Learning Styles: What are they and do they matter?
The notion of learning styles may be something you’ve come across reading an article, or magazine, or even your child’s school report. The idea is basically that a particular learning modality is most effective for a particular child. For example, some students learn best by doing, and others learn best by hearing. While there may be some truth to this, there are a few issues with this notion... let’s unpack.
The most frequently touted guide is the ‘VARK’ model, wherein learners are purported to belong primarily to one of the following: visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinaesthetic. To vastly oversimplify: seeing, hearing, words, and movement/touching. Visual learners benefit from the use of colour, shapes and patterns. Graphic organisers, mind maps and symbols are useful tools. For auditory learners, speaking and listening are the keys, so such students might benefit from class discussion, generating ideas out loud, recording and then listening to their notes or even singing. Reading/writing is fairly self explanatory: written text is necessary for these students, whilst for kinaesthetic learners, hands-on experiments, modelling, building or crafting are all useful strategies.
Think about how you like to learn, or study - I bet there’s a particular modality here that you feel an affinity towards, right? It probably also depends, quite heavily, on what you’re learning or studying. It’s difficult to learn about cooking simply by reading recipes, or learn about algebra by transforming it into visual symbols. I do recall, oddly enough, a fellow student vigorously advocating that we learn about a naval battle in Ancient History by enacting it in the school pool. Lucy, if you’re out there, I still think you might’ve been on to something with that one. The point, however, becomes clear: there are more factors at play than simply one’s ‘innate’ preference for certain modalities of learning.
This is supported by extensive educational and psychological research, which makes clear that the use of particular learning styles has no significant correlation with educational attainment. Other studies also reveal that teachers aren’t all that effective at assigning students a learning style - they usually contradict what the student would choose for themselves. Isn’t that interesting? Raising a few red flags here, are we?
So why do schools still use or discuss this outdated model of education? Why might this ‘VARK’ model matter? Because, actually, there may be some merit to it. It’s important to be familiar with different styles of learning so that you can learn and study effectively. Different ways of exploring the same concept or skill can help you deepen your knowledge of it, while avoiding the repetition of simply reading and highlighting notes can help you stay engaged and focused on the material. Variety makes learning fun - and isn’t that the goal, at the end of the day?
Now, this kind of variety during the world of lockdown is a little tricky (skip on past if you’re enjoying school being back in person, you lucky devil). It seems like it’s endless worksheets, laptops or tablets, and zoom calls. Not quite the same, is it? This kind of learning environment seems geared primarily to reading/writing, though perhaps with a few bits of visual and auditory thrown in. So, how can we spice things up? Changing up the learning environment is a nice start. If your child is writing a story, why not move outside and explore the real-world setting for some sensory writing inspiration? Or try oral storytelling, as a different mode of expression? Or if your child is doing some math, perhaps using household objects - lego, pebbles, straws - to help express concepts could introduce a nice visual/kinaesthetic element to their learning. The opportunities are endless!