CH16 learning styles
Dr. Amber Ankowski expert in child development
"Learning styles are a complete and total myth"
educational cognitive and neuroscientist David Willingham
"learning styles theories have not panned out and it is our responsibility to ensure that students know that"
review of learning styles by association for psychological science pashier et al 2009
"the contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is in our opinion striking and disturbing"
familiarity effect
(ex. read and reread) -greater familiarity with the material being mistaken for greater knowledge of the material
Chase and Simon 1973
- Memory for chess pieces on a board - Chess masters and beginners - Pieces positioned for a real chess game or randomly positioned -results: chess master only had an advantage if pieces were not placed randomly chess memory experiment: chess master is better at reproducing actual game positions -masters performance drops to level of beginner when pieces are arranged randomly
when problems arise
- americans perceive it is as something they cannot do anything about or place the responsibility on the school -japanese and chinese parents are more likely to take responsibility and take the role of in home teacher or tutor to improve the childs competence
teach students truth about learning
-overall learning new info is a concerted effort which requires a lot of time and effort -not much is learned through ease of processing -its possible for people to do well on poorly made exams without putting in a lot of effort and time (not same as learning)
brain image findings
-parts of the brain responsible for the later application of concepts are less active when multitasking more active when not multitasking
parents
-providing a positive emotional climate -high standards for learning more so than achievement -establishing routines for homework chores bedtime family dinners -growth mindset unconcerned with protecting children's self esteem
culture of individual differences cont...
-scientifically unsupported ideas of why students differ; they differ in the way they process information
review of learning style research by DEMOS a UK THink Tank
-stated that there is slender evidence that measures of learning styles are even proven to measure learning styles -there is even less evidence that applying it in the classroom enhances learning -suggested that the few learning style researchers who claim to have found a difference are being dishonest with their evidence collifield " unreliable invalid. and impractical. yet still widely used
the best learning method may change depending on the
content that is being learned -try learning a foreign language visually -allow me to verbally explain this math lesson for you
american parents more likely to
try and build their childs self esteem -combined with lower expectations of parents results in american teens giving themselves higher scores than asian teens give themselves in math competence despite having lower grades
concepts are best understood
via generating examples -providing examples helps as does asking children to generate their own examples -parents and teachers can also teach children how to study
american children are more likely to
view their successes as due to ability -in college they are significantly less likely than college students in asia to take responsibility for their grades
almost all learning style studies did not involve random assignment
which is need to infer cause and effect -almost all studies were not conducted appropriately
college students often admit that
working generally hurts grades but majority are unwilling to admit that that applies to them personally
if you show your brain what is important,
your brain will react accordingly -repeated testing of yourself shows your brain that recalling the info by heart is important
the appropriate way to test the meshing hypothesis is to also have
-another class with of students with the same characteristics 50/50--exposed to other mode of instruction -then all four groups will be compared to eachother
culture of individual differnces
-western culture's misguided preoccupation with using individual differences in processing info as a way to explain differences in school achievement ex. no child left behind; learning styles -scientifically supported ideas of why students differ --students differ in the way that they process info -scientifically proven facts for why students differ 1. ability and aptitude for certain topics 2. interest in the info being learned 3. background knowledge needed to understand the info they are learning 4. work ethic 5. approaches to learning and beliefs about learning 6. methods used to learn the info --very often we attribute difficulties and slow processing to lack of ability for that topic when it can be explained by #3/#6
scientifically proven facts for why students differ:
1. ability/aptitudes for certain topics 2. Interest in the info that is being learned 3. the background knowledge needed to understand the information they are learning 4. work ethic 5. approaches to learning and beliefs about learning 6. the methods they use to learn the info -very often we attribute difficulties and slow processing to lack of ability for that topic when it can be explained by 3 and 6
What percentage of students reported having test anxiety?
40%
sleep is organized
bets in long term memory while getting enough sleep
over 10 hours of work per week
not beneficial for teens
test self on concepts
not just on never ending lists of facts
the japanese language
only has unique numbers for 1-10 -number 11 is ten one/ 12 is ten two
american parents are more likely to
perceive each child as different
Illusions of Learning
things that make you feel like youre learning but youre not
the appropriate way to test meshing hypothesis is
to have half of one group of students who identify with one learning style and half with another -all exposed to a mode of instruction which only meshes with half the class -another class of students with the same characteristics 50/50--exposed to other mode of instruction then all4 groups will be compared to eachother
compared to previous generations
today's college are more stressed and more depressed
-in a recent large scale international comparison of 15 year olds in 65 countries:
top 5 scores in reading math and science were held by asian ocuntries with finland being 3rd in reading and 2nd in science
when testing college students
-IQ has a correlation of .5 with GPA which means that only 25% of differences in GPA are in some way related to IQ -Once learning strategies were accounted for intelligence and aptitude was not able to predict grades at all -this means that people with above average and below average aptitude got the same scores if they used study strategies of equal strength
learning style theories are extremely popular and widely used
-a PsychiNFO search for learning style yields almost 12000 hits -a google search yields well over a half a billion hits -over 90% of psychology undergrads agree with the statement "people have their own learning styles"
stevenson et al 1992-95: explores reasons for the poor performance of american students
-asian teachers spent more time teaching math than american teachers -asian students were in school an average of 240 days per year compared with 178 in US -american parents had much lower expectations for their childrens education and achievement -american parents more likely to have a fixed mindset, asian parents more likely to have a growth mindset
peer statuses have been studied in relation to school success
-being popular having friends in general (especially friends who academically oriented) being rejected by peers linked to lower scores
rosen et al 2013
-college students asked to watch a 30 min video taped lecture and then were tested on the material -97% found the lecture interesting -those who were sent 8 text messages with questions by the researchers performed significantly worse on the exam than those who were sent zero texts -also those who responded to the experiments' texts right away scored significantly worse than those who waited to reply
teachers
-effective, engaging teachers provide support for their students to make good progress but also encourage adolescents to become self-regulated achievers -adolescents more likely to develop competency when they feel cared for -linked to higher scores
meshing hypothesis
-if instruction is matched to the child's learning style the childs learning will increase and might even begin to enjoy learning -teaching and learning technique
Learning styles made it to the list in "bad education" : debunking myths about education"
-learning styles also made it to Lilienfield's list of "50 great withs of popular psychology along" with ESP and astrology
neuroscientist susan greenfield state the practice is
nonsense from a neuroscientific pov -"humans have evolved to build a pic of the world through our senses working in unison exploiting the immense interconnnectivity that exists in the brain
among non-disabled individuals, the association of IQ on grades is
remarkably low and after taking into account study strategies, completely irrelevant -self-discipline/ work ethic predicts grades twice as strongly as IG does -only 10% of the differences in HS grades were in some way related to IQ
testing self over a few sessions...
significantly more effective than re reading over more sessions -even without elaboration more effective the rereading with elaboration
overall individuals clearly have learning preferences
-however all the evidence suggests students learning by their learning preferences does not actually help them learn -this was also pointed out by the APA's spotlight of learning styles
in response to criticism such as "your teaching is not compatible with my child's learning style" teachers might go beyond effective methods to provide individual accommodations
-in other words: teachers may abandon methods that actually work in favor of something that does not overall, reducing the quality of their teaching -this may also foster academic entitlement research suggests that entitled students are significantly more likely to believe they failed a class because the professors teachign style did not match their learning style
stop multitasking
-interferes with encoding and severely interferes with consolidation -even the most confident multitaskers are significantly less likely to get conceptual questions right if they multitasked while studying -media use while studying reduces ability to remember info and an extremely reduced ability to apply info in newer contexts -
"Learning styles" encourages students to not taking ownership over and responsibility for their learning
-often used as an excuse for poor work ethic and poor performance --students with academic entitlement are significantly more likely to blame the professor for not adapting to their learning style --students learn best when they correct and compensate for their shortcomings not avoid them -scot lilenfield - (if you want kids to learn step out of comfort zone!!!!
pashier et al
-the best learning method is the best for learning of all learning styles -ex: for verbal info using a visual enhances memory for people with visual and auditory learning styles comapred to when not using a visual
willingham et al 2015
-thorough review of the learning style literature -stated the following: --first people often take things to be scientific fact when they have not seen any of the evidence that they supposed must exist -western culture's has an obsession with individual differences -confirmation bias: people notice and remember examples which fit their beliefs more often than disconfirming evidence (same reason some believe in astrology) -when it comes to learning styles, the only thing researchers deserve credit for is effort and persistence
in a recent large-scale international comparison of 15 year olds in 65 countries
-top 5 scores in reading math and science were held by Asian countries with Finland being 3rd in reading and 2nd in science
learning styles theories are harmful
-waste of educational resources -teaching students learning styles is wasting their time -one minute spent on learning styles nonsense could be one minute teaching them strategies that actually work --for student who learn best they must take ownership over their own learning
why do people believe in learning styles?
Coincides well with the self-esteem movement -every individual is a unique and special! Just find and unlock your inner potential and unleash your greatness upon the world
in 2008, 47% of full time
US college students were employed
Argumentum Ad Populum
a logical error manifested in the belief that if most or all people believe something it must be true -thinking something is true because other people believe it
test anxiety does not
affect performance unless you know the info -cripples when you dont know the material -myth of learning
asian parents set up
an environment for learning -more involved outside of school
smith et al 2016
anxiety impaired the performance of students who were not well prepared -for students who engaged in retrieval practice higher stress did not impair performance -
researchers have found that rereading to be
at the bottom of the list in terms of effective study strategies (worst)
american aprents more likely to
be satisfied in lower levels of academic performance
learning styles
belief that people process info in unique ways -group of theories that different people learn in different ways or styles ex. visual learners hands on auditory
mastery oriented students tend to perform
better than performance oriented students
working can pay or help offset some costs of college
but also hurts grades
popular strategies are
comfortable strategies
japanese and chinese parents are more likely to
consider their children as equals
America consistently ranks behind the majority of
developed countries and even many developing cultures in science reading and math -even when comparing the top 25% of different cultures the US still trails behind
asian american parents more likely to remove
distractions such limiting tv time
higher IQ people
do common sense things to ensure success
testing yourself blocks the
effects on memory retrieval
when you test yourself the answers should involve
elaborative rehearsal
performance orientation
focus on the outcomes doing well on the exams teachers more likely to teach to test -just wants an A -adolescents do not find much value in learning and more likely to be satisfied with easy courses
if you test self on facts,
follow them up with questions about why those facts make sense
all studies with approriate methodology except one
found no effect of learning styles on achievement
practice achieving material
from memory
people with good study strategies
get the same outcome regardless of IQ vs people without good habits
the one study found a difference which does not
have practical value such as a fraction of a point
asian parents more likely to view themselves as
having a major role responsibility in their childs success and a sacrifice they make
avoid illusions of learning
highlighting material you did not write does absolutely nothing for memory and performance on tests -highlighting can be useful only if it is after you took notes and processed the information deeply -many students believe that rereading the material is more effective than testing oneself and testing oneself is just for seeing how much they know -students dont understand testing oneself is a tool to increase memory -
performance oriented students tend to perform as well when they use mastery as a tool to get the outcome they desire
however, it does not tend to come with a cost . heightened worry and anxiety
US parents more involved
inside the school
Paik and Mix 2003
investigated whether or not children perform better on fractions if they modeled the language to be similar to korean language -showed US children a pie divided into four parts with one part shaded to represent one-fourth -US children were significantly more likely to get the question right when transparent language was used than they were when onefourth was used
asian american parentns more
involved outside of school (taking children to zoos libraries museums)
one of the reasons rereading is so popular is because
it creates the illusion that learning is occurring
Difficulty with abstract thought
it is difficult for some to take in why the graph titled "inappropriate design" would not prove learning styles theory to be correct. thinking deeply and critically requires conscious effort
the culturally influenced belief is
learners are different from each other -these differences affect their performance and teachers should take these differences into account
learning style --
learning preference
for adolescents large amounts of of time in paid work has
limited developmental benefits for youth -for some, associated with risky behavior & costs to physical health
stress cripples you or
makes you focus
ego
many people have either been teaching their students about learning styles or promoting learning styles -acknowledging that this does not work requires them to admit that they have been doing things wrong for decades -they therefore protect their own ego at the expense of society
testing self enhances
memory
spacing effect
memory is better for multiple short study sessions -self doubt while taking the test is associated with not enough spacing (with cramming) -memories acquired through cramming are fragile
stress impairs
memory retrieval only when the memory for the info is weak to begin with
european american parents are
more involved in school such as volunteering
college students in asia
significantly more likely to attribute poor grades to lack of effort or strategy use
socioeconomic status
status in society based on level of education, income, and occupational prestige -compared with schools in higher income, schools in low-income areas -more likely to teach to the test -have more young teachers who are noncredentialed nonqualified and ienxperienced -more regular subs -bachelor level teachers
what helps learning
stepping out of comfort zone
when it comes to how the brain processes learns and retains information
students are far more alike than they are different -if we understand the commonalities of the mind which there is far more evidence for , teaching and learning can be improved for all students - when it comes to learning more info we do not learn in different ways we learn in fundamentally similar ways!!!
match learning and testing conditions
study in conditions similar to your test
research demonstrates that the same learning method is
superior for people of all learning styles
conceptual change movement
teaching children to value the concepts they are learning rathe than memorize facts -understanding of concepts increases encoding (the transfer of info into long term memory) storage (organizing info in long term memory) and retrieval (finding info in long term memory) for related facts -understanding a concept at times allows one to not need to memorize dozens of related facts
mastery oriented environments
tend to produce learners with mastery oriented goals -enjoy learning and unsatisfied with easy classes
mastery orientation
test students on knowledge but de-emphasize test scores and grades as the main goal -classrooms focus on process and the task rather than outcome on learning strategies and a conceptual understanding of the logic behind the material -studies properly to understand -use high IQ people strategies
