Back when I was in school, learning styles were all the rage. We did quizzes to find out if we were a visual, reading and writing, auditory, or kinesthetic learner. We all got put into one of those boxes and teachers had to make sure they considered all different learning styles in every lesson.
However, since then, learning styles have been debunked. It turns out we all benefit from learning the same information in lots of different ways! It also turns out that the type of knowledge you’re learning impacts what learning style is best. Reading and writing isn’t the best strategy for learning how to knit!
Since then, we’ve learnt a few things:
Students don’t have learning styles. They have learning preferences. While it is useful to cater to those preferences, it is also vital that we teach students how to learn in other ways.
Everyone needs to see a piece of knowledge in lots of different ways and contexts for it to truly stick. The reason “learning styles” worked so well is because it forced teachers to present the knowledge over and over again in lots of different ways.
No student should be put into a box like that. Our learning preferences change depending on how we’re feeling and what we’re learning.
That’s why I don’t test students for learning styles when they start tutoring with me. I just make sure I cover as many different preferences as possible as we go along.