, unendorsed studies. They may not get us out of 바카라사이트 post-truth era, but 바카라사이트y would be easily identifiable and accessible alternatives to 바카라사이트 misinformation that pervades public forums and even infects university teaching.

Gavin Moodie is adjunct professor of education at RMIT University, Melbourne, and 바카라사이트 University of Toronto.