Dr. Willingham is changing things up. He is presenting a theory and information about how there are actually NOT different types of learners or learning style. This probably comes as a shock to most people because learning styles is something that is strongly believed among educators. I personally always believed in learning styles and felt that I learned in a particular way. What Dr. Willingham is saying is that this thought over learning styles isn’t true. What most people think of as “learning styles” is actually ability. So some people might say their not that good at math. That actually has nothing to do with your learning style but instead your ability. Some people have a higher ability level for math, meaning they can pick up that information/ it comes easier to them, than others. Other people think of learning styles as the way they recall information. So if you’re asked to describe what your favorite shirt looks like, you’re going to visually recall it in your head. You’ll visualize if it has short sleeves or long sleeves, does it have buttons, what color is it, and does it have a design on it? All of these help you build a mental picture of what the shirt looks likes. But that doesn’t mean that you are a visual learner. That means that you have a stronger visual memory ability. Meaning that you have a higher ability to retrieve information in your memory by creating a visual picture.
Why is this important to educators?:
This is important because you no longer need to base your teacher to meet individual learning styles but instead you need to present information the best way possible to get the meaning across. What that means is that most learning we do in school is meaning based. That means that you’re asked to remember facts or different items and then understand the meaning and apply that. So if we are trying to teach students what shape the state of Tennessee is, were not going to describe it to them, were going to show it to them on a map.
So how does this affect your teaching?:
- It’s important to introduce material in the way in which it is best to teach it. So going back to the state of Tennessee example, it is important to show all students a map and present the information that way. You don’t need to come up with different ways to teach the information to students.
-Remember that learning styles don’t exist but instead different ability levels exist. So just because Student A doesn’t understand a math lesson as well as Student B doesn’t mean that Student A needs the information presented differently, it means that Student A’s ability level for math isn’t the same as Student B. So you don’t need to teach the math lesson differently to Student A, instead you might need to give them more practice and exposure to the information. This is important to remember with all students. Everyone has a different ability level in different subjects. Just because a student is having a problem grasping on to a particular lesson doesn’t mean that they aren’t learning it or even that there is a deeper, cognitive problem, it just means that they have a different ability level and might pick it up a little slower.
-Another thing to remember is that students have different memory recall styles. So while you don’t need to teach information differently to all students, you might use differently strategies to help them recall the information. This is something that we all use on a regular occasion. When trying to remember how to spell a tricky word, you might think of how it visually looks. So that is how we help students recall information. When we are trying to get them to recall information about the state of Tennessee so they can locate it on a map, it might be helpful for them to remember the other states it surrounded by.
Helpful Resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIv9rz2NTUk&feature=player_embedded#at=337 ( A link to Dr. Willingham's YouTube video that explains his theory that learning styles do not exist)
http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2009/03/episode-90-the-learning-styles-myth-an-interview-with-daniel-willingham/ ( A link to the podcast in which Dr. Willingham explains his theory more)
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