Learning Styles and Teaching
I have just finished writing a 5000 word, 37 page paper on Pupil Learning Styles and Christian Views of Immortality in RS GCSE. Long title, I know. But the most interesting I learnt in researching this paper, is that we as teachers know very little about what we know about learning styles.
I'm sure most of you have been part of a scenario where a child tells you that they cannot complete the piece of work you have set because their learning style is x, y or z....and been stumped for an answer other than 'tough'. But research tells us that whilst we appear to each have strength in one or two styles (of which there are currently 72 in existence), what is more interesting is that this doesn't mean we can't improve the others!
This is certainly contrary to what I was taught about learning styles whilst I was going through the education system, and I imagine is contrary to what most teachers think. Interestingly enough, the research I conducted as part of the paper showed that the kids know that they can be good at multiple styles, but not that they can make any change to their strength in these 72 styles: they have a 'fixed mindset' when it comes to learning styles.
In addition to this, there is contradictory evidence over whether tailoring work to a student's learning style makes any difference to their grade at all! So basically, we can carry on teaching without paying the slightest bit of attention to whether our students are kin aesthetic learners or verbal learners...of course, it is important to use different types of activity to keep the students' attention and provide a rounded learning experience but gone are the excuses of learning styles!
I end with an inspiring quote: “Individuals have diverse characteristics that lead to different styles of learning. Teaching is an intervention designed to promote learning and accumulation of knowledge.” (Wong and Nunan, 2011),
I'm sure most of you have been part of a scenario where a child tells you that they cannot complete the piece of work you have set because their learning style is x, y or z....and been stumped for an answer other than 'tough'. But research tells us that whilst we appear to each have strength in one or two styles (of which there are currently 72 in existence), what is more interesting is that this doesn't mean we can't improve the others!
This is certainly contrary to what I was taught about learning styles whilst I was going through the education system, and I imagine is contrary to what most teachers think. Interestingly enough, the research I conducted as part of the paper showed that the kids know that they can be good at multiple styles, but not that they can make any change to their strength in these 72 styles: they have a 'fixed mindset' when it comes to learning styles.
In addition to this, there is contradictory evidence over whether tailoring work to a student's learning style makes any difference to their grade at all! So basically, we can carry on teaching without paying the slightest bit of attention to whether our students are kin aesthetic learners or verbal learners...of course, it is important to use different types of activity to keep the students' attention and provide a rounded learning experience but gone are the excuses of learning styles!
I end with an inspiring quote: “Individuals have diverse characteristics that lead to different styles of learning. Teaching is an intervention designed to promote learning and accumulation of knowledge.” (Wong and Nunan, 2011),
PS. If you would like to read my paper, please leave a comment and I will either post it on here or arrange to send a copy to you.
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