High-Impact On-Demand Learning Blog

  Reading this chapter about learning styles resonated with me on a different level. Not because I agreed with them, but because, in some ways, I didn’t. Bruce Hendry’s story at the beginning was a great setup for the rest of the chapter. His story showed the different ways people learn and move through life and that there isn’t one specific, ideal, prescribed way to learn. Bruce learned about himself throughout his many experiences and endeavors to become wealthy and “figured rich people were probably no smarter than he was, they just had knowledge he lacked” (Brown et al., 2014). As we learned, Bruce became extremely successful and wealthy. He learned from his experiences and from others, creating his own mental models and structure building, and implementing what worked best for him, and not assimilating to a dominate, one size fits all learning style. Can you imagine if he had? Yikes! Reading Bruce’s story, and then the examples of the kids from Kenya and Brazil, reminded me ...

  I was a high school senior when I first realized that there are different types of learners.  Throughout my school career, I had been a “good student” which meant that I did my work, turned it in on time, attended classes, sometimes asked questions, and generally didn’t cause too many distractions.  Often, I was the only girl in the upper-level science or math classes, and I studied hard (crammed) to make sure that my scores were similar to or better than the boy’s scores.  Therefore, I was fairly confident that I would score well when it was time to take the ACT test.  What I learned was that as a “good student”, my ACT scores were only average.  However, some of my classmates who regularly earned C’s in our math and science classes had really high ACT scores.  This made me reflect on the type of learner I was and wonder why those boys had scored higher than I had.  What I decided was that I played the “school game” really well but I wasn’t act...

“Many of the super creative designers I have worked with seemed  to have one thing in common; they suffered from dyslexia.”-  Soren Petersen, Design Research Ph.D As someone with Dyslexia, I found the explanation of the learning disability in Make it Stick incredibly personal and relevant. Individuals with dyslexia have a hard time linking letters to sounds, identifying phonemes, and recognizing words. According to the authors of Make It Stick, many people with dyslexia tend to have a greater capacity for creativity, and this could be a result of either “neural wiring” or the need to think divergently to overcome challenges associated with the disability (Brown et al., 2014, p. 142). Brown et al. spent time examining the neural differences of people with Dyslexia in order to underscore the importance of learning strategies, such as compensating skills or intelligences and motivation, in achieving success (2014).   As a child, I lagged behind my peers when learning reading...

I was first introduced to the idea of learning styles when my first-born started school.     I remember researching schools, going to new parent orientations, learning about the different approaches different schools took to their educational philosophies, and meeting teachers.     During this time, I remember feeling quickly overwhelmed with the import of the decision I was making and the many factors that would weigh into our ultimate choice.     Transitioning a child to a more structured learning environment, I remember quizzing teachers on whether they included   kinaesthetic and physical  learning approaches into their practice – thinking that it would be hard for my son to sit still for a full-day.     We eventually ended up at the Lab School where the emphasis on experiential learning (among other reasons) resonated with me.   Fast forward to my experience as an educator.  My interest in education is firmly rooted i...

    Myers Briggs. Love languages. True colors. Learning styles. Strengths Quest.    Any of these terms sound familiar? These are all “type” money makers. Each of these is a “type” theory turned into an organization. Each organization charges per test/questionnaire taken and per individual trained to be a certified facilitator. As a certified facilitator, you provide trainings about the styles to an individual/team and get paid. If I know anything about business, it is that the more money your organization/reps make, the more leverage to promote and expand the ideas. Before you know it, these ideas become part of your work email signature and you are wearing a $35 strengths necklace! If you ask me, learning theories are popular because they are money makers. In 2004, Britain’s Learning and Skills Research Centre compared over 70 learning style theories (p.143). With this many styles (products) available, it is hard not to buy into these lea...

   "File:Active Learning (27461) - The Noun Project.svg"   by  Innovation Co-Lab Duke Innovation Co-Lab  is marked with  CC0 1.0 Math did not come easy to me throughout most of my K-12 life. There were many nights spent at my kitchen table, tears rolling down my face as my parents would try their best to help me break down word problems. Numbers would be pulled out of thin air by me, leading my parents to return to the mantra of “you cannot just make things up!” and then the yelling from me would continue. Word problems would take me hours to solve until the day my parents figured out I needed math to be more visual. Afterwards, all my word problems included stick figures, diagrams with arrows and numbers, and lots of boxy looking cars going x miles per hour from point A to point B. Although my parents knew I needed the visual learning, they never once told me I was only a visual learner, nor did they tell me I had to tell my teachers (the experts in their...

I was first exposed to the concept of learning styles and the theory of multiple intelligences as an undergraduate student in secondary education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Similar to Blooms Taxonomy, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, or Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, and consequently the 'learning styles' and subsequent frameworks that manifested because of this theory, created a seemingly firm foundation for my understanding of how humans best learn, understand, and retain knowledge. Despite empirical evidence to the contrary, learning styles are still used to frame the construction of lessons and modes of teaching not only in the field of education, but across the academic spectrum in spaces of teaching and learning.   A quick Google Scholar search of articles from 2020 using the term "Multiple Intelligences" followed by a field signifier, fo...

I was first exposed to the concept of learning styles during an AmeriCorps training I attended in my early 20’s. I had been hired as a crew leader, and part of my job was training other AmeriCorps members during structured pre-service training as well as on-the-job during service projects. During my crew leader training there was a PowerPoint presentation that discussed learning styles in regard to understanding why crew members might not “get it” – “it” being whatever was being taught – during their training. The three learning styles presented were visual, verbal, and kinesthetic. They were clearly presented as learning styles, not preferences. I also recall there was mention of linear versus global learners, with the former individual learning best when information is presented in a linear, logical fashion, and the latter individual having “ah ha” moments (a.k.a learning) only after having enough types of information to see the shape of a topic or being able to connect the dots of i...

Logical-mathematical, musical, analytical, practical, tactile, olfactory, poetic, faith-based, monochromatic—everyone has their own best way of learning and we should cater to each individual’s fundamental learning needs. Maybe some people learn best when surrounded by abstractions in navy, turquoise and yellow. They should all carry this artwork around with them everywhere.  Right? Nonsense! Learning styles and multiple intelligences are related concepts and stem from related literatures. Some of these concepts that have emerged are reasonable, while others are not.  Reasonable:   Gardner’s fundamental argument that people can access learning through multiple avenues—for example, through reading a book, watching a video, and practicing in the field—and learners should engage a variety of avenues in order to optimize learning.   Unreasonable:   The way in which the idea of learning styles has taken root in our collective psyche is not so reasonable. Individuals ...

The belief that teachers should design instructional activities that correspond to the specific learning style of each student has flourished in schools for decades. For teachers, this approach seems to be an easy solution to the differentiation of instruction. Many parents like this approach as they feel the individual needs of their children are addressed. This is also a perfect excuse for students’ poor class participation and performance when teachers do not teach to their preferred learning style. This approach seems to make sense intuitively; it is not proven empirically. Research did not find optimal learning occurred with this “meshing hypothesis” (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer & Bjork, 2009). Human being is unique. Each student has their own needs and approach to learning. Obviously, learning styles are not the only way that students differ. Building the student profiles based on one factor can prevent teachers from acknowledging the diversity of the student population, thus...

Its kind of funny, I have only surface experience with learning styles. I’ve always thought of myself as a kinesthetic learner, in that I’ve always struggled with reading textbooks to learn. Even articles in grad school have been a challenge, I’ll read a bit but become extremely distracted over a short amount of time. Now, after reading “Learning Styles” and Chapter 6 of “Make It Stick” I think I am a lazy learner. I’m trying to slow down while I read, turn everything else off, and read in a place where I cannot be distracted. It seems to be working. I was extremely interested to learn about internal locus of control in learning vs. external locus of control. We have three biological children, all boys. When our oldest was in the 4 th grade, we gave up on traditional school and put him into Rivendell. He attended Kruse and Linton before that; he was constantly in trouble, performing at a minimal level, hated school. He thrived at Rivendell, which teaches with a Montessori/problem-ba...

  I'm trying to remember the first time I heard about learning styles. It's difficult to distinguish between what I may have been told about them and what I discerned for myself on my own. I guess if I discerned it on my own that would be me figuring out my learning preference versus the defined styles put forth by makers of assessments and educational experts (who then sell their information to makers of assessments).  My preferred way to learn is active learning. I learn best when I can either discuss what I'm learning, do the thing I'm learning about, or watch someone else do the thing. When I read text it just hits my brain and slides right off. I call it having a teflon brain. I feel like I don't retain much if I don't have an opportunity to talk about it soon after or do the thing. According to authors Pashler, McDaniel et al, that doesn't mean it's the only way I can learn. I guess I have to agree with that because that's certainly not how the...

 Ah, learning styles: that most hopeful of doctrines embedded in the soul of every caring teacher who wants to believe that each student who struggles in math will turn out to be a Picasso and every student who wrestles with reading will one day become a titan of the business world. Teachers are, by nature, a unique and caring breed with high hopes for all children, so it is only natural for them to be drawn--like Care Bears to rainbows--to a theory of intelligence and learning that explains away the difficulties of struggling learners as a) not being the fault of the child, b) not being the fault of the teacher, c) maintaining the integrity of students' innate skills and confidence, and d) offering a "commonsense" and easy-to-implement solution.  I can't remember the first time that I was introduced to the theory of learning styles, but its impact upon my own learning and teaching goes all the way back to my high school years at least. My dad and brothers were all go...