An NPR health story reports on psychologists’ growing doubts about the idea that teachers should tailor their instruction to different learning styles. “We have not found evidence from a randomized control trial supporting any of these,” says Doug Rohrer, a psychologist at the University of South Florida, “and until such evidence exists, we don’t recommend that they be used.”
Instead, adds University of Virginia Pyschologist Dan Willingham, teachers would be better advised to focus on similarities in the ways students learn. For example, the story reports, adding variety to lessons—"mixing things up,” as Willingham phrases—and spreading information over longer periods of time have both been shown to commonly help people learn better.