The Effect of Learning Styles

“A learning style is the way that different students learn. A style of learning refers to an individual’s preferred way to absorb, process, comprehend and retain information.” - Top Hat Glossary.

The world is constantly looking for new ways to improve education. A recent concern raised by neuroscientists suggests learning styles should not be as strongly focused on in schools. There are many hypotheses regarding the instructional relevance of learning styles. The most predominant is the meshing hypothesis, which suggests formatting directions to match the learner preference (eg. visual, auditory, tactile, or kinaesthetic) is the best way to provide instruction. However, scientists have recently discovered through research that this teaching method does not achieve better results and can ultimately make it harder for students adapt to different learning styles when needed. 

Traditionally learning styles have been used as a tool to optimise education by presenting materials that match the individual’s ideal mode of sensory information processing.

Acknowledging learning styles as a student and an instructor can have benefits. By identifying a students learning style, a teacher will know how to efficiently support them individually during a class. Students as a result may then feel more self-assured in their learning, which will lead to more constructive work. 
As a university student knowing whether you learn better through writing and reading rather than visuals and audio can increase productivity and effectiveness while studying.   

However, this idea as the best way to learn has now been discredited as recent studies show its disadvantages. It is acknowledged that learning styles do exist although they do not enhance learning.  In 2017 thirty distinguished neuroscience academics signed a letter to the guardian voicing concerns over the learning style approach being used widely among teachers. The three stated reasons for their concern are:

1. Studies show there are over seventy categories of learning techniques not just the widely recognised four. This creates difficulty to categorise a person. 
2. Limiting a student to one way of learning can lead to an impaired ability to adapt and be flexible.
3. There is limited research to prove the effectiveness of the method. On the other hand, results of many systematic studies have shown evidence to prove the ineffectiveness. 

An alternative teaching method that encourages all learning styles is collaborative learning. This technique is applied by setting clear learning goals for students to pursue as a team. In 2006 all primary schools in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu participated in an experiment to test the effects of collaborative activity-based learning. The results showed the success of when students work collaboratively at their own pace and their own approach. Immediately this technique demonstrated that it was an effective way of teaching and a better alternative to learning though streamlined teacher instructions. 

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