DEBUNKED: Everyone Has A Fixed Learning Style

In school, students typically take a test to figure out what their “learning style” is– visual, audio, or kinesthetic. However, our learning isn’t fixed and these tests are completely false! Let's break down this myth by explaining where the myth comes from, why it’s biologically impossible, and what the harm that spreading the myth causes. 

The Origin 

Before the 1960s, the visual, audio, and kinesthetic (VAK) model was applied to students who had difficulty reading and learning disabilities.⁽¹⁾ Grace Fernald, an educational psychologist, created the VAK model used to identify these children as well as the kinesthetic method of remedial reading.⁽¹⁾ In the 1960s, the VAK model was extended and used to help solve educational inequality in students of color.⁽¹⁾ During the 1970s, these methods were even further extended to all students and all subjects. Overall, the VAK model became more well-known by overextending the research and teaching methods that were meant to be used for specific populations and skills. 

Why the Myth Is Biologically Impossible

→ Your Brain Does Not Have a Dominant Sensory Modality 

 fMRI evidence found that combining learning methods such as audio-visual enhanced learning.⁽²⁾ The results can be because the various modalities such as visual, auditory, and motor are interconnected, which helps people process information.⁽³⁾ For instance, when students are sitting in a lecture, people use the visual modality to look at the slides being presented and their notebook or laptop to take notes, the audio modality is used to listen to the professor, and the motor modality to write notes. As shown in the fMRI, the brain is more efficient with multi-modality processing rather than fixing yourself to one learning style.  

Why the Myth Is Harmful (Beyond Just Being Wrong)

Various studies have demonstrated the lack of support for learning styles. For instance, auditory or visual learners were randomly assigned to be shown the material visually with a silent film or auditorily with an audiotaped story. Despite having a preferred “learning style,” both groups tested higher for the visual stimuli.⁽⁴⁾ Additionally, another study also established preferred learning style and randomly assigned participants with either a non-fiction book or digital audiobook to complete listening and reading comprehension tests. The results found no statistically significant relationship between learning style and learning aptitude.⁽⁵⁾ 

The myth being spread has a variety of consequences. Teachers can waste time, energy, and resources by making students take learning style quizzes and adapting their teaching plans to fit their specific group of students. As a result, teachers can limit the experiences that students receive at school, which does not promote neuroplasticity and engage in healthy brain development.⁽³⁾ Additionally, students can develop a fixed mindset towards education if they believe that there’s only one way to learn. A fixed mindset is the idea that intelligence is something that someone is born with rather than developed, which holding this belief can result in academic challenges such as lack of motivation and engagement and lower GPA.⁽³⁾ 

However, it’s possible to change people’s mindsets about learning styles. A study found that when college students participated in an intervention that provided them with research that debunked VAK learning styles, they felt more empowered.⁽³⁾ These positive effects were demonstrated in interventions that were short as 20 minutes as well as one semester long.⁽³⁾ Hopefully this article was a first step into changing your mindset about learning styles being fixed and finding joy in the various ways to learn!

Sources:

1. Fallace (2023) Where did the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning style typology come from?

2. Calvert, Campbell & Brammer (2000) Evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging of crossmodal binding in the human heteromodal cortex: Current Biology  

3. Duffin (2020) Stop "Fixing" Your Brain by Believing in Learning Styles

4. Willingham et al. (2015) The Scientific Status of Learning Styles Theories

Rogowsky, Calhoun & Tallal (2015) Matching learning style to instructional method: Effects on comprehension