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You'll note that I didn't say they were rubbish BECAUSE students use them as an excuse. What's more, I didn't say that students use "learning styles" as an exc

by jfarmer 12y ago

You'll note that I didn't say they were rubbish BECAUSE students use them as an excuse. What's more, I didn't say that students use "learning styles" as an excuse, only that they believe whole-heartedly in their reality. As evidence of the fact that they believe in their reality, they say things like "This explanation doesn't really work for me — I'm more of a visual learner." Why do you think "learning styles" have any independent reality to begin with? Why do you think the specific sense/modality/medium is of primary importance when it comes to understanding or modeling how people learn?

pjc50 12y ago
This explanation doesn't really work for me — I'm more of a visual learner." Given that people say this, what do you think they mean by saying it?
- jfarmer 12y ago
  It means they believe in the idea of learning styles and that whatever they're currently experiencing is accounted for by that belief. As for how I translate that sentence into something useful for me as a teacher, I choose to hear it as: "Nothing in this explanation relates to anything in my picture of the world." It then becomes a problem of understanding the student's prior experience and current picture of the world. The modality only matters insofar as it establishes congruence with the student's prior experience (IMO).
Thimothy 12y ago
Well, for example, if you compare two persons, one who reads a lot, and one who doesen't read anything, the one that reads will have a much better time processing information in the written form. It's probably more a thing of which method of "information gathering" are you more used to, and, of course, the notion that "it doesn't change with time" it is kind of stupid, as our mental processes are constantly evolving. But in the end, how used are you to process information in a certain mode will have an impact in the learning process.

by jfarmer 12y ago

pjc50 12y ago

This explanation doesn't really work for me — I'm more of a visual learner." Given that people say this, what do you think they mean by saying it?

jfarmer 12y ago
It means they believe in the idea of learning styles and that whatever they're currently experiencing is accounted for by that belief. As for how I translate that sentence into something useful for me as a teacher, I choose to hear it as: "Nothing in this explanation relates to anything in my picture of the world." It then becomes a problem of understanding the student's prior experience and current picture of the world. The modality only matters insofar as it establishes congruence with the student's prior experience (IMO).

Thimothy 12y ago

Well, for example, if you compare two persons, one who reads a lot, and one who doesen't read anything, the one that reads will have a much better time processing information in the written form. It's probably more a thing of which method of "information gathering" are you more used to, and, of course, the notion that "it doesn't change with time" it is kind of stupid, as our mental processes are constantly evolving. But in the end, how used are you to process information in a certain mode will have an impact in the learning process.