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  • Hey guys, Julia here for DNews

  • I’ve always thought of myself as a hands on kind of learner. I learn better when I

  • can DO things with what I’ve learned. That’s why experiments are one of my favorite parts

  • about science classes. You get to test what youve learned by applying it!

  • Meshing is the idea that a teacher should match their teaching style for a kid’s individual

  • learning style. Like using flash cards for those who are visual learners! Basically,

  • treat kids like the special snowflakes they are and poof! All their school troubles will

  • go away!

  • Buuuuuuuut not so fast. The topic of learning styles is super complicated. I mean there’s

  • supposedly a lot of learning styles out there. One study from the Learning and Skills Research

  • Centre in London found over 70 different types. Most of these are constructed as dichotomous

  • with opposing concepts, like visual learners vs auditory. That sort of thing. So it’s

  • hard to pinpoint what exactly what we mean when we talk about learning styles. That’s

  • the first problem.

  • Another problem, There’s not a lot of empirical evidence to support learning styles. Sure

  • it’s been studied, but most studies weren’t well designed. A 2009 study published in the

  • journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest found a “lack of methodologically

  • sound studies of learning styles”.

  • The authors looked for a rigorous approach to testing the validity of claims that learning

  • styles matter. They laid down requirements for a thorough investigation. Divide people

  • up based on their supposed learning style, randomly assign them whatever method of instruction,

  • then test all the students. Basically the authors were looking for an experiment that

  • revealed a specific type of interaction between learning style and instructional method”.

  • The students who were assigned their preferred method should perform better on the test.

  • They looked at lots of different studies and found that lots of people will proclaim some

  • type of preferred educational experience. But what they found was nilch. Nada. Basically

  • of all the studies that are out there, most rely on self-reporting for determining someone’s

  • learning style. Self reportingreally isn’t the most scientifically rigorous. Those studies

  • that were somewhat better had contradicting results.

  • but that’s not so say it’s totally junk.The researchers even caution that they aren’t

  • saying the same manner of instruction works for all students in all situations. People

  • do differ in personality, temperament, and ability, no one is doubting that. Treating

  • students as individuals probably won’t hurt them.

  • So the best way to teach a subject? Well depends on the subject. The authors of the study use

  • the example of teaching writing. Of course it’s going to be a heavily verbal course.

  • And something like geometry is going to use a lot of visuals to aid in learning.

  • As for the best way to teach a student? Well one study published in the journal Educational

  • Psychologist found that people who are new to a subject learn differently than those

  • who have more expertise. In what’s called theExpertise Reversal Effect”, learning

  • something new can overwhelming someone’s working memory, they don’t have any prior

  • experience or knowledge to draw upon, so they need more guidance. On the other hand, those

  • who are experts or more knowledgeable about a subject might be harmed by too much guidance.

  • People without a lot of experience learn better by looking at examples and those with more

  • experience need to be more hands on, it’s better for them if they solve problems by

  • themselves.

  • Other studies show that engaging students is the best way to go. One study published

  • in the journal Science found that a way to teach calleddeliberate practicehelped

  • students do twice as well on a test and increased attendance by 20%! The trick? This practice

  • relies less on lectures and focuses more on the students.

  • Students are first asked what they know about a subject in a short multiple choice test

  • and they are encouraged to discuss what they think they know with other students, then

  • once the teacher understands what the students know or might actually be wrong about, they

  • are better able to deal with it and addresses those problems directly.

  • I mean I’d much rather a teacher get right to the stuff I have questions about than spend

  • whole boring class periods going over material I understand.

  • And really, learning is so hard anyways, all that over-thinking actually makes it more

  • difficult to learn, Crystal has the scoop on that, in this episode right here.

  • So what do you think? What’s your favorite way to learn?

  • Let us know down in the comments below

Hey guys, Julia here for DNews

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