Learning Styles in Education?

Below are salient quotes from two articles that focus on two initiatives in schools that have gotten much attention in past years—learning styles and teaching empathy.

Have a well-deserved three-day weekend!

Joe

Is Teaching to a Student's Learning Style a Bogus Idea:

•   Cognitive scientists are mistaken to equate cognitive strength with learning styles: they are totally different. 

•   Whereas cognitive ability clearly affects the ability to learn, an individual’s style doesn’t. 

•   You can have two basketball players, for example, with a different style. One is very conservative while the other is a real risk-taker who likes to take crazy shots, but they are equivalent in ability.

•   The idea that ability affects performance in the classroom is not particular surprising. The more interesting question is whether learning styles, as opposed to abilities, make a difference in the classroom. Some studies have claimed to have demonstrated the effectiveness of teaching learning styles, although they had small sample sizes, selectively reporteddata or were methodically flawed. Those that were methodically sound found no relationship between learning styles and performance on assessments. Learning styles is a myth perpetuate by sloppy research and confirmation bias.

•   It’s the material, not the differences among the students, that ought to be the determinant of how the teacher is going to present a lesson. 

•   If the goal is to teach students the geography of South America, the most effective way is to look at a map instead of verbally describing the shape and relative location of each country. If there’s one terrific way capture a concept for almost everybody, then you’re done.

Can Empathy Be Taught?

•    Empathy, broadly speaking, is recognizing another person’s feelings, thoughts, and motivations.

•   Experts like Dr. Daniel Goleman have identified different kinds of empathy. Emotional empathy is actually feeling what others are feelings. Weoften experience emotional empathy when we watch sad movies, see other people cry, or hear about national tragedies. Cognitive empathy is the ability to appreciate—without reacting emotionally—how another person sees a situation.

•   Compassionate empathy or empathetic concern arises when emotional and cognitive empathy team up to produce a desire to do something. This is the concept we want to encourage in students and nurture in ourselves.

•   The way to teach empathy is to embed social emotional learning into the curriculum. Teach children to listen to others and to ask questions. Talk about how characters in literature or film might experience the world.Bring multiple perspectives and stories into the study of history. Employ lots of cooperative learning and teamwork in class. And help students learn to talk about their roles, challenges, and what they need. 

•   Always remind students that everybody has different thoughts, feelings, and perspectives and that those of others are just as valid as their own.