Educational theorists have not yet agreed on a definitive set of Learning Styles. Coffield in 2005 identified 71 models of Learning Styles, including VAK (Dunn and Dunn), Mediation (Gregoric and Butler), Hemispheric dominance, Doing/Watching/Sensing/Thinking (Kolb), Multiple Intelligences (Gardner) and 4MAT (McCarthy).
Does this lack of consensus invalidate the theories? I asked my resident Expert Learner to suggest an explanation for the lack of unanimity.
“There are many different ways of looking at a situation, and different ways of knowing. This is like different people reviewing a book and talking about the characters using different themes.”
“I don’t learn everything the same way. I could be a visual learner in mathematics and a kinaesthetic learner in music. [Preferred] Learning style depends on what we are learning and who is teaching.”
Expert Learner carefully made clear with examples that the best way to learn a skill or content depends on the essential nature of that skill or content, among other things.
So perhaps the proper place of Learning Style theories is in a post facto poststructural analysis of a learner’s interactions. Is a ‘Learning Style’ preference not really a trait of a learner, but rather a construct of the learner and teacher, built with the available content, process and context?
What about the research? Hargreaves reported there was scant evidence up to 2005 for the (conjectured) persistence of learner’s preferences nor for the (expected) benefits of teaching in a learner’s preferred style, and this was echoed in Coffield’s review.
References:
- Revell, P 2005, Each to their own. The Guardian 31 May 2005, online at http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1495588,00.html
- Hargreaves 2005. About Learning. Demos, online at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/aboutlearning
- Dunn, R, Dunn, K 1999, The Complete Guide to the Learning Strategies Inservice System. Boston: Allyn & Bacon
- Image from World Science 2007, Science gives beauty some of its mystery back. World Science, December 22. Online at http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/071222_beauty.htm