Teaching

Learning Styles: True or False

March 06, 2009 1 min read
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Kent Fischer has one of the most provocative local education blogs, one he’s written as a reporter for The Dallas Morning News for about four years now. He focuses mostly on issues related to Dallas ISD, but writes about broader trends and concerns for K-12 schools as well.

One of Kent’s items has been making the rounds among education reporters this week, with a link to this video that questions the notion of “learning styles.” The focus on the idea that children all have different optimal ways learning has been revelatory for many educators. But the learning-styles model also has a significant corps of dissenters that deems it’s misguided, even destructive.

I’m not familiar with Daniel Willingham’s work, but the Web site for the University of Virginia psychology professor says he is focused on “applying cognitive psychology to K-12 education.” He writes the “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” column for American Educator magazine. His views are pretty clear. What do you think?

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.

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