Beware the myth: learning styles affect parents’, children’s, and teachers’ thinking about children’s academic potential

2023/10/17 by Xin Sun, O. P. Norton, Shaylene E. Nancekivell · 1 voice · 2 citations
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Learning Styles and Cognitive Differences #Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function #Creativity in Education and Neuroscience

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41539-023-00190-x

Abstract

Three experiments examine how providing learning style information (a student learns hands-on or visually) might influence thinking about that student's academic potential. Samples were American and predominately white and middle-class. In Experiment 1, parents (N = 94) and children (N = 73, 6-12 years) judged students who learn visually as more intelligent than hands-on learners. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern with parents and teachers (N = 172). In Experiment 3 (pre-registered), parents and teachers (N = 200) predicted that visual learners are more skilled than hands-on learners at "core" school subjects (math/language/social sciences, except science), whereas, hands-on learners were skilled at non-core subjects (gym/music/art). Together, these studies show that learning style descriptions, resultant of a myth, impact thinking about children's intellectual aptitudes.

Cited by

• Learning Styles, Preferences, or Strategies? An Explanation for the Resurgence of Styles Across Many Meta-analyses
• Prevalence of educational myths among Ecuadorian teachers

Discussions

• Let's get all reference to learning styles removed from uni 'how to teach' courses - not only a myth but actively shapes expectations of success at least for children. doi.org/10.1038/s415... [bsky, 36 points, 3 comments]

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