I’ve always loved taking surveys and quizzes to ‘check’ my preferred learning style and I tend to be a Visual/Spatial Learner- d’uh. Recently however, I have come across some ideas and theories that debunk the Learning Style Theories and I have to say, these folks have come compelling ideas.
In fact one woman Tesia Marshik has a debunking theory that says, “We store information in terms of meaning and not according to a sensory mode,” (Website. TEDxUWLaCrosse). What I found interesting in this video and some of Marshik’s theory, dovetailed nicely with Horton’s Absorb, Do & Connect Activities.
Tesia Marshik ends the video expressing how we should not believe in learning styles because we are:
- Wasting valuable time and resources attempting to ‘deal with’ learning styles. This time and resources could be spent actually teaching in the classroom.
- Labels can be misleading and even dangerous. These labels can cause you to lose interest with what you perceive to be your style of learning.
Tesia Marshik says if we give up the concept that there are learning style preferences and focus on things that impact learning and have scientific research to back-up the theories. She states, “All of us are capable of learning in a variety of ways.”
Additionally, here is a list of websites, articles, videos and papers all DeBunking the Learning Style Myth. There are some pretty heavy hitters in there, well worth a glance.
