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Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?

The basic idea behind the use of ‘Learning Styles’ is that learners can be categorized into one or more ‘styles’ (e.g., Visual, Auditory, Converger) and that teaching students according to their style will result in improved learning. This idea has been repeatedly tested and there is currently no ev...

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Autores principales: Newton, Philip M., Miah, Mahallad
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5366351/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28396647
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00444
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author Newton, Philip M.
Miah, Mahallad
author_facet Newton, Philip M.
Miah, Mahallad
author_sort Newton, Philip M.
collection PubMed
description The basic idea behind the use of ‘Learning Styles’ is that learners can be categorized into one or more ‘styles’ (e.g., Visual, Auditory, Converger) and that teaching students according to their style will result in improved learning. This idea has been repeatedly tested and there is currently no evidence to support it. Despite this, belief in the use of Learning Styles appears to be widespread amongst schoolteachers and persists in the research literature. This mismatch between evidence and practice has provoked controversy, and some have labeled Learning Styles a ‘myth.’ In this study, we used a survey of academics in UK Higher Education (n = 114) to try and go beyond the controversy by quantifying belief and, crucially, actual use of Learning Styles. We also attempted to understand how academics view the potential harms associated with the use of Learning Styles. We found that general belief in the use of Learning Styles was high (58%), but lower than in similar previous studies, continuing an overall downward trend in recent years. Critically the percentage of respondents who reported actually using Learning Styles (33%) was much lower than those who reported believing in their use. Far more reported using a number of techniques that are demonstrably evidence-based. Academics agreed with all the posited weaknesses and harms of Learning Styles theory, agreeing most strongly that the basic theory of Learning Styles is conceptually flawed. However, a substantial number of participants (32%) stated that they would continue to use Learning Styles despite being presented with the lack of an evidence base to support them, suggesting that ‘debunking’ Learning Styles may not be effective. We argue that the interests of all may be better served by promoting evidence-based approaches to Higher Education.
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spelling pubmed-53663512017-04-10 Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important? Newton, Philip M. Miah, Mahallad Front Psychol Psychology The basic idea behind the use of ‘Learning Styles’ is that learners can be categorized into one or more ‘styles’ (e.g., Visual, Auditory, Converger) and that teaching students according to their style will result in improved learning. This idea has been repeatedly tested and there is currently no evidence to support it. Despite this, belief in the use of Learning Styles appears to be widespread amongst schoolteachers and persists in the research literature. This mismatch between evidence and practice has provoked controversy, and some have labeled Learning Styles a ‘myth.’ In this study, we used a survey of academics in UK Higher Education (n = 114) to try and go beyond the controversy by quantifying belief and, crucially, actual use of Learning Styles. We also attempted to understand how academics view the potential harms associated with the use of Learning Styles. We found that general belief in the use of Learning Styles was high (58%), but lower than in similar previous studies, continuing an overall downward trend in recent years. Critically the percentage of respondents who reported actually using Learning Styles (33%) was much lower than those who reported believing in their use. Far more reported using a number of techniques that are demonstrably evidence-based. Academics agreed with all the posited weaknesses and harms of Learning Styles theory, agreeing most strongly that the basic theory of Learning Styles is conceptually flawed. However, a substantial number of participants (32%) stated that they would continue to use Learning Styles despite being presented with the lack of an evidence base to support them, suggesting that ‘debunking’ Learning Styles may not be effective. We argue that the interests of all may be better served by promoting evidence-based approaches to Higher Education. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC5366351/ /pubmed/28396647 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00444 Text en Copyright © 2017 Newton and Miah. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Newton, Philip M.
Miah, Mahallad
Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?
title Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?
title_full Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?
title_fullStr Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?
title_full_unstemmed Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?
title_short Evidence-Based Higher Education – Is the Learning Styles ‘Myth’ Important?
title_sort evidence-based higher education – is the learning styles ‘myth’ important?
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5366351/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28396647
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00444
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