Idea of Learning Styles in Education Further Derided by Psychology Researchers

The evidence continues to pour in that the idea of learning styles is wrong, and with money spent ensuring education is delivered in a variety of ways, there are savings to made if their conclusions are true. We heard it in September from a cognitive scientist who explained that lessons 'click' with students not because of a student's preferred style of learning (visual, auditory, etc) but because of their interests and previous knowledge. Ultimately he concluded that students don't learn in fundamentally different ways.

Now, a major report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest is backing up those findings. The journal of the Association for Psychological Science concluded that there is little evidence that learning style are real, and that previously studies supporting them have been fatally flawed, reports Science Daily. Should school administrators and the government take note, this will significantly change how lessons are delivered, how textbooks are written, and how resources are allocated. The researchers suggests it's a waste of money to assume people learn with such different styles (71 models have been noted).

With schools looking to cut budgets, wasting resources by diversifying education in this way is unnecessary. That's not to say that an innovative and varied education is a bad thing — in fact studying the arts through role-play and drama at an early age is essential —  it's just that we shouldn't put so much weight behind previously held assumptions. Russell Podrack emphasizes that a better conducted study could confirm that delivering materials in different ways is effective, but agrees that current research shows learning styles have yet to receive thorough scientific backing.

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