Leveraging the Economics of Belief to Provide Evidence-Based Alternatives to Learning Styles

Abstract

The myth that people learn best when teachers match instruction and assessment with students' “learning styles” is both persistent and pervasive. Pre-service teachers are particularly susceptible to the influence of coursework that presents “learning styles” as an accepted and evidence-based practice. Using popular neuromyths, such as “right-brain/left-brain” learners and the visual-auditory-kinesthetic (VAK) paradigm as exemplars of the problem, the authors present classic and current evidence highlighting why “learning styles” are not supported by either cognitive psychology or neuroscience. The authors examine reasons why these myths continue to persist, including the role of cognitive dissonance and confirmation biases, and present recent evidence that endorsement and usage of these practices by teachers can have damaging impacts on students, particularly young children. They argue that teachers and students alike are better served through the use of well-researched and validated instructional strategies, such as problem-based learning, than well-intentioned but misguided learning myths.