Learning Styles is an incredibly popular concept in education.

But is it true?

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Have you ever heard someone say….

Or said it yourself?

That’s called a “learning style.”

The idea is that you learn more effectively when you get information matched to your own particular learning style, such as:

Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

WritTEN

It makes sense, right?

We know that everyone is different:
Some people have stronger visual abilities, while others have better verbal abilities.

But does that mean that you might learn better from just visual information...

...while someone else might learn better from hearing the information?

Let’s look at the science.

In 2009, a group of learning scientists reviewed the existing research on learning styles.

They found many articles with opinions about learning styles,

but only a few research studies with rigorous experiments looking for real evidence.

And to prove (or disprove) that learning styles are helpful, we need evidence.

One of the experiments looked like this:

Students in the experiment took screening tests designed to determine each of their learning styles.

Then they participated in a lesson on the computer.

During the lesson, some students were given “visual” help screens with images and graphs…

…while others were given help screens with just text.

At the end of the lesson, everyone took the same test.

What do you think the results of the test were?

Do you think students who got help in their preferred learning style performed…

30% BETTER

18% BETTER

NO BETTER

In fact, the researchers found that students performed no better when the help screens were matched to their learning style.

Since then, other experiments have found the same result.

None have found evidence that matching materials to a preferred learning style makes learning more effective.

Here’s the good news.

It turns out that learning through more than one mode DOES help.

Research shows that people learn best when they’re given a combination of visual and textual or verbal information.

An animation of Gravity in both visual and written forms

Learning scientists call this...

DUAL CODING

When we get information in both words and pictures,

An animation showing the idea of gravity going into a woman's head in both visual and written form

It encourages us to make connections between different representations of an idea, making the experience more meaningful, and more likely to be encoded in long-term memory.

The key is that ALL OF US learn better if we receive information in more than one way.

It doesn’t depend on a learning style.

And it’s not just about images and words:

“Multimodal” learning practice can include listening, speaking, writing, hands-on learning, and more.

And...

There are other factors that contribute to learning effectively.

Here are two big ones:

We learn better when learning experiences take into account what we already know.

This is often called our prior knowledge.

For instance, if you’re giving directions to a friend who lives in your town, you might just say:
"The new coffee shop is next to that thrift store where we used to hang out."

The new coffee shop is next to that thrift store where we used to hang out.

But for a new friend visiting for the first time, you might need to draw a detailed map.

Animation: showing new friend the location with a map.

And not because your new friend is a visual learner, but because he has no relevant prior knowledge to draw on.

It also helps to match presentation style to the topic being learned.

For example, to learn addition and subtraction, children might work with blocks to physically add and subtract.

The blocks are effective not because some children are “kinesthetic” learners,

...but because they benefit from a concrete representation of math concepts.

Insights from research can also help us choose the technology we use to learn.

For instance, design principles based on the learning sciences can help us tell how well an online tool supports

multi-modal learning.

Let’s see how.

To start, think of an online tool that you use for your own learning.

It can be a helpful “how to” video, a language learning app, a recipe website - anything!

Got it! Scroll down to rate your tool.

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To see how well it supports multi-modal learning, answer these three questions:

Note The following tool-assessment quiz is not fully accessible. Users can consider each question and how well their chosen tool supports multimodal feedback. Question one Does the learning experience include more than one type of information (like words and pictures)? Question two Does visual information focus on the key points, without distracting? Question three Are visuals and text or narration always close together, both on screen and in time?

1. Does the learning experience include more than one type of information (like words and pictures)?

2. Does visual information focus on the key points, without distracting?

3. Are visuals and text or narration always close together, both on screen and in time?

Your tool:

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