Categorizing students as visual, auditory or tactile-kinaesthetic learners is a sure-fire way to make it harder for students to learn things in different ways. Nevertheless, the learning styles myth is far from harmless because it perpetuates a falsehood about how students learn. The American Psychological Association (APA) website, for instance, provides links to several articles debunking this theory. Interestingly, professional psychologists have for years made significant efforts to correct these public misconceptions. The individual learning styles theory is little more than an urban legend-again, a myth. This experiment has been carried out multiple times and the results are always the same-there’s no statistically significant difference between the people who learned something according to their so-called learning style versus those who did not. Each group then takes a test to determine how much they remember about the story. Let half of them experience a story through their preferred learning style while the other half experience the same story in a different way. Take a large group of people and divide them according to their supposed learning styles.

In fact, the considerable evidence that exists directly contradicts this theory. There’s just one problem the concept of individual learning styles-applied to the general student population, beyond learners with special needs-appears to be a myth.Įven though opinion surveys show that most adults and nearly all teachers believe in individual learning styles, it remains a theory without supporting evidence. Show lots of pictures to visual students, give verbal explanations to auditory students, and provide lots of hands-on activities for tactile-kinaesthetic students. Proponents say teachers should adapt their lessons for each student’s learning style. But one of the most widely accepted education theories-that everyone has a unique learning style-should provide food for thought, for the next schoolyear and beyond.Īccording to this theory, some people are visual learners, others are auditory learners, while others are tactile-kinaesthetic learners, meaning students need to manipulate or touch materials. During the summer break, most parents and students in Canada are likely thinking little about the classroom.

Kids auditory learning style